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Overview of the Upgrade Process

• Step 1: Back up your database
• Step 2: Back up ALL your WordPress files
• Step 3: Verify the backups
• Step 4: Deactivate ALL your Plugins
• Step 5: Ensure first four steps are completed
• Step 6: Download and extract the WordPress package
• Step 7: Delete the old WordPress files
• Step 8: Upload the new files
• Step 9: Run the WordPress upgrade program
• Step 10: Update Permalinks and .htaccess
• Step 11: Install updated Plugins and Themes
• Step 12: Reactivate Plugins
• Step 13: Add security key definitions to the wp-config.php file
• Step 14: Review what has changed in WordPress

Detailed Instructions

Step 1: Back up your database

Perform a backup of your database. All of your WordPress data, such as Users, Posts, Pages, Links, and Categories, are stored in your MySQL database. Please read Backing Up Your Database for a detailed explanation of this process.

It is extremely important to back up your database before beginning the upgrade. If, for some reason, you find it necessary to revert back to the ‘old’ version of WordPress, you may have to restore your database from these backups.

Step 2: Back up ALL your WordPress files

Back up ALL of your files in your WordPress directory and your .htaccess file. Typically, this process involves using an FTP program to download ALL your WordPress files from your host to your local computer. Please read Backing Up Your WordPress Site for further explanation.

If you have made changes to any core WordPress files, or if you’ve got customized Plugins or Themes, you will want to have a good backup of those files. It is extremely important to back up your files before beginning the upgrade. If for some reason you find it necessary to revert back to the ‘old’ version of WordPress you will need to upload these files.

Step 3: Verify the backups

Verify that the backups you created are there and usable. This is the most important step in the upgrade process! The verification process involves making sure you can see the backup files on your local computer (or wherever you’ve stored them) and that you can navigate into any sub-folders. If the files are in a zip file, make sure you can open the zip file. Also consider opening a .sql file in an editor to see if the tables and data are represented.

Step 4: Deactivate ALL your Plugins

In your Administration panel, under the Plugins choice, deactivate any Plugins. Because of the changes to WordPress, some Plugins may conflict with the upgrade process.

Step 5: Ensure first four steps are completed

If you have not completed the first four procedures, STOP, and do them! Do not attempt the upgrade unless you have completed the first four steps.

Step 6: Download and extract the WordPress package

Download and unzip the WordPress package from http://wordpress.org/download/.

• If you will be uploading WordPress to a remote web server, download the WordPress package to your computer with your favorite web browser and unzip the package.
• If you have shell access to your web server, and are comfortable using console-based tools, you may wish to download WordPress directly to your web server. You can do so using wget , lynx or another console-based web browser, which are valuable if you want to avoid FTPing. Place the package in a directory parallel to your current wordpress directory (like “uploads,” for example). Then, unzip it using: gunzip -c wordpress-2.8.6.tar.gz | tar -xf – or by using: tar -xzvf latest.tar.gz

The WordPress package will be extracted into a folder called wordpress.

Step 7: Delete the old WordPress files

Why Delete? Generally, it is a good idea to delete whatever is possible because the uploading (or upgrading through cPanel) process may not correctly overwrite an existing file and that may cause problems later.

DO NOT DELETE THESE FOLDERS AND FILES

• wp-config.php file;
• wp-content folder;
• wp-images folder–only older installations from 1.5.x days will have this folder;
• wp-includes/languages/ folder–if you are using a language file, and it is here rather than in wp-content/languages/, do not delete this folder (you might want to move your language files to wp-content/languages/ for easier upgrading in the future);.
• .htaccess file–if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess, do not delete it;
• Custom Content and/or Plugins–if you have any images or other custom content or Plugins inside the wp-content folder, do NOT delete them.

DELETE THIS FILES AND FOLDERS:

• wp-* (except for those above), readme.html, wp.php, xmlrpc.php, and license.txt; files; Typically files in your root or wordpress folder. Again, don’t delete the wp-config.php file. Note: some files such as wp.php may not exist in later versions such as 2.7.
• wp-admin folder;
• wp-includes folder; If you have a language file here, remember not to delete the wp-includes/languages/ folder
• wp-content/cache folder; You only see this folder if you are upgrading FROM WordPress 2.0.
• wp-content/plugins/widgets folder; You only see this folder if you previously installed the Sidebar Widgets plugin. The Sidebar Widgets code conflicts with the built-in widget ability.

Step 8: Upload the new files

With the new upgrade on your local computer, and using FTP, upload the new files to your site server just as you did when you first installed WordPress. See Using FileZilla and Uploading WordPress to a remote host for detailed guidelines in using an FTP Client to upload.

NOTE: If you did not delete the wp-content folder, you will need to overwrite some files during the upload.

The wp-content folder holds your WordPress Themes and Plugins. These should remain. Upload everything else first, then upload only those WordPress files that are new or changed to your new wp-content folder. Overwrite any old versions of default plugins with the new ones.

The WordPress default theme has changed so you will want to upload the wp-content/themes/default folder. If you have custom changes to the default theme, those changes will need to be reviewed and installed after the upgrade.

Step 9: Run the WordPress upgrade program

Using a web browser, go to the WordPress admin pages at the normal /wp-admin location. WordPress will check to see if a database upgrade is necessary, and if it is, it will give you a new link to follow.

This link will lead you to run the WordPress upgrade script by accessing wp-admin/upgrade.php. Follow the instructions presented on your screen.

Note: Make sure the database user name registered to WordPress has permission to create, modify, and delete database tables before you do this step. If you installed WordPress in the standard way, and nothing has changed since then, you are fine.

If you want to run the upgrade script manually:

• If WordPress is installed in the root directory, point your browser to: http://example.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php
• If WordPress is installed in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, point your browser to: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/upgrade.php

If you experience difficulties with login after your upgrade, it is worth clearing your browser’s cookies.

Step 10: Update Permalinks and .htaccess

In your Administration > Settings > Permalinks panel update your Permalink Structure and, if necessary, place the rules in your .htaccess file. Also see Using Permalinks for details regarding Permalinks and the .htaccess file.

Step 11: Install updated Plugins and Themes

Please review the Plugin Compatibility List and Theme Compatibility List, or plugin/theme authors, to find plugins and themes compatible with your new WordPress version. Upload and install new versions of your Plugins and Themes, if necessary.

Step 12: Reactivate Plugins

Use your Administration Panel, Plugins, to activate your Plugins. If your plugins do not appear on the Plugin Compatibility List and you are not sure if they will work correctly with the new version, activate each plugin, one at a time, and test that there are no problems before continuing.

Step 13: Add security key definitions to the wp-config.php file

Generate them online via: https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/

Step 14: Review what has changed in WordPress

Please review these resources to see what’s new in WordPress.

4 Responses so far.

1. Julian says:

   17 February, 2010 at 10:57 AM

   Wui.. advance sudah lah knowledge wordpress ko.. sia masih lagi teda up2.. maklumlah kerja sama ja di TWG.. =x
2. Monie says:

   17 February, 2010 at 11:24 AM

   As a matter of fact, I am trying my best to MASTER the CMS and trying to develop my very own theme. If you have interest at something, go ahead make your life interesting. Thanks for the credit!
3. Greg Barranca says:

   26 April, 2010 at 2:00 PM

   Hey, I found your blog while searching on Google your post looks very interesting for me. I will bookmark your site. Keep up the good work!
4. Monie says:

   20 June, 2010 at 6:49 AM

   Thanks Greg! My next post will be about Domain Sharding function. Stay tuned for that!