Fixing WordPress Upgrade Errors [Table 'wp_terms' doesn't exist]

derek — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:41:03 +0000

If you have ever seen one of these exceptionally annoying errors populating your apache logs after upgrading wordpress: WordPress database error Table 'database.wp_terms' doesn't exist for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_ terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id WHERE tt. taxonomy IN ('category') AND ( t.term_id <> 1 ) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by require, require_once, include, get_sidebar, locate_template, load_template, require_once, wp_list_cats, wp_list_categories, get_categories, get_terms
There is a relatively easy fix, however, finding it was not so easy.

I found a pointer here:

http://osterman.com/wordpress/2007/10/15/wordpress-database-error-table-wp_terms-doesnt-exist

However, this didn’t work for me. The page always mentioned the database was already upgraded. Digging around on the WordPress Codex, revealed this handy link about forcing a database upgrade.

Here is what I did to fix the problem

Open mysql and select the db: [root@host ~]# mysql -u dbuser -p Enter password: Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 15762 Server version: 5.0.45 Source distribution


Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
mysql> use wordpress;

Database changed
Next change the value of the DB to a previous version or wordpress (check here for a list of values). mysql> update wp_options set option_value='6124' where option_name="db_version";


Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0

mysql>
Next, run the upgrade script:

http://domain/wordpress/wp-admin/upgrade.php

If you receive errors, change the db_version to a different value and try again.

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Fixing WordPress Upgrade Errors [Table 'wp_terms' doesn't exist]