How to upgrade a WordPress installation
WordPress 2.3.3 is out and now, many of you are thinking of getting rid of the annoying “A new version of WordPress is available! Please update now”.
Unfortunately, many of us are intimidated by complicated instructions and are afraid to loose our valuable work ! But I hope to change this and simplify your understanding of what you really need to do.
In this article, I am going to show you two methods of upgrading WordPress: the first by using an FTP program, FileZilla; and the other without using a desktop program albeit depending on your web-hosting control panel provided by your hosting provider.
Is upgrading really that difficult ?
The official upgrade instructions on the WordPress site is not very encouraging and it uses words like “special handling” and ” take care to preserve”.
Allow me to re-word it into simple English. All they are asking it to leave the “wp-content” folder and the “wp-config.php” file untouched. That is all !
The wp-content folder contains the themes and plugins you have added. There are no other critical files. If you accidentally overwrite this folder, you’ll only loose your themes and plugins.
The wp-config.php file contains your database information, username and password. This is the first file you edited when you installed WordPress the very first time, remember ?
But you don’t have to worry about accidentally overwriting this file as the new installation would contain a wp-config-sample.php file instead.
Now let’s scroll down and get dirty ! I’ve also got pictures to help you. 
Step 1: download, do stuff & upload
Download the latest version of WordPress and extract that file’s contents onto your computer.
Upgrade using an FTP Client
If you have a hosting provider that does not provide many sophisticated tools for uploading and extracting files, then using an FTP client is the best solution.
I recommend FileZilla Client in this case because compared to the vast majority of other FTP clients, it’s absolutely free, cross-platform and easy to use.
After you’ve installed and launched FileZilla, enter your server information in the text-boxes at the top and hit “Quickconnect”
Port 21 is common for most connections but check with your hosting provider if it does not work.
In the right hand side panel, you will see files that reside on the remote server. Navigate into the current WordPress installation folder. In most cases, that would simply be the “www” folder.
On the left hand side panel, navigate into the folder on your computer where you just extracted the new WordPress files.
Select all the files except the “wp-content” folder and the “wp-config-sample.php” file. Right-click and hit “Upload”.
Or, you can simply drag the selected files from the left hand side panel to the right hand side panel. It’s just that easy !
If you run into connection problems, check with your hosting provider to see if they require additional settings.
Using your web-hosting control panel
For those fortunate, with the ability to upload and extract compressed files online from within their hosting account, I recommend you use this method instead of using an FTP client. My hosting account comes with CPanel, which is the coolest web-hosting control panel I’ve come across.
But this method needs a bit more preparation mainly for convenience. You will need to create another compressed archive, this time only using the files you need.
First, go to the folder on your computer where you extracted the new WordPress files. Select all files except the “wp-content” folder and the “wp-config-sample.php” file.
Create a compressed archive of the selected files. On most operating systems, you can commonly create an archive by first opening a file archiver (like WinZip, File Roller or Ark) and create a new archive.
Pick a name for your new archive and save it.
Now all you have to do is drag files you need into the open window of the new archive file.
Upload the new archive to the remote server, into the folder where WordPress currently resides. In most cases, that would be the “www” folder.
Extract the files !
Et voila ! Vous avez fini !
Is there a Step 2 ?
The official upgrading instructions on the WordPress site calls for an additional step: visit the upgrade page at “/wp-admin/upgrade.php”
But I have never seen another message on that page besides:
So far, my website has never looked funny and I haven’t run into any immediate problems after an upgrade.
I’d specially like your feedback on this one and I’d like to know what kind of messages you receive when you visit the upgrade.php page.
Summary
Regardless of what method you use or what program you use, you only need to remember that:
- Leave the “wp-content” folder and the “wp-config.php” file untouched
- You can overwrite all other files
Let me know how it goes for you & Good Luck !
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[...] Jaffer wrote an interesting post today on How to upgrade a WordPress installationHere’s a quick excerpt… going to show you two methods of upgrading WordPress: the first by using an FTP program, FileZilla; and the other without using a desktop program albeit depending on your web-hosting control panel provided by your hosting provider. … [...]
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Jaffer — Thank you for writing this tutorial. I’m going to study it a while. If I still feel comfortable with it, might try it. I like how you translated the technical stuff into layman’s terms. You know me… I really need that!
This is a nice How-To.
WordPress is not as friendly as it promises to be, always. But there is enough support available for helping the WP community out.
Cheers,
Inspirit | Blog
Kathy - Thank You ! But all you need to read is the summary and work around it however you feel comfortable.
Abhinav - Thank you for your comment and welcome ! I agree, there are some issues with WordPress that don’t have to be complicated - for ex. Template coding !
I’d never dared use an automated upgrade plugin for Wordpress until Wayne Liew at the innovatively named WayneLiew.com mentioned the WPAU plugin. So, I gave it a try on one of my lesser blogs and it worked like a charm. Gave me the incentive to run it on my main site and bring it kicking and screaming into 2008. Check out my experience here, it’s well worth the download.
db
Hi Jaffer, Thank you for the how to. Now I can upgrade my WP without worries.
Great article. I have been humming and hawing and am still at 2.31!
Curtis & Windyridge: Thank You and Good Luck !
David Bradley: I tried the WPAU plugin but I’ve run into some difficulties. I’ve fixed those for now. I’ll try it again later - but Thank You !
[...] in February, I covered how to clean upgrade your WordPress installation. Wordpress 2.7 which is just around the corner however, is expected to feature automatic upgrading [...]