Keeping your WordPress site updated is crucial for maintaining security and optimizing performance. While minor updates are automatically applied in the background, major updates require manual installation.
Many website owners often find major updates to be a hassle and delay their installation, which can leave their WordPress sites exposed to potential security threats.
Fortunately, enabling automatic updates for major WordPress versions is a straightforward process. This feature ensures your website receives the latest enhancements, security fixes, and performance upgrades without requiring your constant attention.
This article offers a comprehensive step-by-step guide to enable automatic updates for major WordPress versions, ensuring your website remains up-to-date, secure, and operates efficiently.
Understanding How Automatic Updates Function in WordPress
The automatic updates feature was first introduced in WordPress 3.7, allowing the platform to automatically install minor updates that enhance the security of your website.
While there is an option to disable automatic updates in WordPress, we strongly advise keeping them enabled, as they typically resolve critical security vulnerabilities and issues.
If you manage one or two WordPress websites, you can easily follow our guide to safely update your site whenever a new major WordPress version is released. However, if you oversee multiple sites, manually updating WordPress can become a time-consuming task.
Fortunately, managed WordPress hosting services like WP Engine automatically handle updates for all new releases, including major updates.
You can also enable automatic updates for WordPress on shared hosting platforms like Bluehost and SiteGround. Just ensure you have a reliable backup system in place in case any issues arise.
Now, let’s explore how to effortlessly set up automatic updates for major WordPress releases. In this tutorial, we will cover the following topics:
- Preparing for Automatic Updates in WordPress
- How to Enable Automatic Updates for Major Releases from the Dashboard » Updates
- Using a Plugin to Enable Automatic WordPress Updates for Major Releases
- Manually Enabling Automatic Updates for Major Releases in WordPress
- Common Questions About WordPress Automatic Updates
- Expert Guides on WordPress Updates
If you prefer written instructions, just continue reading.
Getting Ready for Automatic Updates in WordPress
The most crucial layer of security for any website is implementing a reliable backup system. Regardless of whether you enable automatic updates, it’s essential to have an automatic backup solution for every WordPress installation.
There are numerous effective WordPress backup plugins available that can help you establish automatic backups for your WordPress site.
We highly recommend Duplicator as it is the top WordPress backup plugin available and it’s free of charge. Duplicator makes it simple to set up automatic backups for your entire WordPress website.
Additionally, it enables you to automatically save your backup files in a remote location like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3.
After you have configured automatic backups for WordPress, you can proceed to enable automated updates for major WordPress releases.
Method 1: Activate Automatic Updates for Major Releases via Dashboard » Updates
When you navigate to theDashboard » Updatespage in your WordPress admin dashboard, you will see the message, ‘This site is automatically kept up to date with maintenance and security releases of WordPress only.’ These refer to the minor releases mentioned earlier.
To manage all WordPress updates consistently, click on the option labeled ‘Enable automatic updates for all new versions of WordPress.’
This will ensure that major WordPress releases are installed automatically.
If you choose to disable automatic updates later, simply navigate back to theDashboard » Updatespage and select the option that states ‘Switch to automatic updates for maintenance and security releases only.’
As a result, major WordPress versions will no longer be installed automatically, only minor updates and security fixes will be.
Method 2: Enable Automatic WordPress Updates for Major Releases Using a Plugin
Using a plugin allows you to have greater control over what gets updated on your site, including options for automatically updating the WordPress core, plugins, themes, and more.
First, install and activate the Easy Updates Manager plugin. For detailed instructions, refer to our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After activation, go to theDashboard » Updates Optionspage to configure the plugin.
In the ‘Quick configuration actions’ section, click on the ‘Custom’ button. Then, select the ‘Auto update all releases’ option under the ‘WordPress core updates’ section.
Important Note:Exercise caution when selecting the ‘Auto update everything’ button in the ‘Quick configuration actions’. This option will enable automatic updates for all components, including WordPress core, plugins, themes, and translations.
The plugin will automatically save your settings and activate automatic updates for major WordPress releases.
If you want to use this plugin for automatic updates of your plugins and themes as well, please refer to our comprehensive guide on managing automatic WordPress updates effectively.
Method 3: How to Manually Enable Automatic Updates for Major WordPress Releases
This method involves adding code to your WordPress files.
First, insert the following line of code into your site’s wp-config.php file:
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true );
One minor issue with this code is that it also activates ‘nightly’ updates, which are still in development and may have bugs. Therefore, they should not be used on a live WordPress site.
To prevent nightly builds and development updates, add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file or use a code snippets plugin like WPCode:
add_filter( 'allow_dev_auto_core_updates', '__return_false' );
This filter will turn off automatic updates for nightly builds or development versions.
Your WordPress site is now set up to automatically update itself whenever a new version of WordPress is released, without any manual intervention.
Common Questions About WordPress Automatic Updates
1. Why should I install WordPress updates?
WordPress is continuously updated software, with thousands of developers working to enhance its features and security.
It’s essential to install WordPress updates promptly to ensure your website benefits from the latest security fixes, new features, and optimal speed and performance.
2. Are updates safe for my website?
As the leading website builder globally, WordPress updates are promptly accessible to millions of sites. The core development team diligently ensures that these updates are safe for all users to install.
We strongly advise backing up your WordPress website before applying any updates. This precaution allows you to quickly restore your site if any issues arise post-update.
Can I enable automatic updates for WordPress plugins as well?
By default, WordPress requires manual installation of plugin updates. However, you can set up automatic updates for plugins too.
Refer to our guide on how to activate automatic updates for WordPress plugins.
Is it possible to update all my websites from a single dashboard?
Typically, you need to log in to each WordPress site to apply updates. Fortunately, there are tools available that allow you to manage multiple WordPress sites, making it simpler to install updates across all your sites without needing to log in to each one individually.
Discover more in our guide on managing multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard.
Comprehensive Guides on WordPress Updates
We hope this article has helped you understand how to enable automatic updates for major releases in WordPress. You might also find our other guides related to WordPress updates useful:
- The Importance of Keeping Your WordPress Updated
- A Beginner’s Guide to Safely Updating WordPress (Infographic)
- A Beginner’s Guide to Checking for WordPress Security Updates
- Tips for Effectively Managing Automatic WordPress Updates
- How to Verify and Update to the Latest Version of WordPress
- Setting Up Email Notifications for WordPress Updates
- How to Turn Off Automatic Updates in WordPress
- What Should You Update First: WordPress or Plugins? (Best Update Practices)
- Step-by-Step Guide to Properly Updating WordPress Plugins
- How to Enable Automatic Updates for Your WordPress Plugins and Themes
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