How to Upgrade from Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3

In this tutorial we're going show you how to update from Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3.

For people who do want to use Joomla 3, the update process from Joomla 2.5 to 3 does work and in this tutorial, we're going to show you how to use it.

Create a backup of your site

Make sure you create a full backup of your site. You can use see How to Backup a Joomla 2.5 Site tutorial if you need help with creating a backup.

Make sure everything(Component, Modules, Plugins) is up-to-date

• Go to Exetensions > Extension Manager
• Make sure that all your extensions are up-to-date
• Make sure you're running the latest version of Joomla 2.5. At the time of this writing, it's Joomla 2.5.8(This is a last version of Joomla 2.5 series).

Joomla 3 compatibility system checking before going to upgrade

• Go to Site, then System Information.
• Check all your settings from within this tab and compare them to the required/recommended settings at http://www.joomla.org/technical-requirements.html
• If your site meets all the requirements, you are ready to update.

Joomla 3 compatibility extensions checking before going to upgrade

There will also be a custom extension check in the new pre-upgrade check; However, until then, you need to check with your extension developers' sites, documentation, and/or support as to whether the extensions are Joomla 3 compatible. This step includes your template(s) as well.

Create a test site

Once you're sure that all your extensions are compatible, create another backup and a test site on the same server in a subfolder (be sure to create a copy of the database and not use the same one). You can use see How to Restoring Backups Using Akeeba Backup Kickstart tutorial for that part.

Now test the upgrade in you created restore test site

• Go to Components, then Joomla! Update
• Click the Options button

• Change the Update Server to Short Term Support
• Click Save & Close

• Finally, on the test site, click the "Install the update". If all goes well, then you can do the same steps on the live site.

• Note: if the "Install the update" doesn't appear right away, you may need to go to Extensions-> Extension Manager-> Update-> click 'Purge Cache'.
• Note: after upgrading, check in Extensions-> Extension Manager-> Database and make sure there are no errors. If there are some, click on fix button.

Enjoy your new Joomla 3 site in live!