a fix for wordpress plugin update failure

For a year I had no problems updating my WordPress plug-ins. Then an update for jetpack took forever and failed. Then the same happened for plug-in up-draft-plus. When the updates failed, for a while I was locked out of my site and I thought I may have lost it all. It turned out ok.

Today I rang my site hosting service and by chance mentioned this plugin problem. I was surprised when they engaged with my problem.

At first they asked for my wordpress login details so they could problem shoot. (I was alarmed about this but went along with it) There was some problem with my password so we could not do this.

Then the consultant said she had updated my php to version 5.4. She said this version was both up to date and stable. Miracle. My updates worked in a flash. She said I could update my version of php by myself by logging into my account on their website.

I had previously searched for solutions to this update failure and did not see ringing my site hosting service as a possibility – so I have posted this.

I had been considering deleting jet-pack and then installing it from scratch.

I did not know that I could or should change the version of php that my WordPress site used. I did not even know that php was a web programming language till I searched for it.

Is it common for hosting services to request wordpress admin log in details so they can problem shoot?