As we all know, installing BlogEngine.NET from scratch is a piece of cake. Upgrading, however, can cause people a bit of concern and it is easy to overlook something. Here is a guide for your journey to BlogEngine.NET 1.3 from 1.2.
1. Back it up
This is the standard first step to doing most anything. While I don't always do this step myself, I should and you'd be wise to as well.
At a minimum, backup your App_Data folder and any custom themes or extensions you might have done. SQL users should add the sql.config file as well as the database to that.
2. Download BlogEngine.NET 1.3 (website)
This is an easy and painless step. If you are reading this, you likely already have done this step. If not, get it here. Unzip this file to a place you can work with it. Go into properties and remove the Read Only check. (This step has helped some and has never hurt anyone.)
3. Update the Database
If you are an XML user, please take a moment of silence for your SQL lovin' brethren, as they actually have something to do in this step. Then move on to step #4.
Ok, SQL provider people, there are two things you need to take care of to get ready for 1.3.
First, you need to download the upgrade script and run it. This does a bunch of magic including adding a field to a table, adds some entries to your settings table, and some other stuff like indexes, relations, etc.
Second, you are going to need to update your web.config file. Release 1.3 has moved away from using the sql.config as it was not supported in mono. So you are going to need to move your connection string to the new web.config file. (Yes, I'm really sorry about that.) Also, don't forget to make the MSSQLProvider the default provider (as XML is the default setting in the new web.config.)
4. Update your web site
Now, we are copy the new stuff to your website. You'll want to copy everything up except the App_Data folder.
Once it is copied, you should be able to browse to your blog and see the 1.3 version number at the bottom of the page.
5. Update your Settings
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Login and go to your settings page. There are a few new things to look at.
Under the Basic Settings area, you'll see a Mobile Theme and Show post navigation links options. Be sure to select Mobile for your Mobile theme (unless you've already made a new one.)
Under the Advanced Settings, Enable Trackbacks and Enable Pingbacks now appear with Send and Receive options. Turn them on or off as you'd like.
Be sure to click Save Settings when you are done.
Troubleshooting
If you are having trouble getting your web site up after copying the files up, please remove any custom themes and extensions and try again. (You may need to manually change the selected theme to Standard in your settings.xml file or be_settings table if you remove a theme that you were using.
If you still have trouble after that, please have a look on the BlogEngine.NET forums and wiki. Someone else likely had a similar problem so searching is the best option. If not however, ask a question.
Good luck and enjoy the latest version.