How to Upgrade WordPress
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008Upgrading WordPress can be a little daunting, but it’s really not that hard. Here are the steps, broken down, with a video at the end showing you a WordPress upgrade in action. Please read all the steps first and then watch the video, as you will probably get more out of the video that way. 
- Step 1: Backup your Blog. This is without a doubt the most important step. If you have a good backup, then you’re safe even if you totally mess things up. Do not skip this step, really. Here is a whole post showing how to use a plugin to backup your whole blog automatically. Make sure you’ve completed a backup and downloaded the backup before you proceed.
- Step 2: Deactivate all your Plugins. Just go to “Plugins” in your WP Admin area and click to deactivate all your plugins. Newer versions of WP allow you to deactivate them all with one click. You may want to make a mental note of which plugins were activated so that you can reactivate the right ones.
- Step 3: Delete Old WordPress Core Files. Next, using an FTP program, delete all your old WordPress core files. (A core file is everything WordPress uses to run itelf, excepting theme, plugin, and uploaded files.) Using your FTP program, navigate to the folder where WordPress is installed: often public_html/blog (or just public_html if your blog is the only thing on your website). When you are deleting files, DO NOT DELETE TWO THINGS. First, do not delete the file named “wp-config.php.” This file contains the information for connecting to your database. Second, do not delete the entire folder named “wp-content.” This folder contains your themes, plugins, and uploaded images.
- Step 4: Get the Newest Version of WordPress. Go to this page, the WordPress download page, and download the newest version of WordPress.
- Step 5: Dummy-Proof Yourself. Once you’ve got your new zipped file with the latest version of WordPress, unzip it and dig around inside it until you find the “wp-content” folder. Since we left our copy of this on the server in step 3, we want to delete this folder so that we don’t upload and accidentally overwrite our themes, plugins, and uploaded pictures. Delete the folder. You can also delete the file “wp-config-sample.php” if you want, although it is not necessary. But do delete the “wp-content” folder.
- Step 6: Upload the New Version. Next, we’re going to use our FTP program to upload the new version to our server. To do this, grab all the file and folders INSIDE the unzipped WordPress folder (which now should be missing the “wp-content” folder) and upload them into the main directory where your blog lives on your server. DO NOT upload the whole folder you downloaded from WordPress, called “wordpress.” You want to upload the files inside of that folder into the same directory where your blog is installed on your server. For a lot of people, if your web address is “http://www.myphotosite.com/blog/” that will be inside a folder called “blog” which is inside a folder called “public_html” or “www”. If your blog is your whole website, with an address something like “http://www.myphotoblog.com” then these file need to be uploaded into your “public_html” or “www” folder. Sometimes these names aren’t the same for everyone, so yours may be slightly different. Uploading can take a few minutes, so be patient. There are lots of little files to upload.
- Step 7: Upgrade your Database. Most, but not all, WordPress upgrades also do a little tweaking of your database. To upgrade your database, all you have to do is try to login to your blog after completing steps 1-6. If a database upgrade is required, you will be prompted to click a link saying its ok to upgrade. Go ahead and click to let it upgrade, safe in the confidence that even if something went terribly wrong, you have already backed up your database. When it finishes, you’re all set, except for…
- Step 8: Reactivate your Plugins. This is basically just step 2 in reverse. Just go to “Plugins” and reactivate the ones you were using. You may need to re-set some of the settings in your plugins, it is possible your settings were lost during upgrade. NOTE: if your comments don’t seem to be working after you upgrade, make sure you have reactivated the Ajaxed-WordPress plugin and retweaked it. Directions can be found here.
That’s basically it. Now, watch this video to see me do all the steps above, and give it a go!
NOTE: if you’re upgrading from WP 2.3.3 or lower to 2.5.x or higher, you may have to follow the directions here to fix a little bug with a new max picture width setting in WP 2.5.x.
Other helpful resources: Using a FTP program, Understanding Folders and Directories, Backing up Your Blog, Max picture width problem.
