Title: Plugin_Upgrader::deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# Plugin_Upgrader::deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade( bool|WP_Error $response, array $plugin ): bool|󠀁[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)󠁿

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Deactivates a plugin before it is upgraded.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

Hooked to the [‘upgrader_pre_install’](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/upgrader_pre_install/)
filter by [Plugin_Upgrader::upgrade()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/upgrade/).

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$response`bool|[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)
required

The installation response before the installation has started.

`$plugin`arrayrequired

Plugin package arguments.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool|[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/) The
original `$response` parameter or [WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/).

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade( $response, $plugin ) {

    	if ( is_wp_error( $response ) ) { // Bypass.
    		return $response;
    	}

    	// When in cron (background updates) don't deactivate the plugin, as we require a browser to reactivate it.
    	if ( wp_doing_cron() ) {
    		return $response;
    	}

    	$plugin = isset( $plugin['plugin'] ) ? $plugin['plugin'] : '';
    	if ( empty( $plugin ) ) {
    		return new WP_Error( 'bad_request', $this->strings['bad_request'] );
    	}

    	if ( is_plugin_active( $plugin ) ) {
    		// Deactivate the plugin silently, Prevent deactivation hooks from running.
    		deactivate_plugins( $plugin, true );
    	}

    	return $response;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/class-plugin-upgrader.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/class-plugin-upgrader.php#L562)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/class-plugin-upgrader.php#L562-L584)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [wp_doing_cron()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_doing_cron/)`wp-includes/load.php` |

Determines whether the current request is a WordPress cron request.

  | 
| [is_plugin_active()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_plugin_active/)`wp-admin/includes/plugin.php` |

Determines whether a plugin is active.

  | 
| [deactivate_plugins()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/deactivate_plugins/)`wp-admin/includes/plugin.php` |

Deactivates a single plugin or multiple plugins.

  | 
| [is_wp_error()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_wp_error/)`wp-includes/load.php` |

Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.

  | 
| [WP_Error::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-error.php` |

Initializes the error.

  |

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## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/plugin_upgrader/deactivate_plugin_before_upgrade/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [4.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.1.0/) | Added a return value. | 
| [2.8.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.8.0/) | Introduced. |

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