Occasionally, after an update (which might be automatic), your website may stop working, and you might find yourself unable to deactivate the problematic plugin because the admin area becomes inaccessible. This can be a frustrating issue for website owners and administrators, as it directly affects the usability and accessibility of the website.
Prevention Measures
Fortunately, there’s a straightforward way to prevent this situation. By installing BugMonitor on your site and enabling the ‘Deactivate Broken Plugins’ feature, you can significantly reduce the risk of such problems. This feature automatically deactivates a plugin if it causes an error that makes the admin area inaccessible. It’s a proactive measure that ensures your website remains operational even if a plugin update goes wrong.
What to Do If the Damage Is Already Done
If you haven’t installed BugMonitor and find yourself in this predicament, there’s still a way to fix the issue. You’ll need to access your website via FTP and navigate to the wp-content/plugins directory.
Once there, locate the folder of the problematic plugin and rename it. This action will allow you to access the WordPress admin area. From there, go to the Plugins menu, where WordPress will automatically deactivate the renamed plugin.
After this, you can either rename the plugin back (without reactivating it) and perform a rollback, or you can choose to delete the plugin altogether if it’s causing too much trouble.
By following these steps, you can manage plugin-related issues more effectively, ensuring that your website remains functional and accessible.
