This major release include some interesting updates, such as a redesigned admin interface and a new theme called “Twenty Eleven”. The primary focus on this update was however to make WordPress both faster and lighter. In order to accomplish that, the developers had to raise the system requirements from PHP 4.3 and MySQL 4.1.2 to PHP 5.2.4 och MySQL 5.

Among the other updates you will find:

• Redesigned post editor with fullscreen button
• Extended Admin bar
• No more IE6 support
• Incremental upgrades (=faster)

There are a number of variations on this error message, some more descriptive than others. This solution will however only work when you just get ”Installation failed” as the error – nothing more, nothing less. In this case it was tested on a WordPress 2.8 to WordPress 2.8.4 upgrade with WordPress installed in the website’s root folder.

The solution

The FTP account, used for the automatic upgrades, did in this case have the WordPress installation folder as it’s root folder. By moving the FTP root up one level, above the WordPress installation folder. Example:

FTP root folder – before:
/home/domains/mydomain.com/public_html/

FTP root folder - after:
/home/domains/mydomain.com/

Your web host might be able to help you out if you can’t configure this using your control panel.

Happy upgrading!