WordPress is like a car engine. Whenever we want it fixed, we’d rather leave the fixing to the experts. But if there’s a breakdown in the middle of nowhere, we should know how to fix it. 

Similarly, it is always better to update your website with a staging site or use BlogVault’s auto-update feature that takes a backup before making any changes to your site. WordPress updates contain important security and bug fixes in addition to overall improvements.

However, if you don’t have access to wp-admin and you still need to update your site, it is worth knowing how to upgrade WordPress manually. It is definitely more time-consuming and nerve-wracking, considering many things could go wrong. Also, if you don’t have access to wp-admin, updating WordPress shouldn’t be on your list of priorities unless you think that’s causing the issue. 

In this article, we will show you how to update WordPress manually without losing any of your content. Additionally, we will help you troubleshoot some common errors.   

TL;DR Updating WordPress manually should be a last resort because it is prone to failure for the most trivial reasons. Even if you follow all the instructions perfectly, your network could time out, or a file could get corrupted during the transfer process. The safest way to update your site, without downtime and hours of troubleshooting, is to use a staging site. Create a staging site on BlogVault in minutes. Test the update, and only then make the change to your site.

There are two types of WordPress updates: major releases and minor releases. For the most part, minor updates will be applied automatically, unless explicitly turned off. Minor updates rarely even register as a blip in the course of your site operations, so you may not even notice it apart from the odd notification on your dashboard or from your web host. 

Major WordPress updates are a whole different ballgame. They rewrite 2 of the 3 WordPress core directories, and most of the core files of your site. While it is possible to automate WordPress updates for major releases, you must do so carefully.

WordPress manual update is the worst possible way to update your site because there are many things that can go awry. Nevertheless, we have listed step-by-step instructions and provided checklists to make the process as safe as possible. Even so, please note that you cannot predict things like network outages or corrupted files, and take a WordPress backup before starting. 

What to do before you update WordPress manually

Since you are planning to update WordPress manually, there are few things to keep in mind before you begin. This checklist will give you the best chance of successfully upgrading WordPress manually, with the fewest glitches and minimum downtime. 

1. Take a full backup of your site

Any major change to your site can cause it to react unpredictably. A site update definitely qualifies as a major change, and should be treated as such. Backup your site with BlogVault, because if things go sideways you can restore a functioning version of your site in minutes, and minimise the disruption to your visitors. 

2. Save custom code separately

You can skip this section if you backed up your site with BlogVault. As we explained in a previous section, the WordPress website updates overwrite core files and directories, so if there is any custom code in those places, it will get deleted.

An exception here is the wp-config.php file. It doesn’t get overwritten, simply because there isn’t a wp-config.php file in a new WordPress download. It is dynamically generated to connect to the WordPress database during the first installation.

If you have made changes to stock WordPress themes, without renaming or using a child theme to do so, then definitely back those up. Although it is not always the case, WP updates can affect the stock WordPress themes as well.

3. Deactivate all plugins and themes, except one theme

Plugins and themes complicate matters on a WordPress site and may react unpredictably to a site update. It is safest to deactivate them all and reactivate them one by one once the update has been successfully completed. In this way, even if there are issues, you will immediately know which one is the culprit. 

Do remember to keep one theme active though. At least one theme is required for a WordPress site to load successfully. We recommend keeping a stock WordPress theme active because those themes are relatively simple and always compatible with WordPress. 

4. Deactivate any caching or firewall plugins

Although this is a repeat of the previous point, it is worth mentioning separately. Caching and firewall plugins impact load order, save copies of the site, and block out processes. There is the outside chance that a caching or firewall plugin can cause a conflict during the update. Best to disable them all, and reenable later. 

5. Install a maintenance mode plugin

You only need to install this plugin if you are updating WordPress manually via FTP. All other methods put the site in maintenance mode automatically. Of course, the maintenance mode plugin is the one exception to the plugins you need to deactivate.

Users can make unexpected changes on the site, which is not great during an update of any kind. Install a maintenance mode plugin so that users are aware that something is going on, and cannot log into the site at all. 

This is another reason we recommend against manual WordPress updates. The prep, actual update, and post-update tasks are significantly time-consuming. You could skip a lot of the tasks on this list by using BlogVault to update your website version.

How to manually update WordPress to a newer version (5 easy ways)

There are a few ways to update WordPress manually, depending on what your definition of ‘manual’ is. Whichever method you choose, there is a certain amount of associated risk. 

Even at this juncture, we would highly recommend creating a staging site on BlogVault, and testing the WP update before applying it to your site.

Update WordPress manually from the wp-admin dashboard

At first glance, this is possibly the easiest way to update WordPress manually on your site. We’re including it in this list simply because, even though it is an option provided by WordPress to update a site on a WordPress site, it isn’t free of risk at all. 

On the contrary, updating your site this way only removes the element of human error. Crashed sites and downtime are still distinct possibilities, as are a failed update and the dreaded update database error loop.

1. Log into the wp-admin dashboard, and navigate to the Updates link in the left navigation menu. 

2. There, you should see if there is an update available for WordPress or not. If there is, click on the link. 

3. Check your wp-admin dashboard. If you need to update the database as well, you will see a prompt to do so. Click on it to complete the update. 

4. That’s it. During the update, your site will automatically be put into maintenance mode. Once the update is complete, you will be taken to the dashboard. To learn more about the new WordPress update, add /wp-admin/about.php to the end of your URL.

Upgrade WordPress manually via FTP

FTP is a way to view and interact with the files on your site server easily, much like you would in the file explorer on your computer. 

That being said, updating WordPress manually via FTP is prone to considerable human error. Additionally, although FTP is a stable technology, FTP connections are prone to frequent disconnections. When transferring large files over a long period of time, the connection could break and cause unexpected results. 

To update WordPress manually via FTP, you will need to use an FTP client. For the purposes of this article, we used FileZilla.

1. Download the latest WordPress version from the WordPress repository. 

If you are updating WordPress over multiple major versions, do so in an incremental way. It is incredibly tedious and time-consuming, but this is your best chance to avoid conflicts or detect them without hours of troubleshooting. Check which version of WordPress is running on your site by visiting the www.yoursite.com/wp-admin/about.php page.

2. Extract the files from the zip folder. 

3. Connect to your site via FTP. You will find the credentials on your hosting dashboard. You’ll need the hostname or IP, the username, and password. In some cases, you may need the port number as well depending on your host’s configuration. Check their documentation for that info. 

4. Navigate to the root directory of your site. In most cases, this will be the public_html folder. Our test site is on Dreamhost, so the root directory is the name of the site. 

5. Copy over the wp-includes and wp-admin directories from the unzipped folder. If the FTP client prompts you to overwrite files, then do so. You cannot cherry pick which files to update in these core folders. Warning: Do not delete or overwrite the wp-content folder. This folder contains all your plugins, themes, and uploaded media. Overwriting it will delete all of that.