Every once in a while it comes time to learn how to change the version of Magento from an older one to a newer one and you ask yourself how to change the version of Magento? Perhaps there are cool new functions being offered in the next version or perhaps your Magento version is so old is is no longer being supported. Or perhaps you are just one of those people who like everything to be the latest and greatest no matter what they have to do to incur that.
Any time you change the version of Magento, especially when you upgrade to a newer version, you have to do two things first. First the database needs to be backed up and stored in case something goes wrong you can immediately fix it. If you are using php/mysql you probably have access to phpmyadmin and can simply do an export/import of your databases.
If you don’t have phpmyadmin you should at least have MYSQL Workbench. MYSQL Workbench also makes it easy to import and export your database.
Click your database instance to make sure it is placed on the top of the page click the Data Explorer in the left side window. Select the wordpress databases you want to backup, don’t worry this is much easier as it sounds! Click start export on the lower right of the window. Just let the backup run until it says ‘complete’.
Don’t worry once you have the both back ups in place there is every little to a reinstall so take a deep breath.
Most common snags that you might here are simple things like:
1. Broken images, usually this happens because the url of the new site changes to to a new domain, In the media kit you usually go to the media, see what the url is and see if you can find the actual domain name it to the new image. If you are more experienced you can go to the wp_options table and change the domain names.
2. Plug ins not working. Often times plugins don’t work with newer versions of wordpress. Simply deactivate those plug ins, upgrade to the latests version and activate those plugs ins. If that still doesn’t do the trick you might need need to do some manual coding.
3. In the worst case scenario download the latest version of Magento and install it, use the database information to basically ‘upgrade your database’. As for your plug in, remove all of those and reinstall those one at a time till you have a working wordpress version. Note that you may need to redownload the latest versions of the plugins.
If you find you need expert help on how to change the version of Magento contact Brian Wade at https://cybersolutions-llc.com
