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Updated on Sep 10, 2019
Keeping your WordPress installation up to date is a mandatory if you would like to preserve your website bugfree and also secured with the most recent security fixes and updates from the WordPress team.
In this tutorial you will find the following information:
Usually, WordPress updates are speedy and easy to make. Making a lot of small updates frequently minimizes both the risks associated with running an older version of WordPress and the possible risks of breaking your website or losing data during updating.
However, according to statistics, only 39% of users are running the latest version, and from the rest, 0.18% are using versions below 3.7. That specific WordPress version is an important milestone as it marks the introduction of the Automatic Background Updates and safe updating mechanisms that came with it. It is generally considered more reliable to update from version 3.7 to the latest version than to do updates from a version before it. Still, we would suggest that you build a habit of creating backups, even when doing minor updates to be on the safe side.
If you are running an ancient version of WordPress like version 0.7 or version 2, for example, you can update directly to the latest version with the below-mentioned guide. However, we advise you to update to the next major version until you get to 3.7 and then use the 1-click dashboard update to complete the entire process. That way, especially if you have a lot of data on your website, you will be able to monitor the updating process in detail. You can check between each update if every feature on your website works as intended.
.htaccess
file which is very important for your website correct operation.As we have already established, updating should not be taken as a chore which you must do every few months. Instead, think of it as something you should look forward to. The benefits are tremendous, and it only cost a small fraction of your time. Below we have provided some additional statistics which should sway you to team Update if you haven't joined already:
functions.php
, admin.php
, .htaccess
, and wp-config.php
. These files control access to your website, link structure, database and files interactions, your settings, the admin dashboard functionality, features usable on your website, and many more. Unlike plugins and themes, you cannot remove core files as they are an integral part of your WordPress Installation.There are a few ways to update your WordPress installation, which range in complexity and are useful in different situations.
WordPress 3.7 introduced an easy to use updater, which will take you directly to the current version with a single click. This updating process is safer, and it is possible to one-click update from 3.7 to any later version.
If you just manually update from version 0.7 to version 5.2 and something break, you will have a hard time finding which iteration of WordPress introduced the conflict which is responsible for this behavior. But as version 3.7 is a lot similar to newer versions than 0.7 it is possible to get that one-click update.
If you still think updating is hard, just click on the "Please update now" link to intiiate the update procedure.
You will be reminded to backup your files and database, so if you've already done that you can click on Update Now to continue.
After a few seconds, you will see the welcome screen of WordPress inviting you to check the newest features for your website.
Currently, you can update past 281 releases since version 3.7 with a single click.
As many of our customers use Softaculous to install WordPress and create their websites, it might not come as a surprise that Softaculous also provides updates similar to the 1-click dashboard update. To initiate an update that way, navigate to your cPanel → Softaculous. If there is an available update for your website, you will see a reminder for it in your dashboard. Click on it, and you will be directed to all of your Softaculous App Installations.
Click on the blue arrows update button to get into the update interface for that particular installation.
In this window, you will be able to select the exact version to which you want to update. Note that latest versions are not always available on the day of release in Softaculous. Here you will also be able to create a Backup to which you can revert.
Note that in some cases, you might have to force the update as Softaculous will provide you with the following message.
Check the Forcefully Upgrade box and click Update again.
To help you with updating, the folks over at WordPress have provided an extensive release archive which contains 36 branches, 363 releases, and 505 beta/RC releases. That means that by manually updating your website, you have better control over the process compared to 1-click and automatic updates.
You can download the version to which you want to upgrade via the link mentioned above. Click on the .zip link if you're going to upload the files via FTP later.
If you are going to use SSH, you can download the file directly into your hosting account, thus skipping step 3 by utilizing the following command:
wget https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.2.3.tar.gz
In this case, version 5.2.3 will be downloaded as a tar.gz
file which you can then decompress by using:
tar -xzvf wordpress-5.2.3.tar.gz
This action will extract the contents of the package to a folder called "wordpress".
Note that SSH access is also available via your cPanel's Terminal feature. If you want to use a client, you can always utilize PuTTy, MTPutty, or another client of your choice. For more information on that client, visit our "How to use PuTTy" tutorial.
What you have to do with the files, is transfer them in the root directory of your WordPress. If your website is accessed just via just your domain, then your root folder will be public_html.
However, if you have installed the platform in a subfolder, you will have to navigate to that specific folder.
Working with FTP
The process of uploading files is considered a basic FTP client action. If you are not sure how to utilize an FTP client for transferring files, you should check our FTP client guide.
While overwriting errors are rare, you can avoid them completely by first preparing your current WordPress directory and removing some of the files. Let us split the files in your installation in two groups.
Delete these Files and Folders:
readme.html
, wp.php
, xmlrpc.php
, and license.txt
files;DO NOT DELETE these folders and files:
wp-config.php
file;.htaccess
file;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.
WP-CLI is useful for managing your WordPress websites from the command line. That is useful if you manage a lot of websites for you or your clients making WP-CLI the preferred tool for developers.
WP-CLI Version
Our FastCloud hosting plans utilize the latest version of WP-CLI
Firstly, you will have to access your hosting account via SSH. Then you will have to navigate to the root directory of your website:
cd /home/user/public_html/yourwebsite
Be sure to replace the user and yourwebsite with your actual data, then run this command to check if there is an available update for WordPress:
wp core check-update
The output from that command will indicate the available update:
| version | update_type | package_url
| 5.2.3 | major | https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-5.2.3.zip
If you are already using the latest version, you will see this message - "Success: WordPress is at the latest version."
To update to the latest version use:
wp core update
The following output confirms the update was successful:
Updating to version 5.2.3 (en_US)... Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-5.2.3-no-content.zip... Unpacking the update... Cleaning up files... No files found that need cleaning up. Success: WordPress updated successfully.
If you are experiencing issues such as WP-CLI reporting that your website is up to date when it is actually not, you can force the update to a certain version using:
wp core update --version=5.2.3 --force
Just change 5.2.3 with the version to which you want to update your website.
You can also update only to a minor version of a specific release branch. For example, the following command will update your WordPress to version 4.9.10, which is the last release before branch 5.0:
wp core update --version=4.9 ../latest.zip
Lastly, if you only wish to update to a minor version, use:
wp core update --minor
This command will update 5.2.2 to 5.2.3 instead of 5.3.
When automatic updating was introduced to WordPress, there was a lot of debates on how beneficial it will be and how it compared to manual updating in terms of pros and cons.
Since WordPress 3.7 and higher, the CMS can check for minor updates every 12 hours and update itself automatically. That can be used to save you a lot of time if you are managing multiple WordPress installations. Also useful in case you don't want to miss the smaller but still essential security updates which come with minor versions.
As with most features on the platform, this too can be altered. For example, if you also want to have automatic updates for major version changes, you can do that via the wp-config.php by adding:
define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true);
The automatic updates are enabled by default unless you have made the installation via Softaculous without checking the box. But if you want to disable them, you still can do that by adding:
define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true);
While not recommended, some users may find this option attractive, due to the planned and uninterrupted workflow which manual updating provides.
Of course, not every website owner feels comfortable editing the core files of the application he uses. That is why there are several plugins that can help you control your update settings. One of the most popular ones is the Easy Updates Manager, and the name fits pretty well.
With it, you can make changes to core, plugin, and theme update behavior. You can disable all updates or enable automatic background updates with single clicks and no file code editing.
Persistent "Another update is currently in process" - You might see this error if you are working on a team project in which there are more than one administrator role users configured in WordPress. If two or more administrators try to initiate updates (can be core, plugin, or theme) at the same time, only one of the update process will start. The other admins will receive this error message. That is a defense mechanism that locks the database when an update is initiated. That is done to protect it from a possible conflict in case another update tries to modify the same records at the same time.
While this is a great way to protect the database from faulty tables as the lock is configured to remove itself once the update has finished or 15 minutes have passed, sometimes the message will persist.
In this case, you will need two remove the lock yourself, and there are two ways you can do that.
The first and more accessible way is by using the Fix Another Update In Progress plugin. Install and activate it, click on the newly created button in your dashboard's settings section and then hit the "Fix WordPress Update Lock".
Utilizing phpMyAdmin and running a query in your database. We have a great tutorial on "How to use phpMyAdmin" which you should check out if you have no prior experience with this database administration tool.
Select your WordPress database in phpMyAdmin and click on the wp_options
table. Note that if you have multiple installations, this table will likely have two more characters after wp so it may look like this - wpfg_options.
Now find the option name core_updater.lock
and click on the Delete button next to it. Now go back to your dashboard and hit refresh to get the error removed from it.
Note that if you cannot find the core_updater.lock
option or if after removing it the issue persists, you should repair the wp_options
table. Such repairs can be done via a plugin or directly from within phpMyAdmin by selecting the table and choosing Repair Table from the "With selected" drop-down menu at the bottom of the page.
Scrambled Content and UI - If the content of your blog is not in order after an update, you will likely have to deactivate all of your plugins and re-enable them one by one. By using this technique, you will find the plugin which is messing with your website's layout. Update the plugin if possible or find an alternative one, and don't forget to report the issue to the authors of the plugin, especially if it is a well maintained one.
WordPress Multisite Network Update Freeze - If you are trying to update a Multisite installation to version 5.x.x the process might get stuck (usually at "Preparing to install the latest version") indefinitely. That can happen when a default theme is not installed alongside the active theme as WordPress needs a theme it can switch to in case things go south when updating. Simply install a backup theme so WordPress can proceed with the update.
Stuck in Maintenance Mode - When you initiate an update, WordPress will automatically put your website in maintenance mode to prevent users from viewing uncompleted content. Usually, as updates require seconds, this happens very fast, and your visitors don't even notice it. However, the process can be interrupted, which will not only jeopardize your update but also leave your website in a permanent maintenance mode.
The easiest way to escape this sticky situation is by accessing your installation files and finding the .maintenance
file, which is usually created when starting maintenance and removed when it's over. A full guide on removing maintenance mode in the situations where it becomes a problem can be found in our "How to Fix WordPress Stuck in Maintenance Mode" article.
WordPress, at its core, is an intricate system with almost a million lines of code. Having such complexity means that many functions interact with each other, and at some point, obsolete parts are removed or substituted with other more advanced ones. Updating the platform guarantees that the risk factor of someone trying to abuse old or less efficient code is at its minimum and also provides you and your visitors with the newest functions to use on your website.
If you encounter something which we haven't covered in this expansive tutorial, make sure to contact us with your recommendations. That way, we keep this page as the go-to place for anyone looking for information on Updating WordPress.