Updating ExpressionEngine 2¶

1. Prepare and Back-up¶

• Back-up your ExpressionEngine database.
• Back-up all ExpressionEngine files and folders.
• Download the most recent release of ExpressionEngine and unzip the software to your local computer.
• Take Your Site Offline: It is recommended that you take your site offline for the duration of the update so that people visiting your site won’t see any PHP errors or other anomalies that may occur while you are uploading files. Here is one approach:
  1. Copy system/expressionengine/utilities/offline.html to your web root folder (the same place you have your main index.php file).
  2. Rename offline.html to index.html. Now your visitors will see the “offline” page while you update your site.
• In your ExpressionEngine Control Panel, go to Tools ‣ Data ‣ Clear Caching. Select All Caches and click Submit.

2. Upload New Files¶

Using an FTP program such as WS_FTP, SmartFTP, Transmit or Fetch, replace the following files and folders on your server with their new versions:

• admin.php
• index.php
• system/
• themes/

3. Restore Modified Files¶

Files and settings that are specific to your site should now be restored from the backup you made in Step 1.

• Restore any modifications made to the following files, such as updating the system folder name or path:
  • admin.php
  • index.php

If you are using the Multiple Site Manager, the same should be done for each MSM site’s index.php and/or admin.php file.

• Restore the following files from your backup:
  • system/expressionengine/config/config.php
  • system/expressionengine/config/database.php
• Restore the following folders from your backup:
  • system/expressionengine/language/ (if you are using a language pack or previously modified the English language files)
  • system/expressionengine/third_party/
  • system/expressionengine/templates/
  • themes/third_party/ (if it exists, and any additional third-party theme folders you had previously)

4. Verify File Permissions¶

The following permissions are typical for UNIX-based hosts. You may want to check with your host to see if more restrictive permissions can be used to allow PHP to write to files (666) and folders (777). On Windows servers the following will not apply, but you will need to ensure that the files and folders are writable by ExpressionEngine. You may need to contact your host for this.

• Set the following files to 666:
  • system/expressionengine/config/config.php
  • system/expressionengine/config/database.php
• Set the following folders to 777:
  • system/expressionengine/cache/ (and subfolders)

5. Run The Update Wizard¶

• Point your browser to the URL of your admin.php file. For example: http://example.com/admin.php
• Follow the on-screen instructions to update ExpressionEngine.
• Once the Update Wizard is finished, remove the following folder from your server:
  • system/installer/

6. Update Add-ons¶

• If the Discussion Forum or Multiple Site Manager are installed, these need to be updated at this time:
  • Discussion Forum Update Instructions
  • MSM Update Instructions
• Update any third-party add-ons by following the update instructions for each add-on.

7. Additional Steps¶

Please review the following to determine if any additional steps need to be taken:

• If you took your site offline in step 1 above, remove the offline file that was added to your web root.
• The Version Notes will outline any version-specific changes that may need to be made.
• If you’re updating from a previous version, you might need to sync your file upload directories for files to work properly.

You’re Done!¶

ExpressionEngine is now fully updated.