How to programmatically uncheck 'Generate automatic URL alias' option for all nodes

$node->path['pathauto'] = FALSE;

You need to delete the existing aliases from the url_alias table as well as turning off pathauto for the node.

function my_module_update_7001() {
  $nodes = node_load_multiple(array(), array('type' => 'my_node_type'));
  foreach ($nodes as $node) {
    $deleted = db_delete('url_alias')
    ->condition('source', 'node/' . $node->nid)
    ->execute();
    $node->path = array('alias' => 'my_new_alias', 'pathauto' => 0);
    node_save($node);
  }
}

I don't know how this will interact with your entity metadata, but I found that setting pathauto to 0 didn't work until I deleted the old aliases too.

Is there any way of programmatically unchecking 'Generate automatic URL alias' option for all nodes WITHOUT saving?
Because saving could invoke other mechanism, and updates the modified date etc.

The reason we are looking into this is to stop the relationship between the Title and the path after a day...

In $node (Object) there isn't a $node->path property.

The only thing I may advice to you is this:
the 'Generate automatic URL alias' option is checked if the node alias value is equal to the result of pathauto pattern only, i.e.

[node-title] -> this is the 'pattern' for node-type=page
My test page -> this is the title of my page

if and only if the alias value is 'my-test-page', then the 'Generate automatic URL alias' is checked, otherwise it doesn't.

You can go to check pathauto.module pathauto_field_attach_form()

if (!isset($entity->path['pathauto'])) {
    if (!empty($id)) {
      module_load_include('inc', 'pathauto');
      $uri = entity_uri($entity_type, $entity);
      $path = drupal_get_path_alias($uri['path'], $langcode);
      $pathauto_alias = pathauto_create_alias($entity_type, 'return', $uri['path'], array($entity_type => $entity), $bundle, $langcode);
      $entity->path['pathauto'] = ($path != $uri['path'] && $path == $pathauto_alias);
    }
    else {
      $entity->path['pathauto'] = TRUE;
    }
  }

This shows that this option only detect whether the entity alias stored in database is the same as pathauto generates.

If not, Then it will be FALSE. Or it will show TRUE.

For you I think you just don't want using pathauto function.

Tip1:Turn pathauto module off will help you.

Tip2:Go to /admin/config/search/path/patterns, Delete the alias pattern for the specify entity type.

You can choose one of the tips, that should work.

Thx

The code by bfodeke will definitely work and may be preferable depending on how strict you need to be with disabling alias generation.

We wanted to share an alternate approach that's a little less restrictive. For us, the two issues with the node_presave approach were...

1) "Generate automatic URL alias" checkbox stays checked until second save.

We wanted the checkbox to be off after the first save since a path already exists.

2) Automatic URL alias functionality is lost after first save.

If "Generate automatic URL alias" is manually re-checked, this would not do anything. We still wanted automatic alias generation to work if someone explicitly checked the box. (An example: In the event of a total rewrite of the entity title, auto generation could be nicer than manually typing the new path.)

---

With the above issues and goals in mind, we wrote a custom after_build function to check for a path pid. If one exists “Generate automatic URL alias" will be unchecked.

End result: "Generate automatic URL alias" checkbox will always be UNCHECKED if a path exists for that node/entity OR if the user has explicitly re-checked it.

The code...

/**
 * Implements hook_form_alter().
 */
function MYMODULE_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id) {
  $form['#after_build'][] = 'MYMODULE_after_build';
}

/**
 * Custom after build function
 */
function MYMODULE_after_build($form, &$form_state) {
  // Unchecks Generate automatic URL alias if path exists
  if (isset($form['path']['pathauto']) && $form['path']['pid']['#value']) {
    $form['path']['pathauto']['#checked'] = FALSE;
  } 
  return $form;
}

• Go to 'admin/config/search/path/settings'
• In Update action section, select Do nothing. Leave the old alias intact. option.
• And save the configuration.

This way you can uncheck 'Generate automatic URL alias' option for all nodes instead of any form alters (using Path auto module - version 7.x-1.2).

Anyone looking to do this with Drupal 8 the following db query seem to do the job

UPDATE key_value SET value = 'i:0;' WHERE collection = 'pathauto_state.node' AND value = 'i:1;';

I put this method together based on Pathauto internals.

You can select your entities using an Entity Query, passing the $entity and $state = PathautoState::SKIP to disable.

  protected function setPathautoState(EntityInterface $entity, $state) {
    $collection = 'pathauto_state.' . $entity->getEntityTypeId();
    $state_key = PathautoState::getPathautoStateKey($entity->id());
    if ($state == PathautoState::CREATE) {
      $pattern = \Drupal::service('pathauto.generator')->getPatternByEntity($entity);
      if (empty($pattern)) {
        return; // don't set if there's no pattern
      }
    }
    \Drupal::keyValue($collection)->set( $state_key, $state );
    print("{$collection} {$state_key} {$state}\n"); // debug
  }