How to Enable or Disable WordPress Automatic Updates

The following guide will demonstrate how to enable and disable automatic updates in WordPress.

Procedure for Enabling Automatic Updates

1) Access your cPanel account

2) Choose the ‘File Manager’ option.

3) Navigate to the directory where you have stored the WordPress installation files.

4) Right-click on the ‘wp-config.php’ file and select ‘Edit’.

5) Look for the line that says define (‘AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED’, true);

6) Remove the line from the wp-config.php file.

7) Click the ‘Save Changes’ button in the top right corner of the editor to save your modifications.

Procedure for Disabling Automatic Updates

We highly recommend that you do not disable automatic updates unless absolutely necessary.

1) Access your cPanel account

2) Choose the ‘File Manager’ option.

3) Navigate to the directory where you have stored the WordPress installation files

4) Look for the wp-config.php file.

5) Insert the following line after the initial “define” statements, just above the Authentication Unique Keys and Salts. Please refer to the screenshot below.

define( ‘AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED’, true );

6) Click the ‘Save Changes’ button to save the modifications.

Procedure for Enabling or Disabling WordPress Automatic Updates from the Command Line

You can also make these edits from the command line.

1) Log in to the cPanel account via SSH

2) Go to the directory where you have stored the WordPress installation files

3) Edit the wp-config.php file using the vi or nano editor.

            # vi wp-config.php file

4) To enable WordPress Automatic Updates, delete the following line from the wp-config.php file and save the changes.

            define (‘AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED’, true);

5) To disable WordPress Automatic Updates, insert the following line after the initial “define” statements, just above the Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.

            define (‘AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED’, true);

6) Save the changes.

If you need further assistance, please contact our support department at help@webhostingpeople.net.