Security & OpsSecurity & Ops
WordPress Plugin: Disable WordPress Core Update
Latest version: 1.4 – Released June 15th, 2025 Completely disables the core update checking system in WordPress 2.3 and higher.
Last reviewed
Description
It prevents WordPress from checking for updates, and prevents any notifications from being displayed in the admin area. Ideal for administrators of multiple WordPress installations.
Why would I want to disable it?
Most people should not disable this feature. It’s a fantastic feature of WordPress and I’m fully in support of it. However, administrators who maintain multiple installations of WordPress on behalf of other people (eg. clients, friends) may not want update notifications to be shown to the users of these installations. This plugin is for them.
Installation
This plugin is only for WordPress 2.3 and later. Earlier versions of WordPress did not have the core update notification system, therefore do not need this plugin.
Download the plugin using the link at the bottom of this page, unzip it and drop the folder straight into your wp-content/plugins directory. Activate it from WordPress’ Plugin panel.
Please note!
It’s very important that you keep your WordPress installation(s) up to date. If you don’t, your blog or website could be susceptible to security vulnerabilities. If you use this plugin, you must make sure you keep up to date with new WordPress releases and update your WordPress installation(s) as new versions are released.
Download
ZIP file from downloads.wordpress.org
You can also visit the plugin page on wordpress.org.
Any comments, questions, queries, suggestions, complaints, etc, please leave a comment below!
From the original thread
23 replies23 replies were left on this page between 2007 and 2025, kept as they were written. The avatars, profile links and reply form of the software that collected them are not part of this archive, and the addresses readers pasted are kept as text rather than as links.
Will
Sadly it is not working. :(
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/135647?replies=3#post-624375
Ludicrous
Will, this plugin is working. The support thread you link to is about the core functionality of WordPress.
Will
OK I understand now… Thanks!
Ludicrous
Version 1.2 released.
baron
hi. Thanks for plugin
perfect.
best Regards
Dgold
Awesomely important for my client’s sites / sites with authors.
The Admin already knows when WP needs to be updated. The admin gets emails and RSS from WordPress that informs us adequately.
When the yellow line popped up in my author’s admin, that was just scary and telling them to update software which they know nothing about. It actually said “Tell your admin to update”, which was aggravating.
Thank you for fixing this, with the plugin.
Ludicrous
Version 1.3 out which adds support for WordPress 2.8.
ovidiu
Man thanks for this great plugin!
enbe
Thanks for this great plugin. I use this on some sites. This should be implemented into wordpress by default, as most users only get nervous when they see the “update now” notification…
Joaquin L. Robles
Hi, awesome plugin, I found it pretty useful, but it would be very nice if we could choose wich wordpress roles won’t see the update alerts, because me as an admin would prefer to be noticed of new available updates but not my Authors, or Editors, for instance…
Rose
I was wondering if there was any way to donate to your site. This plugin rocks and I would love to contribute to your efforts!
Ludicrous
Thanks Rose! I don’t accept donations but your praise is very much appreciated and I’m glad you find this plugin useful. Don’t forget to check out my other plugins too.
Henk
Great, found your plugins while researching why there was a constant delay when initially loading a site I was working on.. Now From +/- 3 secs down to 0.65 now according to Yslow
I agree Joauin; it would be nice if it could distinguish between roles… but for now super! Tnx.
Thom
Thanks for this plugin. I didn’t even know you can disable this feature. Sometime when I upgrade my WordPress too soon, things get out of wack with other plugins. Now I can enable or disable at will. hehe cool.
Toronto Wordpress
Super great plugin. Thanks for sharing.
Cristian
OMG!!!
Thank you so much… this plugin is really nice…. love it!
roni
very nice plug in. thank you! just install and play right? no more modifications or anything?
Ludicrous
roni: Just plug and play!
Erwan
Nice plugin!
I just developed a plugin to disable plugin updates.
I’m sure this would be pretty useful because if you disable core updates, you might want to prevent your plugins from being updated.
Check it out: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/plugin-update-blocker/Danny
This plug-in WORKS FANTASTICALLY!!
The install process was a breeze, I activated it and POOF no more annoying updates for plug-ins and wp core stuff. This is a wonderful tool to keep your client’s WP build looking clean and neatDragisha
Great plugin, very useful for me because I modified lots of files at the website, and while update they are replaced with new..
Now I upgrade it every one-two months, and it works perfect!Rossi
Really great plugin for those of us who maintain a lot of WP installations. It works just perfect.
Thank you so much!
Dhanapal
Superb plugin. But there is one issue i found in this plugin.
Please add these lines to disable update menu under dashboard.add_action(‘admin_menu’, ‘remove_menus’);
function remove_menus()
{
global $submenu;
remove_submenu_page ( ‘index.php’, ‘update-core.php’ ); //Dashboard->Updates
}