WooCommerce not working after an update, how to restore the store
The update was meant to improve security, and instead the WooCommerce store stopped working: a white screen, a critical error, vanishing cart buttons, or an admin panel you cannot get into. It is one of the more common failures of WordPress stores and, contrary to first impressions, it can usually be rolled back without losing orders. Let us explain where it comes from and what to do.
Why an update breaks a store
WooCommerce is a plugin working inside an ecosystem: WordPress, the theme, dozens of other plugins and the PHP version on the server. A failure after an update is almost always a conflict of one of these elements with the rest:
- The new WooCommerce version requires a newer WordPress or PHP than you have.
- The theme or an add-on plugin has not kept up with the change and stopped working together.
- One thing updated, and another that depended on it fell over.
Before you start: a backup (or a rollback)
If you have a backup from before the update, the simplest and fastest option is often to restore the previous state, and only then calmly work out what went wrong. If you do not have a backup, make one now (of the current, broken state) before you start poking around, so you have a starting point.
How to find the culprit
Work by elimination:
- Enable the error log. In
wp-config.phpsetWP_DEBUGandWP_DEBUG_LOGtotrue. An error with a file name often points straight at the plugin or theme. - Disable the recently updated plugin. If you have no panel access, rename its folder in
wp-content/pluginsthrough the file manager. The store came back? Culprit found. - Switch the theme to the default. If it is the theme, the store will run on the default one.
- Check the PHP version in your hosting panel, sometimes matching it to the new version's requirements is enough.
If the symptom is a full critical error or a white page, our post on the WordPress critical error also helps, because the mechanism is the same.
How to avoid it next time
The point is not to stop updating, because that directly threatens security. The point is to update safely: backup first, then update, ideally on a test copy, and check the key functions (cart, payment) after the change. We lay it out in the guide on how to update a site without breaking it.
Store down? Do not experiment forever
In a store, every hour is lost orders. If the log does not point to a clear cause, or you are afraid of deepening the failure, hand it to someone who does such repairs every day. We handle repair of sites that are down, WooCommerce stores included: free diagnosis, work on a copy, no risk of losing orders. Get in touch.