Those who are using “WordPress” on their site to write blogs, knows very well how important it is to upgrade their WordPress once in a while. Every time Wordpress releases their newer version it pops up on you “Dashboard” automatically, I find it bit annoying though. However, I personally don’t recommend everyone to upgrade it unless they really do know what actually they are up to. Chances are their that you really can mess up your entire blog if you don’t have very good idea about how to upgrade it manually. Automatic Upgrade could cause lot more headache if you do not have very good internet connection.
There are so many video tutorials on YouTube and articles on web sites regarding this issue. Unfortunately most of them are really old. Today in this tutorial I will explain you how easy it is to upgrade WordPress manually. Very simple, yet one wrong step could destroy your entire blog forever. So you have to be extra careful. Now lets get started.
Step 1: Download the latest version of WordPress from here & extract them on your desktop.
Step 2: Log in to your current WordPress site & deactivate all of your plugins. If you are using some very important plugins for your blog make sure they supports the latest version of your wordpress that you are about to install.
Step 3: If you are using any custom made theme for your WordPress blog, please deactivate it & select “twentyten” as your default theme. Don’t worry your custom theme remains whatever it is. Remember, if you didn’t develop the theme by yourself make sure the latest WordPress supports your custom made theme. If you are not sure about it, contact with the person or company from who you bought it. This part basically depends on you but it remains crucial if you really want to stick with your theme. Let’s move on.
Step 4: Now lets backup your database. Go to “Tools” option from your WordPress & click on “Export”. From the right side of the screen select “All content” & click “Download Export File”.
Now you should be able to download an .xml file, which basically contains all the information regarding your blog posts, dates, comments, image urs etc. Keep this file in a place where you can find it easily. This file could be really handy if anything goes wrong.
Step 5: Log in to your web site using an FTP software. Go to the root directory of your WordPress files, it could be your web site’s root directory or even inside any specific folder based how you installed it on your server. Locate the following three files “wp-content”(folder), “.htaccess” & “wp-config.php”. Delete everything except these three.
Step 6: Once you are done with deleting files (you should have only those files & folders marked above). Start uploading the new version of WordPress files that you have downloaded at the beginning. Remember, DO NOT overwrite these files with newer ones. Wait until your are done with uploading.
Step 7: At this stage, I am assuming you are done with uploading new WordPress files. Now, from your web browser go to the URL of your blog site. It should ask you to update your database system (based on how old your last WordPress files were). Do that gladly & you are done! Try to log in to your blog site as you do basically. If everything goes smooth you should be able to log in. Now, there you have it. The latest version of Worpress installed up & running.
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Recommendation: Those who are not quite familiar with all these updating or upgrading system, or may be too afraid that something might go terribly wrong. I would recommend you to install a personal server on your own computer & install WordPress on it. Do the updating procedure manually on your computer first just to make sure everything works fine. If you don’t know how to install a personal server software on your computer keep visiting our site. Very soon we will be writing on that issue.
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