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In my previous blog titled “An Illuminating Focus on the Nitty-gritty of Updating WordPress”, I have discussed on the difference between WordPress core files and theme files, how the difference is related to updating WordPress and how to update WordPress without editing core files. I have also mentioned two fundamental ways of updating WordPress – “manual updating” and “automatic upgrade”. The following is the step-by-step process of manual updating –

• Take a back up of your WordPress files and WordPress database. Using FTP, download the important files including the theme files, core files and plug-ins in your WordPress website. It is very important to back up the files for if serious problems are caused by updating, you can address the problems by reverting to the backup files. Include robots.txt and .htaccess in the backup files.
• Using XAMPP, you can make your WordPress website run in the local host with WordPress and the data files that you have just taken a back up of. It is to verify whether the backup files are working.
• Make sure downloading the latest version of WordPress after all plugins are deactivated.
• Delete the old WordPress files save wp-content folder, wp-config.php, wp-images, wp-languages, robots.txt and .htaccess. Get the details at http://codex.WordPress.org/Upgrading_WordPress_Extended.
• Uploading the new WordPress files to the FTP server, enter the URL, http://www.thisisyourdomain.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php in your browser.
• Replace “thisisyourdomain” with the domain name of your own in the URL. Then follow the instructions popping up on the screen.
• Update the old permalinks in the admin panel and reactivate the plug-ins that were deactivated.
• Review everything about your WordPress website to make sure that the website runs normally after WordPress is updated.

The step-by-step WordPress automatic upgrading procedure is given below. Go to Dashboard-> Tools -> Upgrade to check if an “upgrade” is there in your present WordPress installation. Using the feature, you can automatically upgrade your WordPress website.

• Back up your WordPress files and database in the same way as in case of “manual updating”.
• Using XAMPP, test the working status of the files that you have just backed up.
• Make sure to deactivate the plug-ins
• Make your way to the WordPress admin panel backup path to access Dashboard -> Tools -> Upgrade. Look for the new version of WordPress for upgrade. If no new version is available, upgrading WordPress is not needed.
• Make a click on the “upgrade automatically” button, if the latest version is available for upgrade.
• Enter the log-in details of your FTP server and proceed. If the message “Could not open handle for fopen()” pops up, it is an error indicating the hosting limitations of your free hosting account. In this case, automatic upgrade is not possible.
• If no such problem occurs, it is possible to upgrade automatically. Once you receive the message “WordPress upgraded successfully”, the upgrade is complete. Then, reactivate the plug-ins.
• Review the upgrade to make sure that your site is functioning normally as it did before. If you edit the core files, the changes in the site will be lost. You will have to make them again.

Tags: WordPress, WordPress Updating

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 5:24 am and is filed under WordPress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.