how do I upgrade?

**Bonnirae** · 4 Sep 2020, 06:42 PM

Hi all, I'm new to using this forum so any help or suggestions would be appreciated. We are currently using v1.5.0 however, I need to update to v1.5.7 but don't know how. There is a "Check for Updates" button which tells me the version of Zen Car we are using is up to date although I don't think it is.

Any suggestions on how to update to v1.5.7?

Thanks, Bonni

**swguy** · 4 Sep 2020, 06:53 PM

Welcome to the Zen Cart forum, Bonni! Start your upgrade journey by reading this:

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/upgrading/upgrading/

**web-project** · 4 Oct 2020, 10:16 PM

Normally just download new version of zen-cart and read instruction how to upgrade, if you do have plugins installed on your version of zen-cart you will loose them, so required to reinstall them.

**TrojanDon** · 12 Oct 2020, 10:39 PM

I have a very simple, very plain Zen-cart site (ver. 1.5.5f) using the classic template. There are no plugins or modifications. Now the question: If I downloaded a fresh, clean copy of 1.5.6c or 1.5.7, unzipped it and placed it on my dev server. I’ve copied the existing 1.5.5f into a fresh test dB. After making the path changes to the two configure.php files – Shouldn’t I be able to run the /zc_install database conversion on the test dB. After removing the /zc_install directory and renaming the admin directory – shouldn’t I have a working, upgraded Zen-cart?

I’ve tried this, and it seems to work (I do get some extra side-boxes, but they are easily removed via the admin). For my case, this seems like a simple, straight forward procedure. One would think - using a virgin copy of the code and simply running the database upgrade would eliminate many possible errors. Does this make sense?

**dbltoe** · 12 Oct 2020, 11:58 PM

Not really a good idea. 1.5.5 to 1.5.6 was a big jump and 1.5.7 even bigger. More logarithmic versus linear.

Better to leave the current site working and start a test site. Use it to get to the latest version. Then replace old with new.

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/upgra...ing/#3-testing

**swguy** · 13 Oct 2020, 12:36 AM

@TrojanDon This is pretty much what is suggested in

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/upgrading/upgrading/

The "upgrade without preserving customizations" option. This works best if you are using classic or responsive classic as your template.

Once you're done remember:
- Tweak language files as needed
- copy in your images folder
- copy in any changes to includes/languages/english/html_includes/