Revert to Old Version of WordPress Core

These are the two ways I have used to rollback WordPress to an earlier version.

Using either technique, you should make a backup copy of your files and your database first!

WP Downgrade plugin

WP Downgrade plugin

To use this plugin:

• visit the plugin settings page (/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=wp_downgrade)
• set the plugin to the desired WordPress core version
• then go to Dashboard > Updates in WordPress
• Click the Update Now button

Troubleshooting

An Update is Already in Progress

If you get a notification that an update is already in progress and things seem to have hanged, try deleting the core_updater.lock option from the database.

You can do this by connecting to your database and finding the row with optional_name core_updater.lock in the options table and deleting the line

or with WP CLI you can run

wp option delete core_updater.lock

Site Remains Unavailable

If you site becomes unavailable for an extended period of time with the message

Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.

Delete the .maintenance file from the root of your WordPress install.

Downgrade with WP CLI

You can eliminate the use of a plugin entirely by using WP CLI and the wp core download command.

From the root of WP install run the following (replace 5.1.4 with the version of WordPress you want to install).

wp core download --skip-content --force --version=5.1.4

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.