Automatic Update Failed_Several Methods to Manually Update WordPress Version

WordPress is an open-source website building program that continuously releases new versions over time. For website security, we also need to perform WordPress update and upgrade operations. This article introduces several methods for updating WordPress, divided into automatic updates and manual updates. Details are as follows:

Automatic WordPress Update

Automatic WordPress updates are simple; just click the update button in the Admin Dashboard. If you are using a foreign Shared Hosting provider, you usually don't even need to click the update button; the system will automatically update to the new version when available. Of course, it's also possible that your hosting provider has not enabled the automatic update feature, so you can just click the update button once yourself.However, with domestic servers, due to network issues, update failures often occur. In such cases, we need to perform manual updates to resolve this problem.

WordPress update failed with the message „Another update is currently in progress“

If automatic WordPress update fails, then manual update is the only option. The most common WordPress update failure prompt is „Another update is currently in progress” When encountering this prompt, if you search online, the basic solution is to have you delete a table file named core_updater.lock in the database. The common methods online involve accessing your website's database (via phpMyAdmin or SSH command line).Search for core_updater.lock in the wp_options table; you can find an entry with a value. Then delete it and try updating again.However, this method is not 100% effective for domestic hosting, because the connection speed from domestic hosting to WordPress servers is not stable.It's very likely the download will be unsuccessful, leading to upgrade failure.So, at this point, you need to manually upgrade WordPress. Additionally, automatic update failures on domestic servers can also easily result in a white screen or error messages.. In this case, you just need to perform a manual update again to solve the problem.

Method for manually upgrading WordPress

Method 1: Download offline package for manual update

You can download the new version of the WordPress installation package yourself and then update manually. For downloading the offline installation package of the new WordPress version, you can refer to this article:WordPress New Version Chinese Simplified Local DownloadAfter downloading, the method for manually updating WordPress is:：

• ①. Extract the downloaded installation package and delete the wp-content folder inside;
• ②. Use FTP to delete the wp-admin and wp-includes folders on the server;
• ③. Upload the remaining local files to the server, overwriting all files;
• ④. Log in to your WordPress website's Admin Dashboard to see if there is a request to update the database. If yes, update it; if not, the update is already complete.

1. Extract the downloaded compressed package, then enter the WordPress folder, delete the wp-content folder。 2. Then use FTP softwareconnect to the server, enter your website's root directory,delete the wp-admin and wp-includes folders。 3. Then upload all the remaining files to the server, overwriting the original files. Next, go to the WordPress Admin Dashboard. If a database update is required, you will be prompted; just click update. If no database update is needed, then this manual WordPress update is complete.

Method 2: Update using a Plugin

Due to poor network speed from domestic servers when accessing WordPress, automatic upgrades often fail. We can install the wp china yes plugin to help us achieve automatic WordPress upgrades.WP China Yes DownloadFirst, download the plugin, then upload and install it via the Plugins section in the WordPress Admin Dashboard. After installation, activate the plugin, then go to the updates interface and click update. Additionally, if you need to install an older version of WordPress, you can useWP Downgrade.

Method 3: Update using Code + Compressed Package

This method comes from the Longxiao Tianxia blog. The specific usage is as follows:

1. Download the WordPress installation package file and rename it to wordpress.zip
2. Upload wordpress.zip to your website's root directory
3. Copy the code below into the theme's functions file
4. Click update in the Admin Dashboard
5. After the update is complete, delete the function code

/**
 * 临时更改WordPress程序包地址以便WP在线更新成功 - 龙笑天下
 * https://www.ilxtx.com/how-to-update-wordpress-successfully.html
 */
function lxtx_site_transient_update_core( $value ){
    foreach ($value->updates as &$update) {
        $update->download = home_url( 'wordpress.zip' );
        $update->packages->full = home_url( 'wordpress.zip' );
    }
    return $value;
}
add_filter('site_transient_update_core', 'lxtx_site_transient_update_core');

If you don't know how to add code to the theme's functions file, you can use the following plugin for assistance.Safe Method to Add Code to the functions.php File: Code Snippets

Method 4: Baota Panel Manual WordPress Update Tutorial

First, enter the Baota Panel backend (What to do if you forget the Baota Panel backend login URL) From the left navigation bar, go to [Files] to enter your website's root directory, then click Remote Download,download the new version of the WordPress installation package. Click OK directly.After the download is complete, click Extract on the downloaded compressed package.Keep the extraction settings default and directly click the Extract button.In the website's root directory, select the wp-admin and wp-includes folders, then delete them.Click on the WordPreess folder to enter it, and delete the wp-content folder inside (actually, this folder contains just a few default themes and plugins; if you're not using the default theme, deleting this step doesn't matter much)Then select allWordPressthe contents inside the folder, choose [Cut]Return to your website's root directory and paste everything.Then visit the Admin Dashboard to check. The tutorial for manually updating WordPress using Baota Panel is now complete.

Method 5: Manually Update WordPress via SSH Command

Operating via SSH commands is also simple, but beginners may not be very proficient, so proceed with caution. The following demonstration uses an environment installed with the LNMP one-click package. The specific commands are as follows:

cd /home/wwwroot/website

Replace the 'website' above with your own website's folder.

wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
unzip latest.zip
rm -rf wp-admin
rm -rf wp-includes
cd wordpress
rm -rf wp-content
mv -f * ..

The command above will upgrade WordPress. You can directly check the result in the Admin Dashboard. However, you may encounter the issue shown in the image below during future use.During the next automatic WordPress upgrade or Plugin installation, you may be prompted: „To perform the requested action, WordPress needs access to your web server. Please enter your FTP login credentials to proceed. If you do not remember your login credentials (such as username, password), please contact your web hosting provider.“ This is because we used the root account to upgrade WordPress via SSH, while the website runs under the www user. Therefore, we need to change the permissions using the following command. (Execute this command after the previous one.)

cd ..
chomd -R 755 *
chown -R www:www *

Alright, this tutorial on manually upgrading WordPress concludes here. It should be the most comprehensive tutorial on WordPress upgrades available online.