You can deactivate the plugins by changing the name on the plugins folder using FTP or Cpanel access to your site files:
wp-content
plugins.HOLD
Once you’ve done that, see if your site works. If not, also change the name on your theme’s folder:
wp-content
themes
TheCorporation.HOLD
See where that gets you to.
THANK YOU for the prompt response. I did this through the control panel with my webhosting company, and I was able to log in – but everything looked different – there were far fewer options etc., no gallery etc., but at least I was able to log in. I don’t think my website was up and running properly like that though – contact forms weren’t working etc., so I can’t leave it like that unfortunately – so my next question, what now? Do I try to downgrade back to the previous version of wordpress? (although I don’t remember what it was) – THANK YOU
Did you have to change the theme too? Or just the plugins?
Just the plugins. I renamed it plugins1
then logged in OK, no problems at all!
just don’t know where to go from here.
Okay, just checking whether it was a theme problem – looks like it’s not. So change that folder name back and then go to your dashboard and reactivate the plugins one by one. If the site crashes again, you’ll know which plugin is a bad actor!
Sorry if I sound really ignorant – I’m just not all that familiar with wordpress. If I change the folder name back again, when I log back into the wordpress website, I won’t be able to make any changes to the website. I can only work within the website if the plugins are all disabled. What you suggested though, can I do that through godaddy? Through their file manager? When I logged into the wordpress website last night (after renaming the plugins folder), I looked at the plugins and there were about 19 of them listed in red as error messages, that they were disabled or not in use, or something like that, and I didn’t see any way of enabling them again. I guess an option is to go through godaddy and just rename each plugin, one by one, and as I do that, try to log in and see if I can – and if that works, then I know which plug in isn’t working?
Or is there a quicker way?
Yes, you have to go through them one by one. And the plugins folder must be named back to plugins for them to be able to work.
Thanks – I’ll give it a whirl, really appreciate the help on this! thank you again
Hmmm. Interesting. When I logged in now, it looks completely different in wordpress – the menus are down the left hand side instead of being up on top of the page – there were no problems loading, it didn’t freeze at all – I went to the plugins page and updated one by one all the plug ins – all updated successfully except the shopping cart one that said I needed to backup my databases (I don’t know how to do that, so I will leave that until another day).
However, now, my actual website looks different – well, just the galleries – the photos were all in grid format, and if you clicked on a photo, it would open up large and the description would show up too. Now, all photos are just in one long vertical line – if I click on a thumbnail, it opens up but no description shows up – so y ou just see the name of the photo (which could be anything from boat1.jpg to johnspic.jpg – doesn’t tell you anything about the actual photo).
I went into the manage gallery section and looked at the settings too – could not figure out a) why they’re all in one long vertical line now instead of grid format and b) where have all the descriptions gone? I mean, they’re still IN wordpress, but just when you open up the photo on the website, no description.
No idea what to do now – but at LEAST it worked without having to go in and rename all the plugins – having said that, I’m grateful to you for telling me about that as I now know it is an option if something goes wrong in the future. So thank you for that.
Any ideas about the galleries?
Were you using a plugin for the galleries? Or had you modified the theme code for your theme? Have you checked as to whether your theme is up to date and compatible with WP3.6?
I have no idea. I know there was a plugin for some kind of gallery, which I simply updated – but this website was done by our webdesigner who has since disappeared – I don’t know what he did regarding galleries – and I don’t know anything about the theme… I’ll have to go in and have a look I guess…. sorry to be so un-knowledgeable about this….
Maybe this is when we should try to find someone who knows wordpress to help us – how would I do that? We don’t need a lot of help with it, in fact, only when something goes horribly wrong (like now) – otherwise I have been able to upload photos and add text and things like that just fine – it’s only during this update that things went wrong 🙁
and would just love someone who knows word press, to go in and make sure all is up and running properly – obviously we would pay them but it wouldn’t be a frequent need, only every now and then – how would we find someone like that?
I just wanted to say thanks to WPyogi as his advice here was spot on easy to follow and get my site back online quickly!
You rock, WPyogi!
And so does WordPress!
Yes, hear, hear, absolutely – great advice, easy to follow, and very prompt responses too – really helped out a LOT – thank you so much again!!! You were awesome. Thank you.
Andrew Nevins
(@anevins)
WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support
obviously we would pay them but it wouldn’t be a frequent need, only every now and then – how would we find someone like that
Try http://jobs.wordpress.net or http://directory.codepoet.com/
@smileybri, Btw WPyogi is female 😉
