While troubleshooting for any websites, you might be suggested to deactivate all the plugins and activate them one by one. However, sometimes the WordPress admin section turns to an unresponsive white screen, and you face the issue where you cannot access the WordPress admin to deactivate the plugins. But following the steps below will help deactivate all WordPress plugins when you cannot access WordPress admin.
For your reference, we have depicted deactivating the plugin using phpMyAdmin and FTP.
Deactivate all Plugins using phpMyAdmin:
- Log in to your control panel.
Here, we have used cPanel to host our website. - In the Databases section, click on the phpMyAdmin icon.
3. In the new browser window, phpMyAdmin will load all the database lists. Select your database and click on the wp_options table.
4. Find the option active_plugins in the option_name column inside the wp_options table.
5. Then click on the Edit button.
6. On the next screen, change the option_value box field to a:0:{} and click on the OK button.
This is how you can deactivate all the plugins using phpMyAdmin.
Deactivate Plugins using FTP
For this method, you can use the FTP client to access your root WordPress files or directly make changes from the Control Panel file manager. If you face an issue connecting FTP, read our article on How to connect FTP over SSL/TLS.
1. Connect your FTP to your website root files by going to Wp-content >> Plugins.
2. Right-click and rename the plugin folder.
Here, we have renamed it with plugin-deactivate.
Your plugin will be deactivated once you make these changes.
You can use this method while your WordPress admin is inaccessible. Once you can access the WordPress admin, change the plugin folder as it is. You can activate plugins one by one from the WordPress admin, and you will be able to find the actual plugin causing the issue.