Title: WP Safe Mode
Author: Marcus (aka @msykes)
Published: <strong>9 сар 25, 2018</strong>
Last modified: 4 сар 23, 2025

---

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![](https://ps.w.org/wp-safe-mode/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=1946812)

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# WP Safe Mode

 By [Marcus (aka @msykes)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweblogic/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wp-safe-mode.1.3.zip)

 * [Details](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/#installation)
 * [Development](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/)

## Description

WP Safe Mode allows you to view your site temporarily with certain plugins disabled/
enabled as well as switching to another theme.

This is particularly useful if you are experiencing problems with a specific plugin
or theme and need troubleshoot without it affecting the rest of your site visitors.

Additionally, a loader file can be directly installed via FTP to help you access
an inaccessible site due to PHP errors (e.g. blank screens or white screen of death)
to help restore it from the admin panel.

#### Main Features

 * Enter Safe Mode for just yourself whilst logged in.
 * Enable Safe Mode for the whole site.
 * Admin Bar shortcuts for enabling/disabling Safe Mode.
 * Restrict Safe Mode to certain IP addresses.
 * Automatic installation (if file permissions allow).
 * Fallback to a default WordPress theme or one of your choice in Safe Mode.
 * Prevent or allow Must-Use plugins from loading in Safe-Mode.
 * Handy loader file via FTP when your site is completely inaccessible.
 * MultiSite Support
    - Network-wide Safe Mode (for just you, or everyone)
    - Restrict Network-wide Safe Mode to certain IP address
 * MultiSite Site-Specific Safe Modes
    - Override Network-wide Safe Mode settings for an individual site
    - Network Admins can deactivate Network-Active and Must-Use plugins.
    - Allow individual site admins from enabling safe mode for their own site.

#### Data Privacy and GDPR Compliance

No personal data is used or stored by this plugin. For those entering user-only 
mode, a cookie is loaded to identify that user.

## Installation

#### Installing

 1. If installing, go to Plugins > Add New in the admin area, and search for events
    manager.
 2. Click install, once installed, click ‘activate’.
 3. The WP Safe Mode loader will attempt to install itself automatically.
 4.  * If something goes wrong, you’ll be asked to visit the settings page for manual
       installation instructions.
 5. Visit the WP Safe Mode menu item on your dashboard admin area.
 6. Modify your Safe Mode settings as needed.
 7. Enable Safe Mode by clicking one of the buttons, or via the Admin Bar within the
    Safe Mode menu item.

#### Manual Instllation (Recommended)

 1. Download the WP Safe Mode plugin and unzip it, you’ll now have a `wp-safe-mode`
    folder.
 2. Connect to your server (for example via FTP) and go to your website folder.
 3. Add this line to your `wp-config.php` file:
     _`if( !defined('WPMU\_PLUGIN\_DIR'))
    define( 'WPMU\_PLUGIN\_DIR', dirname(\_\_FILE\_\_).'/wp-content/wp-safe-mode' );//
    WP Safe Mode`_
 4. Create the folder named `wp-safe-mode` inside your `wp-contents` folder.
 5. Uploade the file `wp-safe-mode/bootstrap/wp-safe-mode-loader.php` into the newly
    created `wp-safe-mode` folder.
 6. Upload the entire `wp-safe-mode` folder to your plugins folder in `wp-content/plugins`.

If your site is broken and you cannot install plugins or access the dashboard, you
can modify the loader file temporarily to gain access by following these additional
steps:

 1. Open the plugin file `wp-safe-mode-loader.php` and change this line:
     _`public 
    $safe\_mode\_on = false;`_ to _`public $safe\_mode\_on = true;`_
 2. Upload the modified `wp-safe-mode-loader.php` file to the `wp-contents/plugins/
    wp-safe-mode` folder.
 3. Visit your site, deactivate plugins etc.
 4. Undo the changes you just made to `wp-safe-mode-loader.php` when you want to disable
    safe mode.

#### Further Installation Details

You can also enable and disable plugins and themes directy from the loader file 
code by modifying the properties of the WP_Safe_Mode class, as well as enabling 
safe mode in different ways such as restricting it to specific IPs.

Please see the PHP code comments within the class for more information on each property.

The loader can also be installed directly into your mu-plugins folder, but we recommend
our own installation steps if you already have files in that folder (i.e. it already
exists). Otherwise you can also upload it there directly.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e73f199f32bed7dc91210307d45f34fb29243f3940412566c3a1d3ae54e3ef4d?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Makes debugging problems on complex sites a whole lot easier](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/makes-debugging-problems-on-complex-sites-a-whole-lot-easier/)󠁿

 [colinfroggatt](https://profiles.wordpress.org/colinfroggatt/) 8 сар 10, 2022

I run a few sites, most with 40+ plugins (eeek!). When a supplier says “disable 
all your plugins and retest the problem” I groan. This plugin makes it so easy to
disable all plugins or just keep a couple of key ones activated. You can also just
do it for your user, so it is possible to trouble shoot on a live site … not recommended
but sometimes you have no choice. Thanks Marcus for your work here, it’s a great
contribution to the WP community.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f2949e1420c186ba7fe9eafb8f5c406b6b29ddebb639e7c7da6f93d39b784643?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Absolutely helpful](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/absolutely-helpful-6/)󠁿

 [Martin Sauter](https://profiles.wordpress.org/martinsauter/) 4 сар 17, 2022

Resolving conflicts is never fun, but this plugin makes it as easy as possible. 
There is not much more to say about it – it just works. Thanks for developing this!

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c4d7d63d06bb152e08e3944f300e4236b92ad46ec023f61b45aed719fea25ee9?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works great](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-great-7572/)󠁿

 [mkovcu](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mkovcu/) 3 сар 25, 2021

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e4b440f82abbd6a518ef5dcbedd239bc608f21dc23ed153479a88e16999a2490?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Huge Thanks save my network site](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/huge-thanks-save-my-network-site/)󠁿

 [blunoa](https://profiles.wordpress.org/blunoa/) 3 сар 21, 2021 1 reply

My network site crashed and couldn’t find the problem. I’ve installed the plugin
managed to access the crashed network admin site disabled all plugins and themes,
found the error, and all back to normal. Thank you so much

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/dc42156e68d88eed88048db8ffbed716497bababcc1d0bc8dfbf73599277b564?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[This plugin deleted all content in my wp-config file](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/catastrophic-this-plugin-deleted-all-content-in-my-wp-config-file/)󠁿

 [rtc35](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rtc35/) 9 сар 17, 2019 5 replies

As soon as I activated this plugin, I got a 500 error. I tried to disable it by 
renaming it via FTP and that didn’t help. Then I noticed my wp-config.php file had
suddenly become 0 bytes. Luckily I had a backup. I’ve never seen anything like it.
EDIT: Because the developer acted so quickly to resolve the issue, I upgraded my
rating.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4bb097902a63d831bd93a821633699bada947b5568ae236bc59420b00c085e0e?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Had to restore my website because of this thing.](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/had-to-restore-my-website-because-of-this-thing/)󠁿

 [yahtzee1](https://profiles.wordpress.org/yahtzee1/) 7 сар 25, 2019 1 reply

Me only mode changed the whole website!

 [ Read all 8 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“WP Safe Mode” is open source software. The following people have contributed to
this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Marcus (aka @msykes) ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweblogic/)
 *   [ Pixelite ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pxlite/)
 *   [ Marcus ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/msykes/)

“WP Safe Mode” has been translated into 2 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wp-safe-mode/contributors)
for their contributions.

[Translate “WP Safe Mode” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wp-safe-mode)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-safe-mode/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wp-safe-mode/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wp-safe-mode/) by
[RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wp-safe-mode/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.3

 * added toggle for adding all plugins in one go to activate or keep active in safe
   mode

#### 1.2

 * fixed fatal errors on environments where wp-config.php is not in root folder,
 * added double-check that wp-config.php has content to overwrite in event there’s
   a symlink or something odd like that
 * fixed minor php warning upon deactivation of plugin

#### 1.1

 * added failsafe check for some edge case WSOD (e.g. mu-plugins using hardcoded
   directory path includes) before installing loader

#### 1.0

 * First Release

## Meta

 *  Version **1.3**
 *  Last updated **12 сар ago**
 *  Active installations **2,000+**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.6 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.8.5**
 *  PHP version ** 5.2.6 or higher **
 *  Languages
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/), [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/),
   [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wp-safe-mode)
 * Tags
 * [debug](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/debug/)[debugging](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/debugging/)
   [recovery](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/recovery/)[safe mode](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/safe-mode/)
   [troubleshooting](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/troubleshooting/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://mn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-safe-mode/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4.3 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  6 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  1 3-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  1 1-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/?filter=1)

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Marcus (aka @msykes) ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweblogic/)
 *   [ Pixelite ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pxlite/)
 *   [ Marcus ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/msykes/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-safe-mode/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](https://pixelite.com)