Disclaimer: Magenticians does not necessarily agree with the views expressed in this guest post. They are presented to bring to light all diverse views in the Magento and general ecommerce community.
Let’s say you have an old Magento v1.7 store and you need to upgrade it to the latest Magento 1.9.x version. First and the most important, highly recommended step is to backup your live store files and database and disable the following options via Admin Panel of your store:
- Magento Compilation from System > Tools > Compilation > Disable
- Magento Cache from System > Cache Management > Select All > Action: Disable > Submit
Now we are safe and ready to perform the upgrade on the old version. Download latest magento v1.9.x from https://www.magentocommerce.com/download and perform the following steps:
- Remove all files and folders from your Magento v1.7 directory (make sure to keep your backup in a safe place) and place all files and folders from Magento v1.9.x package.
- Open your favorite web browser, go to your link. You will be asked to install fresh Magento v1.9.x store but don’t worry, keep going and when you will reach to the Configuration page. Fill it up with the same information you used for your previous Magento v1.7 store which includes SQL DB Server Hostname, SQL DB Name, SQL Server Username, SQL Server Password, Base URL and Admin Path.
- Once you finish the installation, do not visit frontend or backend page. From your Magento v1.7 files and folders backup, copy and merge following files and folders into your new Magento v1.9.x store directory:
- Community Folder: ROOT > app > code > community
- Local Folder: ROOT > app > code > local
- Media Folder in Root Directory: ROOT > media
- Your Theme Folder: ROOT > app > design > frontend > default (package name) > “your_theme” (If you are using “default” package for your theme then just copy theme folder otherwise you need to copy the whole package which includes your theme folder)
- Skin Folder in Root Directory: ROOT > skin
- Module’s Custom XML Files: ROOT > app > etc > modules > “your_custom_XML_files”
- Admin Theme Folder: ROOT > app > design > adminhtml > default
- Custom JS Folder: ROOT > app > js
- Now finally delete everything from ROOT > var > cache and from ROOT > var > sessions to clear all sessions and cache.
That’s all, we have successfully updated our Magento v1.7 store to latest Magento v1.9.x store. Open your web browser, test each and everything in your store and also verify the version upgrade from Admin Panel.
