Practical Guide Upgrade Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3.x

[leolam]

i dont know how it happend but joomls 3.1 was installed with out me asking it to do so,
and suddenly i have a broken site.
Is there a way to downgrade?
Thank you

first of all Joomla is NEVER installed automatically without you asking for it unless you are hosting for example at Siteground where they update you automatically unless you choose not to do so in your admin panel. They would never though upgrade you from 2.5 to 3.x since that is not possible. In other words you or somebody else who has access to super admin functionality has clicked the upgrade button. You can only roll-back (downgrade) from a backup......

Listening to your question I fear you have no backup? In that case you have learned a very bad lesson and you need to start over.

Leo

[abolay]

I installed an update from 2.5.19 to 3.2.2 and it crashed. Couldn't log into the backend anymore or anything. After putting the backup files back on the server it still kept giving errors and leaving me unable to log in.
I now have re-installed Joomla 3.2.2 and want to restore just the content (articles, components and modules).
Does anyone know where I can find the files that I should put back on the server? If I import the entire administrator folder it crashes again..

[Adnet]

In that case you have learned a very bad lesson and you need to start over.

Leo

This is not an option,
anyway i will manage it somehow

[sovainfo]

@Adnet See http://docs.joomla.org/How_to_restore_a ... omla_3.x.x to get you started. It is not the complete story, but it gets you started.

[Adnet]

I found this i hope i will find first something more secure to do,
anyway thank you for your time.
An option is to update to 3 because Joomla 3.3 no longer needs the title_alias column.

[sovainfo]

Have a look at logs/joomla_update.php to see how the update went. Does it have a line saying update is complete?

[JSheridan]

I am trying to update to joomla 3x from 2.5 but I don't have a joomla update link in my admin panel, please help!

[sandvelder]

@ Webmuse: Your files and folder permissions are wrong: folders= 755 and files = 644

and clear all Joomla caches and browser caches...shutdown browser, wait for 10 seconds and reload... Issue should be resolved.

Leo

Hi Leo
I have the same problem. I have six J2.5 web sites which I need to upgrade to J3.x. I have read the whole thread above and see I have the same problems as stated by Webmuse above. I do not get the "upgrade to 3.x" options displayed.
Please advise. I must be missing something somewhere.
S

[leolam]

I do not get the "upgrade to 3.x" options displayed.

It is still not a big issue... First you need to have your Joomla 2.5 sites upgraded to last version to make sure you have all functionalities. Than check if 'url_allow_fopen' is enabled on your server (php info in globals). If not it won't work at all and you cannot override this with a php.ini or htaccess. That is server restricted in such case.

Still you can upgrade though without problems in any of these cases.

Make a backup and download to your PC!

1) make sure all non-compatible extensions as described are removed or updated to versions that support both J2.5 and J3.3
2) if sure you have all disabled/removed and your backup is secured than go to
extensions --> install --> install from URL --> paste this link in the filed "Update from URL": http://joomlacode.org/gf/download/frsre ... ackage.zip and hit the install button

This will download the full J3.3.1 pax without the installation files and will upgrade your site to J3.3.1

If you are /unsure in doing this spend a few bucks and purchase SPupgrade or contact a professional provider to support you

Leo

[sandvelder]

Hi Leo

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I backed up the website (Akeeba) and installed it locally on an Xampp server to test the upgrade process. Xampp gave so many errors that I decided to do it on the live site.

So I eventually got the upgrade process going by purging the cache (Extension Manager|Update|Purge Cache). It complained about one plugin (Google Maps) which was supposedly J3.x compatible. So I uninstalled the plugin, downloaded the latest version and installed it first. Then I repeated the purge and upgrade and it ran fine - until it totally froze up and my whole web site is screwed!

I cannot get into either the front-end or back-end. Anyway, time to go home now, I will wipe it and install it again from the backup. Thank God for Akeeba!

Take care,

S

[sbroways]

I had the same issue posted by many of the users on this forum with Joomla Update stating that I already had the latest version of Joomla installed and not showing the option to upgrade to Joomla 3.

Purging cache was the issue, but I had to go about it a slightly different way than what anyone else mentioned in this thread.

Go to Extension Manager > Manage and search for "Update." Click on the Joomla Update module checkbox and then hit the Refresh Cache button in the top right menu.

Now when you go back to Components > Joomla! Update, you should see the option to update directly to Joomla 3.

[OldMoldy]

I believe I have followed instructions in this guide and each time I try to upgrade from J2.5.22 to the latest J3.3.x I get the following pop-up message:

"the page at larry.potomaccommunityvillage.org says:

ERROR:
Invalid login"

[leolam]

http://larry.potomaccommunityvillage.org/index.php

Your JSN Epic version seems not compatible. You seem to use the Joomla 2.5 version. Change to default template. Mootools is no longer with us in Joomla 3.3.1

Also roll back to your Joomla 2.5 version since this is chaos http://potomaccommunityvillage.org/index.php

Leo

[OldMoldy]

More work needed...

Following your suggestion, I re-installed the backup and began again with the upgrade from J2.5.22. Before clicking on the JoomlaUpdate, I uninstalled the Epic template and checked the Template Manager to see that it was not showing up and the site default template was Beez20...same bad results:

Code: Select all

500 - Internal Server Error

The server log file shows the following error message:

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[Thu Jun 26 17:19:27 2014] [error] [client 71.163.174.200] File does not exist: /home/village/public_html/larry/500.shtml, referer: http://larry.potomaccommunityvillage.org/administrator/index.php?option=com_joomlaupdate&task=update.install

[sandvelder]

Dear All

After many, many wasted hours of restoring my sites from backups after this upgrade procedure messed it up, I resolved to try and upgrade a clean J2.5.22 installation to J3.3. I was surprised to find that it worked. From that I derived that the dear folks on Planet Joomla are not just lying bastards who enjoy messing with my head.

Next thing I did was to restore an Akeeba backup of an existing site to a sub-directory of the same site, using a new database and new database user. I then changed the template to one of the default Joomla templates. I already had a list of all the extensions installed on the site. I opened the Extension Manager and clicked on the ID column to sort them in the order they were installed. (I actually reversed the order to get them all together on the first page.) I then proceeded to uninstall each and every one of them, including my own Artisteer template.

Strangely enough, two extensions would not uninstall completely - Akeeba Backup and Fox Contact. I left their residue just like that and moved on to change the update options from Long Term Support to Short Term Support. I then proceeded with the upgrade procedure and it worked!

I cried for three hours... OK, now I am lying. But to say the least, I was satisfied that an upgrade is actually possible to do.

I then replaced all the previously uninstalled extensions and template with their latest versions, and it works fine. I backed the site up, wiped the original site and its database/database user and restored the new Joomla 3.3 site to the site root directory.

And that folks, is how the West was won...

[seriegler]

I am very new to Joomla so please bear with me. My site is at v2.5.22 (the latest available) and I'm trying to upgrade to 3.3.1. I have made several attempts to do the upgrade on a XAMPP localhost installation and via my hosting account. Leo's documentation is excellent and I think I have followed the steps as outlined. I have no trouble getting the Joomla Update component to display the upgrade choice as many others have reported.

However, each time I click on the 3.3.1 upgrade installation button, it begins to process. When it reaches 82.6% completion, it freezes and I'm presented with the dreaded "http 500" screen and I can't get to either the front or back end. With my last iteration, I even removed all of the extensions I had installed and it still will not get beyond 82.6%. I've gone thru this thread from top to bottom and haven't seen this particular situation described but I could have missed it or not understood it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you for your help!!!

[OldMoldy]

This is getting boring...

Following Sandvelder's triumph, I went further and uninstalled all packages, editors, Akeeba backup and Akeeba Admin tools and associated FOF libraries...JoomlaUpdate still fails with a System 500...

The top of my Extensions list looked like this:

[sandvelder]

several attempts to do the upgrade on a XAMPP localhost installation (

Hi seriegler

I also tried my local XAMPP installation, and it failed. Creating a sub-directory on the live site, where the environment is set up with the correct version of PHP undsoweiter... seemed to have done the trick for me.

I have one site up, and five more to go. Three with one ISP, and the other three each with a different ISP. Let's hope...

[sandvelder]

This is getting boring...

Hi OldMoldy

Indeed it is.

Are you working on your local XAMPP server or on a live Apache server somewhere?

My logic was to see if this live server could handle Joomla! 3.x. The Internet Service Provider claimed that nothing was wrong on his server.

So installed Joomla! 2.5.22 on a sub-directory of the live site, including the sample files. I used a separate MySQL database and database user for this test installation. I subsequently upgraded this sample site form 2.5.22 to 3.3 and it worked.

Had it not worked I would have confronted the ISP with his Apache installation.

Have you read this post: http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?t=344518 ?
There are a few suggestions such as deleting your database and recreating it.

Hope you come right with this one!

[OldMoldy]

I am working with an Apache server on a respectable ISP. I have already successfully created a couple of new sites from scratch using Joomla 3.x but I have about a dozen old sites that will need to be upgraded. I generally use the Joomlashine Epic Pro template but I have used a couple of other templates as well. Since I un-installed the template before my last attempt to upgrade, that should not be the problem.

[webm3442]

Have you tried Sandvelders tip?

So installed Joomla! 2.5.22 on a sub-directory of the live site, including the sample files. I used a separate MySQL database and database user for this test installation. I subsequently upgraded this sample site form 2.5.22 to 3.3 and it worked.

Had it not worked I would have confronted the ISP with his Apache installation.

[faithworks]

Thank you so much for the help everybody!
After several tries and a lot up plugin upgrades I finally had success. During the install I got A TON of update errors saying "Error on updating manifest cache:" etc, etc, etc. Is this something I should worry about?

Also, in the backend Joomla control panel there is a red box at the top that says "Error", but there is nothing else in there. Any ideas what the prob is?

Thanks again for the help!!!

faithworks

[leolam]

Any ideas what the prob is?

go to:
Extensions --> Discover --> Hit "discover" (top left) and install any possible items that show up. Than you go to Extensions -->Database--> hit the "Fix" button

Leo

[faithworks]

go to:
Extensions --> Discover --> Hit "discover" (top left) and install any possible items that show up. Than you go to Extensions -->Database--> hit the "Fix" button
Leo

There were no extensions discovered and no fixes to be made in the database. If I click on Warnings in the Extensions Manager I am warned that the PHP temporary directory is not set... I set the folder but the warnings are still there.

[leolam]

I set the folder but the warnings are still there.

How did you set the folder? To resolve this issue, you'll need to adjust the upload_tmp_dir setting in your php.ini file. If your hosting provider does not allow you access to tailored php.ini files contact them.

Leo

[faithworks]

I took the ; out of the command line in the php.ini and set it as

Code: Select all

upload_tmp_dir = "tmp"

But the Extension Manager warning in the backend of Joomla is still there.

[leolam]

I took the ; out of the command line in the php.ini and set it as

Code: Select all

upload_tmp_dir = "tmp"

But the Extension Manager warning in the backend of Joomla is still there.

Correct this to

Code: Select all

upload_tmp_dir = "/tmp"

Leo

[faithworks]

Unfortunately I still have the "Error" with no further explanation (it shows on every page in the backend) and I still have the Extension Manager: Warning : "The PHP temporoary directory is not set".

The attached picture shows what I'm seeing...

[suckupper]

I' am running Joomla 2.5.11, but do not have any button for Joomla Update (as shown in the screenshot).

no_Joomla_Update.JPG

What do I have to do in order to update to Joomla 3.3?

Best,
Martin

[nyocca]

The Joomla Update should show in the Component's menu, and when it does not, then you need to go to the Extensions Manager: Manage screen to change its status to enabled. It is an Administrator (location) Component (type) and you can filter the list. You can also filter on "disabled".