Automatic upgrading failed; Manual upgrade loses site

Did you replace *all* the WordPress files including those in the root of your site?

As instructed I deleted the two directories called wp-admin and wp-includes, and replaced them with downloaded directories. I deleted nothing from wp-content. As far as I recall, there were no other directories visible to transfer across.

Not wp-content, the files in the directory above. Replace all files except wp-config.php.

On the remote site, the directory above is called public_html. It has only 4 directories visible: wp-admin (which I have replaced), wp-content (which I did not touch), wp-docs (which I did not touch) and wp-includes (which I replaced).

Did you replace the PHP files in the root of the site (public_html)?

No, I did not. I cannot see any other “loose” files outside the four directories in that public_html directory.

Specifically, where is the “wp-settings.php” file?

There are files not in directories that are part of WordPress. The important one here is wp-settings.php. That needs to be updated too.

Also, there is no “wp-docs” directory. That is not part of WordPress.

I’ve now backed up my wp-content folder and my SQL database to my Mac’s desktop, using FileZilla, downloaded a fresh copy of the latest WordPress and am in the process of deleting everything in the public-html folder on the remote server.

The plan is to build it all back up again, folder by folder.

I can’t see “wp-settings.php” or any loose files in my Remote site window (top right of Filezilla) Interestingly, the wp-content folder includes an upgrade folder which has duplicate wp-admin, wp-content and w-includes folders nested inside it. Might these replicated folders be confusing the php in some way?

All now backed up, deleted and replaced. Same error message on every page of the site.

I discovered some ‘loose’ files on the public-html folder, including word-settings.php’, copies them to my hard drive, and deleted them on the remote site. At that point the site refused me any access at all with a “Forbidden..” message. I transferred all the loose files back again into the Public-html folder and am now back to square one, with the Fatal Error message.

How do I update any of these loose files?

1. Download wordpress from www.remarpro.com
2. Unzip it locally. It should unzip into a “wordpress” direcotry.
3. Upload all files and directories in “wordpress” to the public_html directory on your server.

Thank you! I did exactly as you recommended and the site now works as before. Thank you for the huge amount of time and effort everyone has made to get this resolved.