Introduction
It happens to the best of us: you run a WordPress update and suddenly your site is down or something no longer works. No panic - a failed update is often recoverable. In this article I explain how to recover quickly from an update gone wrong and how to prevent this in the future. It's aimed at freelancers and small businesses with a WordPress site. No heavy technical jargon, just clear advice about risk, recovery, and prevention.
How do you recognize that an update is the cause?
First, it's important to determine whether the recent update is actually the culprit. Usually you notice it quickly by one of these symptoms:
- White screen: Your website loads but shows only a blank screen (also known as the "white screen of death").
- Error message on the site: Instead of your content you see a message like "There has been a critical error on this website." This indicates a fatal error in WordPress.
- Admin not accessible: You can't log in to wp-admin - after logging in the screen stays white or you get another error message.
- Functionality not working: Your site appears online, but certain parts no longer work (for example a contact form that doesn't send).
If you recognize one or more of the above issues right after an update, you can be fairly sure that update is the cause. But how do you confirm it? WordPress itself offers a clue via recovery mode. Since WordPress 5.2, the site enters a special recovery mode when a fatal error occurs. You receive an email at the admin address with a recovery link and information about which plugin or theme caused the error. Through that link you log in to a safe mode where you can for example deactivate the conflicting plugin.
You can also check error logs to identify the culprit. If possible, enable
WordPress debug mode (WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG in wp-config.php) and reload the
site. In the generated debug.log or server error log you will usually find a
"Fatal error" message with the exact filename and line number of the code that
crashed. That tells you exactly which plugin or theme update failed so you can
recover in a targeted way.
Fastest route: restore from backup
Do you have a recent backup of your site? Then that's by far the fastest and most reliable solution. You restore the site to the state from before the update as if nothing happened. That rolls back the update and makes your site accessible again without errors. It saves a lot of troubleshooting and stress.
Which backup can you use? That depends on how you've set up backups. Here are a few options:
- Hosting snapshots: Many hosting providers make daily automatic backups of your website. Through the control panel (for example cPanel or Plesk) you can often restore yesterday's or the day before's snapshot with one click. Choose a backup from before the update and start the restore.
- Backup plugin (e.g., UpdraftPlus): If you use a WordPress backup plugin like UpdraftPlus, you can restore the backup from within WordPress. Go to Settings -> UpdraftPlus Backups in your wp-admin. You'll see a list of available backups. Click the desired backup and choose Restore. UpdraftPlus asks which components you want to restore (plugins, themes, database, etc.) - usually you select everything - and then starts the restore wizard. Wait a moment and you'll get a message when the restore is complete. (Tip: you may need to log in again afterward because the database was restored.)
- cPanel Backup Wizard: If you use cPanel without a specific WP plugin, you can manually restore a backup file via the Backup Wizard. You upload the backup zip for your Home Directory (all WordPress files) and then restore your database via the same menu. In some cases your host will do this for you on request, or they have their own backup system (e.g., JetBackup). The key is that you restore both files and database so the site returns to the previous state.
After restoring the backup, it's important to test whether everything works properly. Check the homepage (are layouts, images and links correct again?) and click through a few key pages. Also log into the dashboard to see if you can work normally in wp-admin again. Test the functions that caused problems before
- for example filling in forms or placing a test order in your store. This verifies that the site is fully restored. If changes were made in the meantime (e.g., new blog posts or comments) after the backup time, you'll unfortunately have to add them again - keep that in mind.
Why restore from backup? A backup restore is often the most efficient route because within minutes you have a working site again. The downside is that you may lose other recent changes. For example, if you added new content after the backup, you'll need to re-enter it. In many cases, that trade-off is worth the quickly restored website.
Second route: plugin/theme rollback
Suppose you don't have a backup or you don't want to restore the entire site because you'd lose other changes. In that case you can try rolling back the specific update that caused the issue. In other words: roll back the plugin or theme that caused problems after the update. This is a more targeted approach
- ideal if you know exactly what caused the crash (for example, "the WooCommerce update to version X crashes").
Method 1: use the WP Rollback plugin
The easiest way to undo a plugin or theme update is with the free WP Rollback plugin. After installation it integrates into your WordPress dashboard and adds a Rollback button next to each plugin and theme. Click it and you can choose an older version from the WordPress.org repository and install it with one click. It works just like a normal update, but to a version you choose. You don't have to manually download zip files or mess with FTP - WP Rollback automates it.
How does this work in practice? In wp-admin, go to Plugins -> Installed Plugins. Under the plugin that's causing problems, click Rollback. You'll see a list of available versions. Choose the last version you know was stable and confirm that you want to roll back. WP Rollback will now replace the current (broken) version with the older one. Once that's done, reactivate the plugin. Voila - the plugin is restored. For themes it works almost the same: go to Appearance -> Themes, click the relevant theme and use the Rollback option (it appears there if it's a WordPress.org theme).
Method 2: manual rollback (FTP)
If you don't have access to the dashboard (or you don't want to install another plugin), you can manually downgrade a plugin or theme. On WordPress.org you can download previous versions of any plugin (under Advanced View you can find older versions as zip files). Download the zip of the version you want. Then use an FTP program or the File Manager in your hosting panel to replace the current plugin folder. Go to the wp-content/plugins/ directory and rename the folder of the problem plugin (for example add -old). Then upload the folder of the older plugin version from the zip file. That overwrites/swaps the plugin to the old version. Then log in to wp-admin (if all goes well, it will work again) and reactivate the plugin. The same applies to themes: replace the folder in wp-content/themes with an older version.
Be aware of the risks: a rollback is useful, but not without risk. An older plugin version can conflict with other up-to-date plugins or with a newer WordPress core. The WP Rollback developers emphasize always making a backup and ideally testing first in a staging environment before rolling back on live. Use this method only as a temporary fix. Updates exist for a reason - they often contain important security patches. See a rollback as a stopgap: it gives your site breathing room, and then you can look for a more sustainable solution (such as waiting for a bugfix update, or having a developer investigate the issue). Always report the problem to the plugin/theme developer too - it helps improve the product.
Why staging makes the difference
"Prevention is better than cure." A wise lesson in WordPress is to test updates before applying them on your live site. You can do that with a staging environment. But what exactly is staging?
A staging site is a clone of your live website in a protected environment - often on a subdomain or in a separate folder. It's a 1-to-1 copy of your files and database, but not publicly accessible. You can safely experiment on this staging site: perform updates, test new plugins, make changes, without risking your real site. Because staging is an exact copy (same server environment, same data), it behaves almost identically to your production site. That's ideal for seeing whether an update causes issues without affecting visitors.
How do you get a staging environment? Many managed hosting providers offer a 1-click staging feature. Do you use cPanel? Then you may know the WordPress Toolkit: with a few clicks you can clone your site to a staging subdomain. You click "Clone" in the WP Toolkit, choose a (sub)domain name for staging, and within a minute your test site is ready. From the Toolkit you can later even copy the changes back to live if everything is fine - this is called Sync or Push to Live. If you don't have a more advanced hosting package, you can always use a plugin. A popular option is WP STAGING. That plugin creates a copy of your WordPress site in a separate folder and lets you switch between live and staging in wp-admin. With this too you can try updates without touching your production site.
In short: staging can prevent a lot of trouble. By installing updates in a test environment first and checking the site there, you catch incompatibilities and errors before they take down your real site. Yes, it takes a few extra minutes per update, but it can save hours of downtime. Especially for sites that generate revenue, this is essential. In a staging environment you can also test multiple updates at once (core, themes, plugins) and troubleshoot calmly if something fails, without panic. After that you apply the successful updates on your live site (or copy the staging site over). Many hosts (like us at [Your Hosting]) offer staging as a standard feature in their packages. If you don't have that option, consider a plugin or service that provides it.
When it's better to bring in help
As a site owner you can solve a lot yourself, but sometimes it's wiser to call in professional help. Here are a few situations where you should bring in an expert:
- No recent backup: If you don't have a usable backup and therefore have to fix problems "live", things get technical quickly. You'll need to dig into code or databases to fix the error. Avoid making things worse (and hours of trial and error) by asking a specialist to solve it for you.
- Revenue loss and urgency: If your website is essential to your revenue (e.g., a webshop or booking site) then every minute of downtime counts. A professional (developer or specialized host) can often find and fix the cause faster than you can on your own, limiting revenue loss.
- Custom code or complex setup: If your site runs a lot of custom code, a bespoke theme or unusual plugins, troubleshooting is harder. A WordPress expert who can review the code prevents you from making the wrong changes and breaking even more.
- No experience with debugging: Don't know where to start or does fixing such a crash feel like advanced math? Outsource it. Your risk of mistakes is higher if you're inexperienced - and that can further damage the site. A good developer or support service has seen and solved these problems many times.
In short, don't be afraid to ask for help when you're stuck. It may cost something, but a broken site often costs more. And you'll learn from it what went wrong, which you can take into the future.
Checklist: prevent problems with future updates
Finally: how do you avoid another stressful moment after an update in the future? By taking preventive measures. Here's a short checklist of best practices for safe updating:
- Make a backup before every update. Always have a recent full backup of your site (files and database) before installing updates. If something goes wrong, you can always roll back.
- Use a staging environment. Test updates first on a clone of your site in a staging/test environment. Only when everything is OK there do you apply the update on the live site. This catches errors before they impact live visitors.
- Check plugin/theme compatibility. Before updating, read the changelog or release notes of the plugin/theme. See if there are known issues and whether the new version has been tested with your WordPress version. Don't update blindly if, for example, your PHP version isn't supported.
- Update step by step (keep core and plugins separate). Don't run ten updates at once. Update WordPress core first (if available) separate from your plugins. Then update plugins one by one, testing in between whether the site still works. This lets you immediately see which update caused a problem instead of guessing among ten changes.
- Automate updates only if you can intervene. Automatic updates are handy, but only enable them if you have good backup/monitoring and notifications. You must be able to act quickly if an automatic update fails. Tip: use a maintenance mode plugin during automatic updates so visitors don't see an error page if something goes wrong.
With these precautions you significantly reduce the chance of major problems. Updating remains important (for security and new features), but do it smartly. Testing, backups and phased updates ultimately give you more peace of mind.
If you'd rather hand this off, know that I'm ready with managed hosting and maintenance contracts. I take care of automatic backups, staging environments and testing updates in advance, so your site stays up to date without hassle. That way you can focus on your business while I absorb the technical risks.