Upgrade Joomla 1.5: migrate the content to a current version of Joomla

Joomla 1.5 cannot be upgraded to a modern version with the update button, nor from Softaculous: so much changes between them that the only way is to migrate the content to a new installation. It used to be migrated to Joomla 2.5 with the jUpgrade component, but 2.5 has also been unsupported for years. Today you can jump straight from 1.5 to the current version of Joomla.

The process consists of setting up a new Joomla installation alongside the old one, in a subfolder, copying the 1.5 content into it and, when everything is ready, making it the main website. The old website keeps working until the last step.

1. Prepare the ground

1. Make a full backup of the current website (files and database) with the cPanel backup wizard.
2. Write down the connection details of the Joomla 1.5 database. They are in the website's configuration.php file: $host, $user, $password, $db and $dbprefix (usually jos_).

2. Install the new Joomla alongside the old one

Install the latest version of Joomla from Softaculous on the same domain, in a subfolder, for example nueva. Softaculous will create its own database for it, so it does not touch the old website's database.

When it finishes you will have the new website at tudominio.com/nueva and its administration at tudominio.com/nueva/administrator.

3. Migrate the content with SP Upgrade

SP Upgrade is a paid component that migrates directly from Joomla 1.5 to versions 4, 5 and 6. It is installed in the new Joomla, not in the old one.

1. Download SP Upgrade from its page in the Joomla extensions directory.
2. In the new Joomla's administration, go to System > Install > Extensions and upload the zip file.
3. Open Components > SP Upgrade and, in its connection options, enter the Joomla 1.5 database details you wrote down in step 1. Use localhost as the host.
4. Start the transfer and wait for it to finish. With a lot of content it may take a while.

SP Upgrade copies Joomla's core content: users, articles with their sections and categories, contacts, web links, news feeds, banners, menus and modules. You have to copy the images in the images folder yourself: from the cPanel File Manager, copy the contents of public_html/images to public_html/nueva/images.

4. Review the new website

This is where the real work starts. Go over the new website at tudominio.com/nueva:

• Third-party components and modules: those for Joomla 1.5 do not work in current versions. Look for their current version or an alternative in the extensions directory, install it and configure it again.
• Template: the 1.5 template will not work either. Choose a current template and adapt it to your design.
• Menus and links: check that every menu item leads to its page and that the links inside articles work.
• Users: log in with a migrated account to check that login works.

The fewer components and customisations the old website has, the less work there will be in this step.

5. Make the new website the main one

When the new website is ready:

1. Make another backup.
2. Move the Joomla 1.5 files from public_html to a folder outside the website, for example /home/usuario/joomla15, in case you need to recover something. Do not move the nueva folder.
3. Move all the contents of public_html/nueva to public_html, including the hidden .htaccess file.
4. Edit public_html/configuration.php and change the paths ending in /nueva: $log_path and $tmp_path must become /home/usuario/public_html/administrator/logs and /home/usuario/public_html/tmp. If $live_site has an address, leave it empty or set it to https://tudominio.com.
5. Open tudominio.com and the administration at tudominio.com/administrator and check that everything works.

If the addresses of some pages change, create redirects from the old ones to the new ones from Joomla's Components > Redirects so as not to lose the visits that come from Google.

When everything works, you can delete the joomla15 folder and the old database.