Having issues updating to civiCRM 5.32.2

Question

So I've downloaded the file to update to civiCRM 5.32.2 and I'm on WordPress 5.6. When I upload the file to the plugins page it tells me that I need to overwrite the other version. Cool no problem. When I tell it to do that it tries for a few minutes and then it gives me a 503 error.

Service Unavailable The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

If I then try to activate the new version of civiCRM the whole site crashes with a fatal error that says the following.

Warning: include_once(/home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/includes/civicrm.users.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php on line 623

Warning: include_once(): Failed opening '/home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/includes/civicrm.users.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/alt/php74/usr/share/pear') in /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php on line 623

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'CiviCRM_For_WordPress_Users' not found in /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php:624 Stack trace: #0 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php(379): CiviCRM_For_WordPress->include_files() #1 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(287): CiviCRM_For_WordPress->setup_instance('') #2 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(311): WP_Hook->apply_filters(NULL, Array) #3 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-includes/plugin.php(484): WP_Hook->do_action(Array) #4 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-settings.php(420): do_action('plugins_loaded') #5 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-config.php(89): require_once('/home/enaosj1vv...') #6 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-load.php(37): require_once('/home/enaosj1vv...') #7 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-admin/admin.php(34): require_once('/home/enaosj1vv...') #8 /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-admin/plugins.php(10): require_once('/home/enaosj1vv...') # in /home/enaosj1vvfz0/public_html/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php on line 624 There has been a critical error on this website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions.

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I have all of my other plugins deactivated so I know it's not a conflict there. I've tried using multiple themes so no conflict there. I've even addressed caching issues as described in another thread (Errors involving /wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Extension/ClassLoader.php)

The only other suggestion my hosting company had was to unzip the file myself and replace the files manually which just seems like a good way to screw up my data.

Answer 1

You can't use the WordPress plugin update system. You must do it via either ftp or SSH. You will find the full documentation at https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/upgrade/wordpress/

While complete and accurate, the comprehensiveness of that doc can be a little overwhelming. I created a checklist for myself to cover the bases on my server. It may be helpful to you. You can see my CiviCRM upgrade on WordPress summary here: https://kapn.net/support/civicrm-upgrade/

Some bits are very specific to me but they should be obvious. If it looks like gobbledygook to you then ignore it and focus on the official docs above.