Hi there and sorry for the delayed response.
We never faced this issue nor have we ever heard a similar issue being reported. If you deactivate wpDataTables it shouldn’t reactivate on its own. If you delete it, there is no way it can reinstall itself.
There’s definitely an issue present, but without looking at your site, we can’t say for sure.
Here are some potential causes for reactivation of the plugin:
- Another plugin or theme might be conflicting and causing the reactivation. This can happen if there is code that checks for and reactivates specific plugins;
- Corrupt or misconfigured database entries related to the plugin can sometimes cause it to reappear as active;
- Incorrect file permissions might prevent the deactivation process from completing properly, causing the plugin to appear reactivated;
- Custom code added to the theme’s functions.php file or a custom plugin could be written to automatically reactivate certain plugins.
And here are some potential causes for being unable to delete the plugin:
- Insufficient file permissions on the server can prevent the deletion of plugin files. Ensure that the
wp-content/plugins directory and its subdirectories have the correct permissions;
- Sometimes files might be locked by the server or in use by another process, preventing them from being deleted;
- If a plugin wasn’t properly deactivated, remnants of it might prevent deletion. This includes incomplete removal of plugin-related database entries or files;
- The server configuration, such as mod_security rules or other security measures, could block the deletion of certain files.
While we can’t provide you with our direct assistance through this forum, we can advise some troubleshooting steps:
- Ensure that the
wp-content/plugins directory has appropriate permissions (typically 755 for directories and 644 for files);
- Temporarily disable all other plugins to check if one of them is causing the issue;
- Switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-One) to rule out theme-related issues;
- Try manually deleting the plugin files via FTP or your hosting control panel’s file manager;
- Review your server error logs for any clues about why the plugin might be reactivating or why it cannot be deleted.
By systematically checking these potential causes, you should be able to identify and resolve the issue of the plugin reactivating itself or encountering errors during deletion but if that’s not the case, please feel free to reach out to our technical support team (link accessible through our official website) and they’ll gladly assist you with this.
