How to deactivate WordPress plugins in cPanel

There is an easy way to deactivate plugins without logging into your WordPress site

There’s no doubt in my mind that WordPress is the best content delivery network on the internet. I would never choose another way to create and run a website.

But just like any other technology, bugs occur, which could either force your website to not work right, or take it down entirely.

Typically you’ll run across errors and bugs when using different plugins. A lot of times a plugin hasn’t been updated in a while and will conflict with a newer version of WordPress. Or the latest WordPress update and plugin updates could conflict.

First and foremost, you shouldn’t use a plugin if it hasn’t been updated in a year or more. I will typically deactivate a plugin if it hasn’t been updated in six months because it could pose a security risk for any website.

So, let’s assume that there is an issue with your site and that you are unable to login into the backend of it, so there’s no way for you to be able to deactivate your plugins in order to find out which one might be causing the problem.

What you need to do is login into your cPanel and then access your file manager.

Once you’re inside your file manager, do the following:

1. Open the folder of the website that contains your WordPress files (mine would be pauljackiewicz.com)
2. Open the “wp-content” folder
3. Open the “plugins” folder

Once you’ve done this, now you can see all of the plugins that have been uploaded to your site. All you have to do to deactivate them is rename them. You can do this by right-clicking on each plugin and then clicking “rename.” Rename them whatever you want. I would just add a number or letter at the end so you still know what plugin it is. One you’ve done this, the plugin(s) will be deactivated.

You have two choices when it comes to figuring out which plugin is the problem.

You can either deactivate every plugin and then reactivate them once you get back into your site one-by-one in order to determine which one took your site down or you can deactivate them one-by-one in your file manager until the site comes back up.

That’s it!

I hope this article is helpful. Leave a comment below.