Published: November 29, 2014
Last updated:

How to completely disable Magento extension

Sometimes you may need to temporarily disable or turn off some Magento extension/module completely due to misbehave or other reasons, so it can not affect Magento installation and site can function just let the module never existed.

Warning Some users spreading the false idea of disabling extension in Magento Backend by disabling its output at System > Configuration > Advanced > Disable Module Output. Do not do this, it would not disable the extension, would not free memory and CPU usage, it will just hide the extension output, what in most cases can make things even worse due to obscurity.
Instead, you can disable it properly, with editing the extension’s XML file and flushing Magento cache: Detailed instructions on how to disable Magento extension in the extension’s configuration file:
  1. Navigate in FileManager to app/etc/modules/ directory under your Magento root
  2. Open for Edit the module configuration file, it consist of two parts, Developer name and Extension name with .xml suffix, i.e. EM_Themeframework.xml or Mage_Log.xml
  3. Change <active>true</active> tag to false:
    <config>
        <modules>
            <EM_Themeframework>
    -            <active>true</active>
    +            <active>false</active>
                <codePool>local</codePool>
            </EM_Themeframework>
        </modules>
    </config>
    
  4. Flush Magento cache
 

Posted in: Magento Maintenance

58 votes, 4.15 avg. rating (82% score)