Disable WordPress plugins in the database

You can use the steps below to disable your plugins from within the database. This can be helpful if you can't access your WordPress dashboard.

1. Log into phpMyAdmin (cPanel / Plesk / Web Hosting / Managed WordPress).

   In cPanel hosting, you must select the database for your WordPress site in the left-hand column before proceeding to the next step.

2. Click on the wp_options table.
3. Locate the active_plugins entry under the option_name column. You may need to navigate beyond the first page of entries.
4. Click the Edit button for that row.
5. Select all of the text found in the option_value field, copy it, and paste it into a text editor.
6. Once the text was copied to a safe place, you can delete it from phpMyAdmin.
7. Click Go to submit the change.

You can re-enable your plugins at any time by editing the active_plugins entry again and pasting in the text you removed earlier.

Next steps

• If you disabled all of your plugins using the above method you can always enable them again from in WordPress.

More info

• Return to Troubleshoot and fix WordPress plugin errors
• If you are unfamiliar with using phpMyAdmin, you may wish to try disabling the plugins in WordPress.