Before you push the staging website to your production website with WP Staging Pro it’s necessary that the WordPress version on production and staging site are both identical.
If you are not able to automatically update WordPress because of not getting the WordPress update notification or because of any other reason, you can update WordPress manually by following the steps below:
1. Back up WordPress
Before you update WordPress it’s recommended to create a backup of your entire website.
2. Get WordPress Install Files
Download the zip file of the latest WordPress version and extract the compressed file.
Do you plan to update to an old WordPress version?
You can find all WordPress releases here, even the very old WordPress versions.
Extract the zip file that you’ve downloaded!
3. Disable Plugins
Normally, nothing bad happens if you keep the plugins activated while updating WordPress but it is recommended to disable plugins if you are going to update WordPress on your production site.
You can skip that step if you are going to update WordPress on your staging site!
If there should be an error in one of your plugins you can disable that specific plugin later and you don’t need to be concerned that anything on your live site could break.
4. Rename WordPress Core Folders
Rename the folders wp-includes and wp-admin on your web server. Use FTP or a file manager plugin to do so. (cPanel File Manager or Filezilla FTP client)
If ever possible use the FTP protocol instead of a file manager plugin. If things go wrong you can still access your website via FTP.
5. Upload WordPress Core Folders
Upload the folders wp-includes and wp-admin from the downloaded and extracted WordPress zip file and use FTP or another file manager to do so. Upload all files in place of the previously deleted folders.
Do not upload the folder wp-content! This folder contains your media folders and you should not touch it.
Do not delete any data in your wp-content directory!
6. Upload WordPress Root Files
Upload all new single files from the root of the extracted WordPress zip file and upload it to the root of your web host and use FTP or another file manager.
7. Update WordPress Database
Visit your WordPress admin dashboard and open
https://opening example.com/wp-admin
If there is a database update necessary WordPress will lead you to an upgrade function. Confirm this and let WordPress update the database automatically.
Activate again your plugins after doing that!
More detailed installation instruction is available from:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress#Manual_Update