Migrate and Update from Virtuemart v1.1.9 to v2.x

Recently Virtuemart launched version 2.x you will find here all steps to success your  migration and update.

Step 1 : Download virtuemart package

Go to http://virtuemart.net and download two things:

• Download a copy of Virtuemart 2. 
• If you are not currently running Virtuemart 1.1.9, download an update file to get you to Virtuemart 1.1.9. You can find the patches at http://dev.virtuemart.net/projects/virtuemart/files. You will need to update to Virtuemart 1.1.9 before going any further.

Step 2 : Move your media files into /images/stories/virtuemart/

• Use an FTP program or your file manager to create a directory for your media files that is located at /images/stories/virtuemart/. 
• Copy all of the files located in /components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/ to this new folder at /images/stories/virtuemart/.

Step 3 : Rename your old virtuemart component folders

• Using your file manager or FTP program to go to /components/com_virtuemart/ and rename the entire /com_virtuemart/ folder. Exemple /old_com_virtuemart/

Step 4 : Disable the Joomla debug option plus Virtuemart modules and plugins

Go to the Joomla configuration and disable the Joomla debug option, follow this steps to do it:

• Go to Site > Global Configuration. 
• Go to the System Tab. 
• Choose No for Debug System. 
• Click Save. 

Also disable all of the Virtuemart modules also 3dp modules of  Virtuemart.

• Go to Extensions > Module Manager. 
• Use the Filter to search for Virtuemart Modules. 
• Click the checkbox at the top of the column to select them all. 
• Click Disable.

Finally need to disable all the Virtuemart plugins:

• Go to Extensions > Plugin Manager. 
• Use Filter to search for plugins. 
• Disable all Virtuemart plugins.

Step 5 : Install Virtuemart 2

When you download Virtuemart it comes in a compressed package that needs to be unzipped first. In fact, the download package will tell you to do this by having a name such as com_virtuemart.2.0.x_extract_first.zip. After unzipping you will see two files:

1. com_virtuemart.2.0.x.zip 
2. com_virtuemart.2.0.x_ext_aio.zip 

You only need to install the com_virtuemart.2.0.x.zip file

Complete the installation of this file before you add the AIO (All-in-one) package. The AIO contains all the plugins and modules you'll need.

• Go to Extensions > Install/Uninstall (or Extensions > Extensions Manager) in Joomla 2.5 and upload the files for Virtuemart 2.x. 
• The file you want to upload will have a name such as com_virtuemart.2.0.x.zip.

You can now go to Components > Virtuemart and confirm that all your data is intact and the upgrade has been made. If it was installed successfully, you'll see a screen like the image below.

If anything went wrong, you'll see an error message, which seems to be a frequent result according to forum reports. However it's a simple fix. If you get an error message, uninstall Virtuemart 2 and reinstall it once more.

Return to the Extensions > Install/Uninstall and upload the AIO (All In One) component. This will have a name such as com_virtuemart.2.0.2_ext_aio.zip.

If you have a Joomla 1.5 site, you will get an error message if you try to view the site now. The reason is that a Joomla 2.5 plugin was installed with the AIO component. If this is a 1.5 installation, the site will not load correctly.

Here's how to fix it:

• Go to your administrator pages and go to Extensions > Plugin Manager. 
• Use the Filter to search for Virtuemart Plugins. 
• Disable the new plugin called VM - Search, Virtuemart Product. Preview the site.

Check your site now. If it works, we let's get the migration going.

1. Check the "Enable database Update tools" setting in Virtuemart Configuration. Go to Tools/Tools & Migration "Migration" tab. 
2. Choose Everything and click Start Migration. Click Start Migration as many times as it takes for all products to migrate

Step 6 : Enable The database update tools

• Go to Components > Virtuemart. Click Configuration. 
• Click the Shop tab and scroll down. 
• Check to enable database tools. 
• Click Save.

Step 11. Set up the migration

• Go to Tools and click the Migration tab. 
• Increase the max_execution time. 
• I set mine at 100. Increase the Memory Limit. 
• I set mine to 256MB. 
• Check the "everything" radio button. 
• Do this before you start. 
• Click Start Migration.

You already made these changes in the step above, but If you want to increase these manually, open your php.ini file in a script editor and change the parameters as needed.

Once the migration is complete, Mostly blue is a good sign. At this point you don't need to be too concerned about the error messages. You still need to configure all the details of your store, so that's the next step. That will correct these error messages.

Congratulations! At this point your migration to Virtuemart 2 has gone as far as the in-built migration utility will take you.