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How to disable WordPress plugins without access to the admin page
How to disable WordPress plugins without access to the admin page

Disabling WordPress plugins without accessing your WordPress admin panel

Updated over 4 months ago

If you wish to deactivate some plugins but don't have access to your WordPress administrator page, there are a couple of options.

Disabling plugins via the WordPress dashboard

In your Hostinger account, go to Websites Dashboard next to the site in question. Then, search for Security on the sidebar and click on it:

The WordPress → Security section in hPanel

Scroll down to the section Installed plugins to find all the plugins currently installed on your website. Move the toggle to disable or enable them:

Disabling WordPress plugins in hPanel

Disabling plugins via the file manager

If you don't have the WordPress dashboard enabled or prefer managing data via files, you can disable the plugins using the file manager.

Step 1 – Go to the file manager

Open your website's File Manager and access its wp-content folder (domains/domain.tld/public_html/wp-content). There, you’ll find the plugins folder:

The "plugins" folder within the "wp-content" folder in the file manager

Step 2 – Check and disable plugins

If you don’t use Elementor on your website, rename the entire plugins folder to plugins_disabled (or any different name) – this way, you'll disable all the plugins inside this folder:

Renaming the "plugins" folder to disable all the plugins within

If you do use Elementor, rename every folder within the plugins folder except Elementor. Alternatively, you may create a new folder and move all the plugins' folders there except Elementor.

Due to the specific architecture of Elementor, changing the plugin’s folder name can cause a website crash. Therefore, make sure not to change the Elementor folder name 💡

Both options – renaming the folders or creating a new folder and moving the plugins there – will disable plugins, as the path to files will be altered. Renaming the folders to their original names or moving them back to the /plugins directory will enable the plugins again.

Troubleshooting plugins

If a website starts working after disabling all plugins, it's necessary to identify which specific plugin causes the trouble:

  1. Disable all plugins - you can do it via the WordPress dashboard or the file manager.

  2. Enable plugins one by one, and check the website via the incognito browser window after enabling each plugin.

This way, you'll identify the corrupted plugin and get your website back on track.

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