To disable activation workflow but to make sure that activation of component variants and the versioning feature work, you should set your configuration in /modules/pages/commands as follows:

Node nameValue

 
commands


    

 
website


        

 
activate


            

 
version


                

 
enabled

true

                

 
class

info.magnolia.commands.impl.VersionCommand

            

 
activate


                

 
commandName

personalizationActivation

                

 
class

info.magnolia.commands.DelegateCommand

        

 
deactivate


            

 
commandName

versioned-deactivate

            

 
class

info.magnolia.commands.DelegateCommand


See Disabling activation workflow in our documentation.