Can’t stop plugins from auto-updating

  • Resolved BadBishop

    (@badbishop)


    5 years, 9 months ago

    I hope this is the right forum, and that this question hasn’t been asked before – I’ve searched and found similar-looking problems with auto-updates but they don’t quite seem to match mine.

    My problem is that up to a few months ago I would get notifications about available plugin updates, then I would update them (or not) manually. Since then, plugin updates are automatic and I can’t turn them off. I have tried doing so both in the normal plugins admin page (wp-admin/plugins.php) selecting “Disable auto-updates” as an action for the selected plugin (or as a select all) and then hitting apply. But there is no effect, the plugins are still auto-updated and the “Auto-updates Enabled” counter is unchanged, showing the total number of plugins I have.

    I tried the same with the “Easy Updates Manager” plugin, but with the same lack of results.

    I’m on WP 5.5.3 and I’m using the Twenty-Eleven theme (actually a child of that with a few very minor alterations).

    I hope you can help.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • Joy

    (@joyously)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Do you have a plugin that manages plugin updates? It sounds like the new core feature is conflicting with something you were already using.
    Could you list the plugins you have?
    Could you look at Site Health to see what the plugin section says about each plugin’s auto-update state?

    Thread Starter BadBishop

    (@badbishop)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Thank you for the tip about the Site Health, it does give a somewhat worrying message (click for screenshot) although that appears to say that updates couldn’t be happening, which is the opposite of what I’m seeing (unless that screen is talking about updates not related to plugins?).

    The “Passed Tests” section contains this section about plugins:

    Plugin and theme auto-updates appear to be configured correctly

    Plugin and theme auto-updates ensure that the latest versions are always installed.

    which is true, and what I’m trying to avoid.

    I used not to have any plugin manager plugins installed, but I tried the “Easy Updates Manager” to see if it would solve the problem for me – it didn’t make any difference so I have disabled it.

    The plugins I have installed can be seen here and here. Try as I might, I can’t change the “Permanently Active” status of the automatic updates, and it used not to behave like this.

    Thank you for looking at this.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Have you perhaps forced this via a filter? https://wordpress.org/support/article/configuring-automatic-background-updates/#plugin-theme-updates-via-filter

    Thread Starter BadBishop

    (@badbishop)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Thank you James, I think you’re on to something. Actually, I haven’t used any filters (not being at all familiar with them) but the hosting company (1&1) has put a load of stuff under the wp-content/mu-plugins directory and that includes some filters.

    I’ll need to work through the files to see what they’re doing, but it does look like a promising line of enquiry.

    Thanks again for the suggestion and the link. I’ll update with the results.

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by BadBishop.
    Paul Biron

    (@pbiron)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    It looks like you’re on the right path.

    It is definitely a plugin (<1% chance it is your theme) because WordPress itself never writes Permanently active the “Automatic Updates” column.

    Also, I have copies of most of the plugins in your screenshots and none of them would cause this (Easy Updates Manager would display Managed by Easy Updates Manager. when it’s active and managing auto-updates.

    So I was just about to have you add a screenshot of the Must-Use and Drop-ins views on the plugins screen so that I could see if anything there could have taken over management of auto-updates.

    Thread Starter BadBishop

    (@badbishop)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Very useful info that WordPress doesn’t write “Permanently active”. The culprit is IONOS, as that text arises from a file mu-plugins\1and1-wordpress-assistant\inc\auto-updater.php

    I guess I have to wade through their code to see if/how to turn it off (there is nothing evident in the UI, though I’ll look harder there too).

    Thanks to all for your help, I’ll keep this open a couple of days in case I have follow up questions.

    Carike

    (@carike)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    You may want to think about switching to a hosting package or a host that isn’t WordPress hosting as such, if you do not want your host to make decisions like that on your behalf. [You can still install WordPress on pretty much any hosting package / host.]
    Not a recommendation, just a consideration 🙂

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Carike.
    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    We have some recommended hosting providers at https://wordpress.org/hosting/

    Thread Starter BadBishop

    (@badbishop)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    I fully agree with the consideration (or even recommendation) about the host, I really don’t want the hosting company to make this sort of decision for me. Having said that, it is only in the past few months that 1&1 has been noticeably intrusive, and the other problem I had with them was a glitch rather than big Brother type behaviour. I’ll see how it goes for now …

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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