The built in upgrade and plugin update feature in WordPress is an absolute dream. Sure I know how to do it all manually but yuck, who wants to when you have tens of sites to handle? But the update process can be… well let’s just say finicky.

You know, I kinda expect that. It is difficult if not impossible to create software that would work on every web server in the world now and forever – that would be perfection and we all know it doesn’t exist. But what really stumped me is, two sites on the very same server. One update works flawlessly and the other always burps. ARGH!

In fact, Kelly McCausey asked me about this issue once on a call because she too experiences this on some clients’ sites. Funnily, some plugins update and some don’t on the same site for her. It’s all so strange. I didn’t have an answer for her then but I may now.

Possible Solution 1

Repair database tables. This is the furthest solution from my mind. My database tables seemed healthy. There were no problems maybe just a high overhead on one table so I went into phpMyAdmin to first optimize the table with high overheads and then I repaired all tables even though there was no error showing on any of them.

Strangely enough the update worked immediately after trying this. As a result, I did not try the next two but if the database table repair didn’t work for you, maybe one of these will.

Possible Solution 2

Delete or rename the upgrade folder found in your wp-content folder. Hat tip to Josephcs.

Possible Solution 3

Adjusting wp-config.php. I would definitely do a backup first. Instructions are too long to re-write here so I’ll send you to Elehost’s post. Thanks for the tip Paul!

If all else fails, ask your web host. I know, not something I like doing because sometimes they can’t help either but it’s always worth a shot.