How to Fix “Add New Plugin” Option Not Showing in WordPress

If the “Add New Plugin” option is missing in your WordPress instance, the issue may be caused by one of the following reasons.

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Possible Causes and Solutions

1. WordPress is Set to Multisite Mode

In a Multisite (Network) setup, the “Plugins” menu is restricted. You can check and disable Multisite with the following steps.

How to Check

1. Log in to the admin panel (http://YOUR_DOMAIN/wp-admin)
2. Check if “Network Admin” appears in the left menu.

Solution (Disable Multisite Mode)

Modify wp-config.php to revert to a single-site installation.

1. Connect to your instance via SSH
2. Edit wp-config.php sudo nano /YOURDIRECTORY/wp-config.php
3. Comment out or remove the following Multisite settings: define('MULTISITE', true); define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false); define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'your-domain.com'); define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/'); define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1); define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1); After modification: // define('MULTISITE', true); // define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false); // define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'your-domain.com'); // define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/'); // define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1); // define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
4. Save and exit (Ctrl + X → Y → Enter)
5. Restart Apache sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache
6. Log back into WordPress → Check if “Add New Plugin” appears.

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2. User Role is Not “Administrator”

If your WordPress user role is Editor or another lower role instead of Administrator, you won’t be able to manage plugins.

How to Check

1. Go to the Admin Dashboard (/wp-admin/)
2. Navigate to “Users” → “Your Profile”
3. Check the “Role” field → It should be Administrator.

Solution (Change User Role to Administrator)

Modify the user role directly in MySQL:

1. Connect to your Lightsail instance via SSH
2. Access MySQL mysql -u root -p
3. Select your WordPress database USE YOUR_WORDPRESS_DB;
4. Check the current user role SELECT user_login, meta_value FROM wp_usermeta WHERE meta_key = 'wp_capabilities';
5. If meta_value is not a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}, update it with: UPDATE wp_usermeta SET meta_value = 'a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}' WHERE meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' AND user_id = 1;
6. Exit MySQL EXIT;
7. Log back in and check if “Add New Plugin” appears.

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3. DISALLOW_FILE_MODS is Enabled in wp-config.php

If plugin installation is disabled at the system level, this setting might be the cause.

How to Check and Fix

1. Connect to the server via SSH
2. Open wp-config.php: sudo nano /YOURDIRECTORY/wp-config.php
3. Find the following line and change true to false, or remove it: define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); After modification: define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', false);
4. Save and exit (Ctrl + X → Y → Enter)
5. Restart Apache sudo /YOURDIRECTORY/ctlscript.sh restart apache
6. Check if the “Add New Plugin” option appears.

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4. File Permission Issues

Incorrect file or directory permissions can prevent plugin installation.

Solution

Run the following commands to set the correct permissions:

sudo find /YOURDIRECTORY/wordpress -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \\;
sudo find /YOURDIRECTORY/wordpress -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \\;

Restart Apache:

sudo /YOURDIRECTORY/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Log back into WordPress and check if the plugin menu appears.

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Summary

Cause	Solution
Multisite Mode Restriction	Disable MULTISITE in wp-config.php
User Lacks Admin Rights	Modify wp_capabilities in MySQL
DISALLOW_FILE_MODS is Set to True	Change it to false in wp-config.php
File Permission Issues	Use chown and chmod to fix

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Priority Steps to Try First

1. Open wp-config.php and check/fix MULTISITE settings.
2. Change DISALLOW_FILE_MODS to false in wp-config.php.
3. Verify and update wp_capabilities in MySQL to ensure the user is an Administrator.

If the issue persists after these steps, check .htaccess rules and Apache settings.