WordPress has recently released its latest version WordPress 2.8 codename “Baker”.
Although it is packaged with lots of new goodies, it also bring serious upgrades problems. If you are upgrading to this latest version of WordPress, the usual precautionary measures are still in effect: backup first then proceed with the upgrade.
- Backup your database before attempting any major changes
- Backup all files in the wp-content including the plugins, themes and uploads
If you are going to use the Automatic Upgrade function provided in your wordpress blog admin panel, you need to know that the content of your wp-content folder might be all wiped out if all goes well or your entire web hosting root folder may be cleaned up entirely if there is a hitch during the automatic upgrade process. Believe me, it personally happens to me and I consider myself to be a wordpress expert and a big fan of wordpress.
Here is what the wordpress.net website has to say about potential updates problems:
Some hosts may have problems with automatic upgrade. Check the compatibility list to see if your web host supports the new core updating functionality.
Some old files and folders are deleted upon upgrading. Check the Files Automatically Replaced by Core Upgrade page, for more information on which files are deleted, if you’ve modified any WordPress files.
So there you have it folks. The best advice I can give for the moment, assuming you already have a copy of your blog files and database in your computer offline otherwise start by doing some backup first (all files and database).
Once you are done then you can proceed with the following steps:
- create a sub folder named “_backup” in your main blog folder
- move all your current blog files in the newly created “_backup” folder
- download wordpress 2.8 as a zip folder to your computer
- extract the files from your wordpress-2.8.zip to your main blog folder
- open “_backup” then copy wp-config.php then paste in your main blog folder
- move back the wp-content folder from the “_backup” to your main blog folder
- Upload all files and folder (except the “_backup” folder) to your blog web hosting account
- Now go ahead and try login into your blog admin panel
That will initiate the one step upgrade process. Once you are done browse your blog posts and pages to make sure everything is still working: images, multimedia files, plugins and other widgets.
