Downgrade from 4.0 to 3.9.1

@jeffreyd000 — THANK YOU. All set. I appreciate your help!

@dscav. YAy!!!! ?? ??

If i Have a network instal is there something diferent to do?… Normaly shoud not be!

I can?t find a wp 3.9.2 to download! Dose someone have a good link?

https://www.ads-software.com/download/release-archive/

Hi. I just want to confirm that this works. Also, I want to give you a more clear set of directions for anyone needing to do this.

Need:
– FTP Access (need FTP credentials and FTP client like Filezilla)
– Old version of WordPress files on your desktop (see Jeffrey’s link)

Steps:
1. Connect through FTP and go to the directory with your WP install.
1a. Optional: backup your files.
2. Jot down your database credentials. In FTP, open up wp-config.php and look for these four lines

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', '#####');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', '######');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', '#######');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', '#####');

Should start at line 18. Copy and paste those lines into your desktop WP’s wp-config-sample.php. Delete those same lines from your wp-config.sample.php. Then rename your desktop wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php

3. Overwrite your updated files (in FTP) with your older version files (on your desktop). Upload everything except wp-content (cause it wasn’t touch during the WP update to 4.0). FTP should detect which files your’re uploading are different and overwrite the ones up on the server. Hopefully this works. You can confirm by looking at your dashboard “At A Glance” thing. If it still says 4.0, then that means our files didn’t fully overwrite. So, go back to FTP, delete wp-admin folder, delete wp-includes folder, delete the individual .php files in the base directory (but please backup beforehand just in case you may have some useful non-WP files in there). Then upload your desktop files.

4. If you did it correctly, when you reload your admin screen, it should say you need a database update. Click yes. Your “At a GLance” WP version listed should be updated.

5. Breath a sigh of relief and give yourself a high five.

RON

@ron L: THANK YOU!!!

But for me it didn’t really work: I didn’t see point 4 though, I just needed to enter my site data again…

And after some minutes the issue I add previosuly (white screen which I thought was caused by a theme which doesn’t support WP 4.0) came back again.

So I decided to install WP 3.9 from scratch.

Thank you Ron L, your instructions worked perfectly for me ??

Hello!
I found the reason why it didn’t work for me the first time (the answer came to me this night at 1am.. ) so i’ll update the procedure of Ron and post it! ??

Need:
– FTP Access (need FTP credentials and FTP client like Filezilla)
– Old version of WordPress files on your desktop (see Jeffrey’s link)

Steps:
1. Connect through FTP and go to the directory with your WP install.
1a. Optional: backup your files.
2. Jot down your database credentials. In FTP, open up wp-config.php and look for these four lines

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', '#####');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', '######');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', '#######');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', '#####');

This should start at line 18. Copy and paste those lines into your desktop WP’s wp-config-sample.php. Delete those same lines from your wp-config.sample.php.

Note: if previously you have changed the prefix of your tables in your database (for safety purpose it’s recommended to not keep the wp prefix) then do not forget to change “$table_prefix = ‘wp_’;” in the wp-config-sample.php (this is normally on line 62). Replace wp by the new prefix you set in your database.

Then rename your desktop wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php

3. Overwrite your updated files (in FTP) with your older version files (on your desktop). Upload everything except wp-content (cause it wasn’t touch during the WP update to 4.0). FTP should detect which files your’re uploading are different and overwrite the ones up on the server. Hopefully this works. You can confirm by looking at your dashboard “At A Glance” thing. If it still says 4.0, then that means our files didn’t fully overwrite. So, go back to FTP, delete wp-admin folder, delete wp-includes folder, delete the individual .php files in the base directory (but please backup beforehand just in case you may have some useful non-WP files in there). Then upload your desktop files.

4. If you did it correctly, when you reload your admin screen, it should say you need a database update. Click yes. Your “At a GLance” WP version listed should be updated.
Note: if you see here that you are asked for your site name, your username and password: it means that you are installing a new instance of wordpress and not downgrading your version. Do not fill in these fields. Go through the steps mentionned above to be sure you did everything as explained.

5. Breath a sigh of relief and give yourself a high five.