This article explains how to deactivate, change or delete themes and plugins on a WordPress site with or without the dashboard. Being able to disable plugins outside of the dashboard may be helpful if you have a plugin or theme that has malfunctioned and caused you to lose access to the dashboard.

Note: Some of these steps will require you to know the name of your WordPress database. If you do not know the name of your WordPress database, please see How to Find your WordPress Database first.

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• Deactivating or Deleting Plugins from the Dashboard
• Themes
• Plugins
• Deactivating a Plugin
• Accessing phpMyAdmin
• Clearing Active Plugins
• Removing a Plugin Using the File Manager
• Changing the WordPress Theme
• Accessing phpMyAdmin
• Change the Theme Setting in phpMyAdmin
• Removing a WordPress Theme

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Deactivating or Deleting Plugins from the Dashboard

Before you begin, please log in to your WordPress dashboard.

Themes

1. On the main menu to the left, click Appearance.
   
   Note: This will bring you to your Themes page, where you can view all of the themes that you have installed. Find the theme that you would like to uninstall.
2. Hover your mouse over a theme to see the Theme Details option appear. Click Theme Details.
   
   Pro tip: This will bring up a window with information about the theme. Choose either activate or delete themes In the bottom right corner.
3. Confirm that you are sure you want to delete the theme. Once you do so, the theme will be removed from your WordPress site.

Plugins

1. On the main menu to the left, click Plugins.
    
2. Now that you're on the Plugins page, you will view all of the plugins you currently have installed. Locate the plugin that you would like to uninstall.
3. If the plugin is active, you will first need to click Deactivate.
4. Once the plugin has been deactivated, you can click Delete.
5. You will need to confirm that you would like to delete the plugin and any data it contains.

The plugin will now be removed from your WordPress site.

Deactivating a Plugin

These steps explain how to deactivate plugins on a WordPress site without the dashboard.

Note: This will deactivate all plugins; however, it does not remove the plugin or its settings.

Accessing phpMyAdmin

Bluerock

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click the Advanced tab from the side navigation menu to the left.
   
3. Under the Database section, select phpMyAdmin.
   

Legacy

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click on the Hosting tab near the top and then cPanel.
   
3. Look for the Database tools section, select phpMyAdmin. 
    
4. Enter your hosting account username and password, then press the go button to log in to phpMyAdmin.

Clearing Active Plugins

1. In phpMyAdmin, find your WordPress database in the list of databases. In this case, our example database is examplec_wo5647.
2. In the list of tables, click on the table name that ends with "options."
3. In the options, table click on the column heading "option_name" to sort the table rows by name. This should make active_plugins the first table row.
4. Click the Edit link on the active_plugins row.
5. Clear out all text in the option_value box.
6. Click the Go button at the bottom.

You should get a page indicating that the query was executed. You are finished. All plugins should now be disabled in WordPress.
 

Removing a Plugin Using the File Manager

Note: This method removes the plugin from your website. You will have to reinstall it before you can use the plugin again.

Bluerock

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click the Advanced tab from the side navigation menu to the left.
   
3. Under the Files section, click the File Manager. 
   
4. Make sure you are in the directory for your WordPress site, then go to the wp-content folder.
5. Open the plugins folder.
6. Find the folder plugin you wish to remove, then right-click on it and select delete.

Legacy

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click on the hosting tab from the navigation menu that stretches across the top of your screen.
3. Click cPanel from the sub-menu.
   
4. On the cpanel, find the group of icons labeled File Management and click on File Manager.
   
   Note: You may get a popup asking you to select the directory you want to start in.
5. Choose the Document Root for option and select the website you want to disable plugins for.
6. Make sure you are in the directory for your WordPress site, then go to the wp-content folder.
7. Open the plugins folder.
8. Find the plugin folder you wish to remove, then right-click on it and select delete.

The plugin is now removed from your WordPress installation.

Changing the WordPress Theme

These instructions will explain how to change the theme setting in WordPress without the WordPress dashboard.

Accessing phpMyAdmin

Bluerock

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click the Advanced tab from the side navigation menu to the left.
   
3. Under the Database section, select phpMyAdmin.
   

Legacy

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click on the hosting tab from the navigation menu that stretches across the top of your screen.
   
3. Look for the Database tools section, select phpMyAdmin. 
    
4. Enter your hosting account username and password, then press the go button to log in to phpMyAdmin.

Change the Theme Setting in phpMyAdmin

1. In phpMyAdmin, find your WordPress database in the list of databases. In this case, our example database is examplec_wo5647.
2. In the list of tables, click on the table name that ends with options.
3. In the options table, locate the rows for the template and stylesheet. They are usually on the second page, and their option_id will be around 40.
4. Click edit to change both the theme and stylesheet's option_value to the theme you wish to use. This should be the exact, case-sensitive name of the folder inside wp-content/themes that contains the theme you want to use.
5. Click the Go button.

The theme should now be set to your chosen theme.

Removing a WordPress Theme

Note: This method removes the theme from your website. You will have to reinstall it before you can use the theme again.

Bluerock

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click the Advanced tab from the side navigation menu to the left.
   
3. Under the Files section, click the File Manager. 
   
4. Make sure you are in the directory for your WordPress site, then go to the wp-content folder.
5. Open the themes folder.
6. Find the folder theme you wish to remove, then right-click on it and select delete.

Legacy

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click on the hosting tab from the navigation menu that stretches across the top of your screen.
3. Click cpanel from the sub-menu.
   
4. On the cpanel, find the group of icons labeled File Management and click on File Manager.
   
   Note: You may get a popup asking you to select the directory you want to start in.
5. Choose the Document Root for option and select the website you want to disable plugins for.
6. Make sure you are in the directory for your WordPress site, then go to the wp-content folder.
7. Open the themes folder.
8. Find the folder theme you wish to remove, then right-click on it and select delete.

The theme should now be removed from your WordPress website.