How to upgrade Drupal in a newer version?

You can follow the steps below if you want to upgrade your website's Drupal installation to the latest version.

1. The first step is to visit the Drupal official website and download the latest available version.

   Once the download is complete, you should upload the new Drupal version package to your website. The best way to do this is to create a new folder in the public_html directory of your website, ex. drupal_new, and upload the new package inside there. Then you should export the files of the package using the cPanel -> File Manager. 

   You can also export the files on your computer and then upload them to your website using an FTP client program.

2. Once the new Drupal version has been uploaded to the new folder, you should copy the files and folders from the old version to the new one using a backup of your website (if you don't have a backup you should first create one).

   Navigate to your backup folder and copy the .htaccess and the file folders and upload them to the drupal_new folder replacing the files inside.

   Then go to cPanel -> File manager -> public_html -> in the drupal_new/sites/default folder and edit the settings.php file.

   Edit this line:

   $update_free_access = FALSE;

   and change it's value to TRUE:

   $update_free_access = TRUE;
   

   This change allows you to run the update.php script from a browser.
   
   

3. The next step is to update the Drupal database. To do this go to https://example.com/drupal_new/update.php address, where example.com is your actual website domain name.

   Then click the Continue button and follow the instructions on that page. A list of the pending updates will be shown. You can inspect them and click Apply pending updates to run the update process.

   If you don't see any errors, your application has been updated successfully. For safety reasons you should change the $update_free_access value inside settings.php back to false.

   $update_free_access = FALSE;

   Now in a new browser window go to the website you just updated. Because the update was done in a different folder the address should be https://example.com/drupal_new/.

   After you make sure that the updated website works as it should, you can delete or rename the old drupal folder to drupal_old and the new drupal_new folder to drupal, so to set the updated new version of your website online.

Update through auto installer

If you have synchronized your Drupal with the Installatron auto installation mechanism, you can update your application through it with the click of a button. 

From cPanel navigate to the Web Applications option and find the application you have installed. If there is an available update Installatron will show the appropriate notification and will prompt you to update. You can click the Update prompt to continue. Installatron also offers the option to make a backup before you update and the opportunity to auto restore it in case anything goes wrong. Don't forget to select this option because it can protect you from a potential failure and can help to gain important time than a manual restoration. 

Then select to perform the update and when it's done check your website for any malfunctions. If you identify any problems you can use the My Backups option inside Installatron and restore the Backup you created with the update process. That way you can revert your website to the state it was before.