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How 2 Guide - Uninstalling Modifications & Plugins
by
11 Oct 2015
Uninstalling Modifications:
Note: On some occasions disabling the modification instead of uninstalling is best.
- Prepare yourself i.e. if you're uninstalling a modification it's best to know exactly what you're uninstalling.
- Run a backup of files and database beforehand.
When to disable versus uninstall?
Note: When you disable a mod the data remains within the database. When you uninstall a mod all data is removed permanently. *With that being said if you uninstall a mod due to whatever reason, you will not be able to retain any previous data.
Example: A Thanks mod for thanking people on certain posts, if you uninstall and later decide to re-install all user thanks will be gone SINCE you previously uninstalled the mod if however you disabled it and now upgrade the mod all previous data will upgrade with the new version of the mod and all users will still have their previous thanks amount.- If the mod only works on a certain version of vBulletin AND you're unsure if an upgrade will become available then you could retain the mod by simply disabling it.
- If the mod is a basic mod that generates no site specific and/or user data it can be uninstalled then re-installed at any time without the loss of data.
- If the mod has a security risk you can either disable it so it cannot be exploited (some can even if files remain so you could disable AND remove the files to be safer than usual) OR uninstall it completely (*Refer to the Note above, be sure you want to specifically uninstall instead of disabling knowing the difference can save you a headache later on if a mod was in fact required).
How to uninstall?
Note: Some mods have file uploads and some do not. The easiest way to know if it has file AND what those files are (since you remove all files associated with mods IF uninstalling) is to re-download the same version of the mod you have installed, within the .zip if it had files to upload all the files will be shown in the .zip and now you know what files to remove. IF the mod is no longer available you can inquire for assistance or for file names themselves from the community on vbulletin.org.
*We strongly advise against using warez/nulled sites for downloads as they can be compromised or you yourself by utilizing such sites and on top of that most are providing scripts, files, and much more without permission and are usually in violation of the law by conducting illegal activity be careful!
*Mods in the modification graveyard can be there for various reasons be sure to check the last few pages of the thread to see if a reason was given as to why it was removed. Mods that were removed from vbulletin.org via being moved to the graveyard may still be available elsewhere such as the authors site otherwise if it's in the graveyard on vbulletin.org AND the company went belly up you must rely on Google and other searches to find the file names associated with the mod.
Directions:
> AdminCP > Plugins & Products > Manage Products > *Now to the right of each mod listed is a drop-down, select to disable OR uninstall the mod in question.
Note: The mods title on the left is a hyperlink. Hovering above the mods title on the left will reveal the url of the mod on vbulletin.org or the authors site, click it to view and possibly download the .zip required to know what files should be removed.
- If a mod has no files associated with it and only an .xml file was present then no further cleanup is required i.e. a mod with only an .xml will not have files that need to be removed.
- Some mods have manual file edits to default vBulletin files required before use, be sure you read any readme.txt or readme.html files to ensure that you remove all customization's (easiest way to revert custom changes in a file is to overwrite the default vBulletin file with a fresh file of the same version). Another example would be changes to .htaccess in which case you should remove any custom additions and only retain what is required in a typical .htaccess file.
- If you're unsure about which files to delete (for example if you could not find a download of the modification and are using your best judgement to clean old files from your site) you can CHMOD them to 000 which makes them unusable by the server in a sense if the file was required you will see some form of error on your forum in which case you now know the file was not a file to be removed and can CHMOD it back to the previous CHMOD permission value. *Only CHMOD the files to 000 AFTER uninstalling the modification from the product manager If you CHMOD files to 000 before you uninstall the product it WILL produce errors respectively.
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