I am a big fan of the WordPress updates. Obviously, you want your framework to be up to date. Since WordPress 3.7 they have been updating automatically, though. At times they drive me up the wall. Why? Because nine times out of 10 they update right when WordPress rolls out the update. Do you know the feeling of your plugins not working correctly because the developer has issues with the latest WordPress update? I have gone on with my day and haven’t noticed this for two weeks before! It’s happened to my sites dozens of times. In case, it has happened to you recently; I highly recommend you read my how to rollback WordPress article. In this article, I am going to give you two options for disabling automatic WordPress updates.
Before messing with the config.php file it’s a good idea to backup that file incase you mess something up. I always name one config.php-good or something like that.
Edit Your Config.php File
To disable automatic updates with WordPress, you’re going to want to locate the wp-config.php file. This file is located in the root directory where you installed WordPress. Please note it is not tucked away in a folder or anything. Other files that should be in the same directory are wp-login.PHP, wp-settings.php, index.Php, etc.
Add the following code to your config.php file:
define( 'AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true );
Will disable all core updates. However, you might want to see this article if you want to make some additional updates: https://codex.wordpress.org/Configuring_Automatic_Background_Updates
Or Install A Plugin
If you’re like me and messing with the config.php scares the crap out of you, you might want to install a simple plugin that can get the job done. I have found two good plugins. The plugins are down below:
1. Disable WordPress Update Plugin
This one is super simple! The first plugin that you might want to try is called “Disable WordPress Update. It does have three functions; disable WordPress theme update, disable WordPress Plugin update, and disable WordPress Core update. This plugin pretty much disables cronjobs and prevents any notifications from being displayed in your WordPress dashboard.
From toying around with this very simple plugin all, you have to do is activate it. There are no settings or anything that you have to configure. Inside the WordPress dashboard this is how it looked before the plugin was installed:
2. Disable Updates Manager Plugin
This plugin is a little more advanced on what it can do. Still very easy to use, though. It will disable plugins and themes individually, disable the WordPress core updates, disable your automatic background updates, etc. Unlike the “disable all WordPress update plugin” you have an options page. Here is a look at what you can configure:
I should note that to get to settings for this plugin you go to Settings>Disable Update Manager.
It makes no difference which route you want to take for disabling automatic updates for WordPress. They all get the job done. Doesn’t mean that you’re going to go with the outdated WordPress update for several months, though. Typically, I tend to wait two weeks just to make sure everything is updated before running the updates. Hopefully, this article will save you time!
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