How to Deactivate a WordPress Plugin via FTP (When Your Site is Broken)

Your WordPress site is down. You can’t access wp-admin. You’re pretty sure a plugin caused it, but you can’t get to the Plugins screen to deactivate anything.

This is frustrating, but fixable. Here’s how to forcibly deactivate a WordPress plugin using FTP when your admin dashboard won’t load.

The Quick Fix: Rename the Plugin Folder

If you just need to get your site back up right now, here’s what to do:

1. Connect to your site via FTP (or SFTP). Use an FTP client like FileZilla, or your hosting control panel’s file manager.
2. Navigate to /wp-content/plugins/ – This is where WordPress stores all plugin files.
3. Find the problem plugin’s folder. If you know which plugin is causing the issue, locate its folder. Plugin folder names are usually lowercase versions of the plugin name (like yoast-seo or contact-form-7).
4. Rename the folder. Add anything to the end of the folder name – I usually add -disabled or -OFF. So problematic-plugin becomes problematic-plugin-disabled.
5. Reload your site. Both your front-end and wp-admin should be accessible again.

That’s it. WordPress can’t find the plugin folder anymore, so it stops trying to load that plugin’s code.

Why This Works (and Why You Need FTP)

WordPress loads plugins by looking in the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for folders that contain valid plugin files. When you rename a plugin’s folder, WordPress simply can’t find it anymore. This has the same effect as deactivating it through the dashboard.

The reason you need FTP (or another file system tool) is that the normal deactivation method requires loading wp-admin. If a plugin is throwing a fatal PHP error, WordPress can’t finish loading the admin area. You’re locked out. FTP lets you bypass WordPress entirely and manipulate files directly on your server.

When You Actually Need This Method

You’ll know you need to use FTP to deactivate a plugin when:

• Your site shows a white screen (the dreaded “white screen of death”) with no error message
• You see a fatal PHP error that mentions a plugin name or path
• wp-admin won’t load at all – you get errors, white screens, or infinite loading
• The site works but wp-admin is completely broken

I ran into this last month on a client site after they updated a page builder plugin. The update introduced a PHP 8 compatibility issue, threw a fatal error, and locked everyone out of wp-admin. Renaming the plugin folder via FTP had the site back up in under two minutes.

What If You Don’t Know Which Plugin Is Causing the Problem?

This happens more often than you’d think. Maybe someone else updated plugins and didn’t tell you which one. Maybe multiple plugins updated overnight through auto-updates.

Here’s how to narrow it down:

Option 1: Deactivate all plugins at once

Rename the entire plugins folder to something like plugins-disabled. This deactivates every plugin simultaneously. If your site comes back, you know a plugin was definitely the culprit.

Then rename it back to plugins, and start renaming individual plugin folders one by one until you find the problem.

Option 2: Check your error logs

Most hosts provide error logs in cPanel or your hosting dashboard. Look for recent PHP errors – they’ll usually include the file path of the plugin causing issues. You’ll see something like:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function in /home/username/public_html/wp-content/plugins/bad-plugin/includes/file.phpCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

That bad-plugin part tells you exactly which folder to rename.

Option 3: Start with recently updated plugins

If you have access to your hosting control panel, check the “last modified” dates on plugin folders. The one that changed most recently is your prime suspect.

What to Do After Your Site Is Back Up

Getting your site working again is just the first step. Here’s what you should do next:

• Figure out what went wrong. Was it a bad plugin update? A PHP version incompatibility? A conflict with another plugin or your theme? If you don’t know why it broke, it’ll probably break again.
• Check if there’s a fix. Look at the plugin’s support forum or changelog. Sometimes breaking bugs get fixed quickly and you can update to a patched version.
• Contact the plugin developer if it seems like a legitimate bug. Include your PHP version, WordPress version, and the specific error message if you have one.
• Find an alternative plugin if the developer isn’t responsive or if the plugin is abandoned. A plugin that breaks your site and doesn’t get fixed isn’t worth keeping.
• Test in staging next time. If you have access to a staging environment, test plugin updates there first. I know that’s not always realistic for smaller sites, but it’s worth it if you can manage it.

Alternative Methods (If You Don’t Have FTP Access)

FTP isn’t the only way to rename plugin folders. Here are other tools that work:

SFTP (Secure FTP): This is actually what most hosts use now instead of regular FTP. It’s more secure but works exactly the same way in your FTP client. Many hosts disable regular FTP entirely and only offer SFTP.

File Manager in cPanel: Most hosting control panels include a file manager that lets you browse and rename files through your browser. Navigate to public_html/wp-content/plugins and rename folders there.

WP-CLI: If you have SSH access, WP-CLI is powerful. Even if wp-admin is broken, you can run wp plugin deactivate plugin-name from the command line and WordPress will deactivate it properly.

SSH with command line: You can also use basic command line tools. Connect via SSH and run mv wp-content/plugins/bad-plugin wp-content/plugins/bad-plugin-disabled to rename the folder.

Your host might also have emergency tools specifically for this. Some managed WordPress hosts include a “deactivate all plugins” button in their custom dashboards.

When This Won’t Help

Renaming plugin folders fixes plugin-related errors, but it won’t solve everything:

• Theme errors: If your theme is causing a fatal error, you’ll need to rename the theme folder in /wp-content/themes/ instead
• WordPress core issues: Core file corruption needs a different fix (usually reinstalling WordPress core files)
• Database problems: If your database is corrupted or inaccessible, plugins aren’t your issue
• Server configuration errors: PHP version issues, memory limits, or server misconfigurations require host-level fixes

If deactivating all plugins doesn’t bring your site back, the problem is somewhere else.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t delete the plugin folder. Rename it, don’t delete it. Deleting makes it much harder to troubleshoot what went wrong, and you might lose custom files if the plugin stored anything locally.

Make sure you’re in the right plugins folder. Some sites have plugins in unusual locations due to custom configurations. The default is /wp-content/plugins/ but double-check if nothing seems to work.

Don’t assume you have FTP credentials. If you’re working on a client site or inherited a site from someone else, you might not have FTP access set up. Check with your host about creating new FTP credentials if needed.

Watch out for plugin dependencies. Some plugins require other plugins to work. If you deactivate one, you might need to deactivate its dependencies too, or you’ll just end up with different errors.

Quick FAQs