Upgrading from ExpressionEngine 1¶

1. Prepare for the Upgrade¶

• Back-up your ExpressionEngine database.
• Back-up all ExpressionEngine files and folders.
• Download the most current version of ExpressionEngine and unzip the software to your local computer.
• It is recommended that you take your site offline for the duration of the upgrade 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/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 upgrade your site.
• In your ExpressionEngine Control Panel, go to Admin ‣ Utilities ‣ Clear Cached Data Files. Select All Caches and click Submit.

2. Rename Old Files and Folders¶

Rename the following files and folders so that they will not conflict with the new EE 2.x versions, but will still be available if it’s necessary to roll-back to 1.x for some reason.

• Rename index.php to index.php_old
• Rename system/ to system_old/ (you may have previously re-named “system” to something else)
• Rename themes/ to themes_old/

3. Upload New Files¶

Using an FTP program such as WS_FTP, SmartFTP, Transmit or Fetch, upload the following ExpressionEngine 2.x files and folders:

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

4. Restore Some 1.x Files¶

• Copy your old 1.x version of system/config.php to system/expressionengine/config/config.php
• If you saved your templates as flat files in 1.x, upload the contents of your 1.x system/templates/ directory to system/expressionengine/templates/default_site/ and verify permissions on the folder are set to 777. The upgrader will sync your templates with the database and archive the old files.

For example, if you have 3 Sites:

• default_site
• products
• company_news

You would copy the appropriate 1.x template files to each of:

• system/expressionengine/templates/default_site/
• system/expressionengine/templates/products/
• system/expressionengine/templates/company_news/

Ensure each folder is set to 777 permissions.

5. 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)

6. Run The Upgrade 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 upgrade ExpressionEngine.
• Once the Upgrade Wizard is finished, remove the following folder from your server:
  • system/installer/

7. Upgrade Add-ons¶

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

8. Additional Steps¶

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

• The Version Notes will outline any version-specific changes that may need to be made.
• If you use a local version of the documentation, replace your copy with the latest from our Download Area.

You’re Done!¶

ExpressionEngine is now fully upgraded.

Post-Installation Best Practices¶

Once you are confident that ExpressionEngine 2.x is working normally on your server, there are recommended best practices for protecting your installation against common security risks.