[Resolved] Installing the latest WPML update breaks the site

Hi there,

Thank you for contacting WPML support. While you are waiting for one of my colleagues to take this ticket and work on it, let me provide you with the first debugging steps or if I can help with the issue quickly.

The 500 Internal Server Error indicates that there's a PHP error, and to be able to check that error you can enable WordPress Debug. This will allow us to see if any PHP errors are being produced.

More Info: https://wpml.org/documentation/support/debugging-wpml/

In order to do that, edit the wp-config.php file inside your WordPress directory and insert the following lines:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

Now please reproduce the issue once again after taking a website backup.

Locate the debug.log in: /wp-content/debug.log. You can log in to your website via FTP or install a plugin such as File Manager to find that debug.log file.

Paste the content (if any) on a site like pastebin.com and then share the link here with us (only you and us will see the URL you are sharing).

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply.

I would like to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to your site to take a better look at the issue. You will find the needed fields for this below the comment area when you log in to leave your next reply. The information you will enter is private which means only you and I can see and have access to it.

Our Debugging Procedures

I will be checking various settings in the backend to see if the issue can be resolved. Although I won't be making changes that affect the live site, it is still good practice to backup the site before providing us access. In the event that we do need to debug the site further, I will duplicate the site and work in a separate, local development environment to avoid affecting the live site.

Privacy and Security Policy

We have strict policies regarding privacy and access to your information. Please see:
https://wpml.org/purchase/support-policy/privacy-and-security-when-providing-debug-information-for-support/

**IMPORTANT**

- Please make a backup of site files and database before providing us access.
- If you do not see the wp-admin/FTP fields this means your post & website login details will be made PUBLIC. DO NOT post your website details unless you see the required wp-admin/FTP fields. If you do not, please ask me to enable the private box. The private box looks like this: hidden link

Please, let me know if you need any additional details. Have a nice day.

Hi there,

Thanks for providing the credentials - and they were not excluded, it is just hidden from public visitors.

Just to make sure, do we have your authorization to make a copy of the website and migrate it into another server? In order to perform more complex tests without compromising the live production (since the error causes a crashing of the website).

Please keep us posted about it. Thank you.

Hi there,

Thanks for the confirmation.

We were able to successfully update the plugins in the copy version: hidden link (same login credentials, if you want to enter it).

Then, we tried the same in the live website and everything worked well, as far as we can see. Could you please review it and let us know if it's solved now? Thank you.

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply, and glad that we were able to resolve this.

About the steps taken, we just went to the Plugins -> Add New -> Commercial tab and ran the updates there.

You can do that, or download (https://wpml.org/account/downloads/) and upload the files directly in Plugins -> Add New. I'm not sure which method you were trying, but I don't think it was 'wrong'. Most probably it was a temporary connection issue.

Moreover, since the problem seems solved now, I hope we are good to close here. Feel free to contact us any time if you need assistance with our products.

Kind regards,
Mateus.