How to change WordPress theme outside of admin? Can't access dashboard

Question

I have extracted my theme via File Manager but it somehow crashed. I activated the theme and now I can not access my admin at /my-web/wp-admin/.

Is there another way to change my theme since I cannot access the admin?

Thanks.

Answer 1

There are a couple things you can do.

Option 1 - FTP

Easiest would be to FTP into your site and change the name of the currently active theme. Your themes are located in \wp-content\themes\. Temporarily changing the name will disable the theme. This should give you back access to the admin.

Option 2 - Database / PhpMyAdmin

You can also change the theme through the database, mostly likely via PhpMyAdmin.

There are 3 option rows in wp-options that you need to change. Once you change these it will change your theme.

• template – the “Theme Name” as defined in style.css
• stylesheet – the actual name of your theme folder
• current_theme - the actual name of your theme folder

FYI - You can run the following SQL to narrow down just those 3 rows

SELECT *
FROM wp_options
WHERE option_name = 'template'
OR option_name = 'stylesheet'
OR option_name = 'current_theme';