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How to Remove All-in-One WP Migration When WordPress Won’t Load

by | WordPress Maintenance

I’ve encountered an issue on multiple occasions where I will try to remove the All-in-One WP Migration plugin from a WordPress site, and then the site will act odd (certain Elementor elements won’t load) or it will be unable to load the admin area altogether.

Here’s how I fix it:

1. Browse to the wp-content folder of the website files on the server, then delete the ai1wm-backups folder.

2. Open the plugins folder, then delete the all-in-one-wp-migration folder

3. To be safe in the troubleshooting process, temporarily disable the plugins directory by adding an underscore in front of it.

4. Open the wp_options table in the website database, and delete any rows that start with ai1wm.

5. This should be enough, unless your site is HTTPS://, in which case you will need to switch the following 2 lines in the wp_options table to HTTP://

6. At this point, you should be able to hit the homepage of your website at HTTP://, as well as the admin page (typically at /wp-admin). I found that I needed to enter my credentials twice, but then I could get in.

7. Save permalinks one, then hit save on General Settings, then save permalinks again. Such is the ritual of every WordPress developer to promote good luck and fertility.

8. Browse to the main page by hitting http://yoursitename.com?ver=1 to clear any browser/server cache and allow yourself to see the (hopeful) fruits of your labour.

9. If all is looking good, you can rename your plugins directory back to its regular name, then one-by-one enable your usual website plugins. It is best to test the front-end and back-end of the website after each plugin is enabled, just to ensure there’s not a conflict with one of them you weren’t aware of.

Important Notes:

  • I discovered later that this issue may have been caused by running Velvet Blues URL renamer in addition to Really Simple SSL Plugin – this is not necessary. Best to let the SSL plugin do its thing and leave the GUIDs be on their happy way without mortal intervention.