How to upgrade Joomla 1.5.x to the latest version using cPanel Print

Installing updates is an essential part of running any type of web software. Not doing so can leave your entire hosting account vulnerable to any number of security issues

Updating Joomla to the latest version might seem like a daunting task at first, but it can really be broken down into several simple steps

1) First, you'll need to be logged in to your Joomla site so you can determine what version of the software it's running

The version number of your Joomla install is always shown at the top of the admin panel. As you can see, our site is running Version 1.5.2

 

2) Now, let's go to Joomla.org and download the update we need

3) Click the Download button

 

This page only lists the file for upgrading from the previous version, 1.5.9; we need 1.5.2

 

4) Click this link

 

On the Files tab, look through the list until you find the version you need. They're all listed in three formats: .zip, .tar.gz, and .tar.bz2

 

.zip is a format that pretty much any operating system will be able to extract by default. so let's choose that

 

5) Save the file you need to your computer

 

6) Click Save

 

 

The patch file has been saved to your computer

 

Now... before applying the patch to your Joomla installation, there are two very important steps that must be completed, unless you want to risk breaking your live site irreparably

 

7) First, back up your entire Joomla database. If you are unsure how to do this, watch the accompanying tutorial on how to do so

 

After you've made a backup of your database, you should also make a complete backup of the entire Joomla directory: every file and subfolder it contains

 

8) Let's go to the File Manager in cPanel and do that now

9) Right-click on the Joomla folder

 

10) Go to Copy

 

11) Give the backup directory a name

12) Click Copy File(s)

 

Once File Manager refreshes the listing, the backup directory we created will be displayed

 

Now let's upload the upgrade file we downloaded

 

13) Double-click the original Joomla directory

14) Go to Upload

 

You will be taken to the Upload Files screen

15) Click Browse...

 

16) Double-click the Patch Package

 

The upload has completed

17) Click this link to go back to the File Manager

 

Now, it's time to extract the package

 

18) Scroll down to find it

 

19) Click the checkbox next to the file

20) Click Extract

 

21) Verify that the file is going to extract to the Joomla directory

22) Click Extract File(s)

 

A list of the files extracting will be displayed

 

Extraction should proceed normally despite any error messages such as this one

23) Click the X to return to the File Manager

 

The upgrade process should now be complete. Let's check that our Joomla installation still works properly and that the version number has been updated

 

Success! We've upgraded Joomla to the latest version

 

Remember -- keep your backups handy at least until you're 100% certain that your upgraded installation is functioning properly