Bulk remove product variation images in Woocommerce

in Woocommerce (3.5.1 in my case), is it possible to remove all variation-specific images, so the image doesn’t change when the user chooses a variation in the product page ?

I want this

instead of that

in the whole site.

Answer

You can bulk remove all product variation images bulk making a direct SQL query using phpMyAdmin for example (before backup your database):

UPDATE wp_postmeta as pm
JOIN wp_posts AS p ON pm.post_id = p.ID
SET pm.meta_value = ''
WHERE p.post_status = 'publish'
AND p.post_type = 'product_variation'
AND pm.meta_key = '_thumbnail_id'

Or you can use this light SQL query in a custom built-in function to remove all the variations images (or optionally only to a related parent variable product ID):

function remove_all_variations_images( $parent_id = 0 ){
    global $wpdb;

    $one_parent = $parent_id === 0 ? "" : "AND p.post_parent = $parent_id";

    return $wpdb->query("
        UPDATE {$wpdb->prefix}postmeta as pm
        JOIN {$wpdb->prefix}posts AS p ON pm.post_id = p.ID
        SET pm.meta_value = ''
        WHERE p.post_status = 'publish'
        AND p.post_type = 'product_variation'
        AND pm.meta_key = '_thumbnail_id' 
        $one_parent
    ");
}

Code goes in function.php file of your active child theme (or active theme).

USAGE (before backup your database):

1. For all variations images in bulk you will add to your function.php file:

   remove_all_variations_images();
   

   Then save and browse any page of your site. Then remove it once finish.

---

2. For one specific variable product (let say variable product ID 72):

   remove_all_variations_images(72);
   

   Then save and browse any page of your site. Then remove it once finish.