WordPress Tip: Remove WLW and RSD Link

This post on WordPress.org’s support forum wraps it up well, but here’s the downlow about it. But specifically, the post you should read is near the end.

By default, WordPress adds two lines of code in the wp_head() function call.

<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://example.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd" />
<link rel="wlwmanifest" type="application/wlwmanifest+xml" href="http://example.com/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml" />


These two lines are essentially useless to most people. The wlwmanifest.xml is the resource file needed to enable tagging support for Windows Live Writer (Windows-only).

And, well, the RSD link you don’t really need either; I’ve never used it.

What is the solution to remove these two lines?

There are two options.

First Solution

Create a plugin with the following code

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: WLW Disabler
*/
remove_action('wp_head', 'wlwmanifest_link');
remove_action('wp_head', 'rsd_link');
?>

OR…

Second Solution

Add these few lines of code to your functions.php theme file

<?php
remove_action('wp_head', 'wlwmanifest_link');
remove_action('wp_head', 'rsd_link');
?>

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After using either of these solutions, it will eliminate the few lines of code from automatically being hooked into the wp_head() call.