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Upgrading a WordPress Blog

WordPress buttonUpgrading a WordPress blog can be a daunting task. I assume you have a copy of your WordPress blog on your local computer.



Upgrade Steps

  1. Get the latest version of WordPress. It will be in zip format which means the zip file needs to be expanded. I always name my downloads  wp-2.5.zip  or whatever version I am downloading.
  2. Back up WordPress (WP) code on your local drive. I create a separate folder called blogname-version (e.g. webdev-2.5.1) and copy the ENTIRE blog to it. This will include the .htaccess file, any custom images or custom modifications to WP you have made.
  3. Back up the WordPress database. I use a backup plug-in that emails me (or writes to the local drive) the MySQL database backup or check out backing up your WordPress database.
  4. Put the blog in maintenance mode using a maintenance mode plug-in. Any visitor is shown a maintenance screen while you are upgrading.
  5. Deactivate all plug-ins except the maintenance one.
  6. Do NOT delete these files and folders
    • wp-config.php file
    • wp-content folder
    • wp-../images folder
    • wp-includes/languages/ folder–if you are using a language file, do not delete this folder
    • .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. This would also include any custom ../images folder in your root directory.
    • Don’t delete favicon.ico or robots.txt if they exist.
  7. Delete the following files and folders on the server
    • 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.
    • wp-admin folder
    • wp-includes folder. If using a language file don’t 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.
  8. Delete all wp files on local side
  9. Copy the new WordPress source code to your local wp location.
  10. Make sure wp-config.php is filled out correctly. Compare to new wp-config-sample.php for any new or renamed fields.
  11. Upload all wp files to your blog site. I use Filezilla ftp program  because I have found it to be reliable, fast...and free. One advantage to using Expression Web to upload is there will be no conflicts.
  12. Run mydomain.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php to upgrade the database. If you cannot get out of maintenance mode, delete the maintenance mode plug-in on the server.
  13. Check the blog. It should work since it has no plug-ins activated; i.e. it is the WP upgrade
  14. Deactivate the maintenance mode plug-in. If you deleted it previously, upload it again.
  15. Reactivate plug-ins that require no modifications to the theme. (if a major upgrade, do it one at a time) and make sure they still work.
  16. Make modifications to the theme (i.e. PHP files), one at a time, for each plug-in that requires it.
  17. Click on Settings > Permalinks and click on Save Changes (even though you did not make any changes).

Tips

  1. Create a test blog and apply the upgrade to it before your real blogs
  2. For major upgrades you may want to wait until the first update (i.e. 2.5 -> 2.5.1) because there is generally several critical bug fixes.
  3. I always keep the last WP source code in case the one I download doesn't work right.

Advanced Tips

  1. If the upgrade is a fix (like 2.5 -> 2.5.1) I make a diff between the versions (using WinMerge). Then I overwrite the 2.5 version with the diff file for each of my blogs.