How to Remove W3 Total Cache Plugin : A Practical Approach

W3 Total Cache Plugin is one of the best plugins, used to improve the performance of the server, optimizing the web site and there by increasing the loading speed of the site.

At times due to various updates of themes or plugins, there come the compatibility issues and this plugin sometimes starts cranking. In such situations, it may attempt to uninstall the plugin and then re-install it.

Uninstallation of W3 Total Cache Plugin

Un-installation or removal of W3 Cache is not an easy task and in all probabilities, you may face some difficulties and the plugin will fail to be removed. So how to remove this plugin? A few days back I myself faced issues with this plugin while uninstalling it.

Recently I faced a serious problem with my WordPress Multisite Installation. Login to my admin control panel totally failed and repeated attempts with so many known tips could not bring any result. It was really a nerve wrecking situation.

However with great difficulty after disabling my all plugins I was finally able to login to the admin panel, I found the following W3 Total Cache error messages popping up.

W3 Total Cache Error: some files appear to be missing or out of place. Please re-install plugin or remove /home/public_html/wp-content/advanced-cache.php.
W3 Total Cache Error: some files appear to be missing or out of place. Please re-install plugin or remove /home/public_html/wp-content/db.php.
W3 Total Cache Error: some files appear to be missing or out of place. Please re-install plugin or remove /home/public_html/wp-content/object-cache.php.

Seeing this error, I thought some of the files seems have got corrupted, hence I must remove the W3 total cache plugin and then re-install it.

Manual Mode of Uninstallation

When I attempted to do so from the network/plugin panel, it failed to uninstall.

Repeated attempts from various other means to remove the W3 total plugin also brought no relief.

Hence I browsed the internet and found the procedure to uninstall and then re-install the plugin with some modifications. For the benefit of my all friends, therefore, I am enlisting the procedures to remove the Plugin.

Login to your cPanel.

Go to wp-content directory and remove advanced-cache.php, db.php and object-cache.php file completely.

Now to to Admin panel and deactivate the W3 Total Cache plugin manually.

Go to cPanel, browse to Plugin directory and if W3 Total Cache plugin exist, delete it.

Now try to delete or uninstall the W3 Total Cache plugin from the Admin panel.

If still it is not deleted you can further undertake the following steps.

Go to .htaccess file from the cPanel and edit it to check any code for W3 Total Cache. If they exist, delete them.

Go to Wp-config file and remove the line (define(‘WP_CACHE’, true) )

Hope these steps will solve the problem and you will be finally able to uninstall or remove or delete the W3 Total Cache plugin.

All the Best 🙂

W3 total Cache Plugin