How to Manually Upgrade phpMyAdmin

Last updated on June 15th, 2019

Author DevAnswers.coCategories UncategorizedTags phpMyAdmin

Since the release of Ubuntu 18.04 and other Linux distros, many people have been having compatibility issues with PHP 7.2 and phpMyAdmin 4.6. In this article we will manually download and install the latest version of phpMyAdmin to resolve these issues.

1. Back up phpMyAdmin

You should back up your current phpMyAdmin folder by renaming it.

sudo mv /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/phpmyadmin.bak

Create a new phpMyAdmin folder

sudo mkdir /usr/share/phpmyadmin/

Change to directory

cd /usr/share/phpmyadmin/

2. Download and Extract phpMyAdmin

Visit the phpMyAdmin download page and look for the .tar.gz URL and download it using wget. In this guide we are using version 4.9.0.1, released June 2019. If a later version is now available, make sure to change the commands below to match (and let me know in the comments so I can update the guide 😉).

sudo wget https://files.phpmyadmin.net/phpMyAdmin/4.9.0.1/phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages.tar.gz

Now extract

sudo tar xzf phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages.tar.gz

Once extracted, list folder

ls

You should see a new folder phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages

We want to move the contents of this folder to /usr/share/phpmyadmin

sudo mv phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages/* /usr/share/phpmyadmin

You can now log back into phpMyAdmin and check the current version. You may also see two errors:

3. Edit vendor_config.php

If you are seeing an error The $cfg[‘TempDir’] (./tmp/) is not accessible. phpMyAdmin is not able to cache templates and will be slow because of this.

Open vendor_config.php

sudo nano /usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

Press CTRL + W and search for TEMP_DIR

Change line to

/usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

define('TEMP_DIR', '/var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp/');

You may also see an error The configuration file now needs a secret passphrase (blowfish_secret). The blowfish secret is used by phpMyAdmin for cookie authentication.

Press CTRL + W and search for CONFIG_DIR

Change line to

/usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

define('CONFIG_DIR', '/etc/phpmyadmin/');

phpMyAdmin will now generate its own blowfish secret based on the install directory.

Save file and exit. (Press CTRL + X, press Y and then press ENTER)

Now log back in to phpMyAdmin and ensure the errors are gone.

4. Cleanup

You can now delete the tar.gz file and the empty folder.

sudo rm /usr/share/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages.tar.gz

sudo rm -rf /usr/share/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages

And if you’re certain your new phpMyAdmin install is working correctly you can delete the backup folder.

sudo rm -rf /usr/share/phpmyadmin.bak

Hurrah!

MySQL Backups

Are you backing up your MySQL databases? I’ve written a detailed guide on how to automatically dump and archive databases using mysqldump and cron:

How to Back Up MySQL Databases with Linux Command Line and Automate with Cron

Let me know in the comments if this helped. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

p.s. I increased my AdSense revenue by 68% using AI 🤖. Read my Ezoic review to find out how.

4.99 (235 votes)

244 replies

GOD THANK YOU

Thanks a lot for the time you spent helping us!

THANK YOU!! I have seen and tried to follow so many TUT’s, and too often they’re missing some final step, or outdated, or just not helpful. Within minutes my annoying MYSQL server has morphed into an error free and comfortable environment in which we can work.

Really, excellent job!

Thanks, worked without a hitch on a Linode Ubuntu.

This worked like a charm, thanks!

I encountered multiple errors after installing the default PhpMyAdmin version 4.6.6.deb5 that came with my Ubuntu 18.04 distribution. Your guide solved them all in one fell swoop. Excellent instructions and many thanks!

It would have been absolutely possible to figure that out, but this fine turn-by-turn manual sped up the whole operation in the most pleasant way.

T H A N K _ Y O U very much

Clear, precise, and extremely useful. Great work!

How to automate this on a simple script:

$ nano phpmyadmin_update.sh

echo "Backing up"
mv /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/phpmyadmin.bak

echo "Getting lastest PHPMyAdmin version..."
mkdir /usr/share/phpmyadmin/
cd /usr/share/phpmyadmin/
wget https://files.phpmyadmin.net/phpMyAdmin/4.9.0.1/phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages.tar.gz
tar xzf phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages.tar.gz
mv phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages/* /usr/share/phpmyadmin

echo "Updating vendor_config"
sed -i -r "s/('TEMP_DIR'\s*,)[^\)]*/\1 '\/var\/lib\/phpmyadmin\/tmp\/'/" /usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php
sed -i -r "s/('CONFIG_DIR'\s*,)[^\)]*/\1 '\/etc\/phpmyadmin\/'/" /usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

echo "Cleaning up..."
rm /usr/share/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages.tar.gz
rm -rf /usr/share/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin-4.9.0.1-all-languages
rm -rf /usr/share/phpmyadmin.bak

echo "Done!"
echo

Best Tutorial I’ve ever seen before !
Thanks for the good and comprehensive Explanation 🙏

Muchas gracias!!!

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Gracias, funciono perfecto.

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phpMyAdmin 4.9.0.1 is now available 🙂

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It didn’t work for me.
Getting this work
The $cfg[‘TempDir’] (./tmp/) is not accessible. phpMyAdmin is not able to cache templates and will be slow because of this.

wonderful!

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This really helped me out. I was struggling with this issue for hours. Thanks

Perfect solution! Thanks! You might mention that, for Steps 2 and 4, the substring “all-languages” can be replaced with “english” in any command with that substring. The installation will then be a bit lighter, without the several MB of language files that are not needed when it’s known that only the English interface will be used.

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🤟

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works perfectly on ubuntu 18.10.
It seems that the phpmyadmin package on ubuntu isn’t tested before it released on apt.
Yet another reason for me to move to Arch..

It works perfectly well. Kind regards.

Worked great! For some reason the copy past of the wget command did not work. I had to copy the URL from the website to download it. Same version you used though.

Thanks!

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Thanks!!

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You are the champ
Thanks

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El mensaje ya lo tengo solucionado.

Thank you so muuuuuuch
very easy to apply, works like a charm on Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS

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Todo el tutorial ha funcionado muy bien ; pero tengo este mensaje:
El almacenamiento de la configuración de phpMyAdmin ha sido desactivado.

the error still exists.

Brilliant, zero errors. Thanks man

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TKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Save my time!!!!
Shame that we need this overkill approach these days, but hey, thumbs up bro’

Very well, for my part, step 3 is not to do it is she who created the problems. so I cancel the 3.

Ubunut Budgi 18.04.2 LTS

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Thank you bro!

I get an error about blowfish.

The secret passphrase in configuration (blowfish_secret) is too short

Open the file /var/lib/phpmyadmin/blowfish_secret.inc.php

Search for blowfish_secret and generate a random string at least 40 chars long.

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'your_long_string';

Save and exit.

Very very thx!!!

Perfeito! deu tudo certo. Obrigada:)

Thanks.

Just for future visitors, to me it said newer version is 4.8.5 at current date.
I did the same operations using 4.8.5 instead of 4.8.4 and it worked like a charm.
Thanks for your help really!

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My PHPMyAdmin is working now! Yeay! Thanks a lot!

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Genial: Ha funcionado de maravilla y sin ningún error. Eres un artista.
Muchas GRACIAS. Saludos

gracias eso fue de mucha ayuda

Perfect guide!
Thanks

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Nice guide!
thanks for work.

i hav got a warning after proccess this guide:
” Auf das $cfg[‘TempDir’] (./var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp/) kann nicht zugegriffen werden.”
=> access denied.
But i hav chown usr “www-data” & grp “www-data”.

Fantastic guide!
It worked like a charm – thank you! 😀

Worked perfectly, thanks!!

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Wieder mal alles bestens…
Vielen Dank!

Hello. This worked perfectly. Thank you for posting this, it’s the only real answer to this that I’ve been able to find.

it works !!! thanks !!

Thx worked nicely but is still get :
The secret passphrase in configuration (blowfish_secret) is too short.
Any tips?

You probably missed the second edit :

where he changes:
define(‘CONFIG_DIR’, ‘ ‘);

to:
define(‘CONFIG_DIR’, ‘/etc/phpmyadmin/’);

Check the Comments above.. has a solution for that as well.. Worked like a Charm..

Superbly done !

Thx, working also 4.8.4

Stilll working for phpmyadmin 4.8.4

Excelente Funciono Gracias.

De lujo, Gracias

funcionó perfecto

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🙂

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Danke!

Big Thank You

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Clear, concise & accurate instructions.
Great use of the command line and a ‘workflow’ process.
And it worked 🙂

thank you

I did reinstall mysql and phpmyadmin multiple times in my raspberry pi ubuntu 18.04 server. phpmyadmin still had issues, but this manual totally helped. Many thanks

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it fix the issue

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After a few months of aggravating error messages you solved the problem! This worked just as you said and is wonderful!!!!!! Can’t thank you enough.

Thank you very much, it worked well for me.
Linux Mint 19

hello,
please help, i have mysql 8, php 7.2.7
i installed phpmyadmin 4.6.6 and i had this errors, so i upgraded to 4.8.3 like you did but the errors still exists.
please help

The phpMyAd*min configuration storage is not completely configured,
some extended features have been deactivated. Find out why. Or
alternately go to ‘Operations’ tab of any database to set it up
there. Open new phpMyAdmin window.
mysqli_real_connect(): (HY000/1045): Access denied for user
‘phpmyadmin’@’localhost’ (using password: YES).
Connection for controluser as defined in your configuration failed.*

Extra fine, Thanks (Merci beaucoup)

all worked very well and very easy

work like a charm.
finally i can sleep tonight 👍

Thx a lot.

Worked perfectly! Thank you very much for solving my problem!!

Thanks, excellent. Just a problem : the automatically generated blowfish secret phrase was too short : 24 chars, yet 32 needed. Modified in var/lib/phpmyadmin/blowfish_secret.inc.php (Raspbian)

grt, worked for me am on ubuntu 18.04

Fixed. This is how tutorials should be. Thank you.

Excellent tutorial! Simple straightforward steps 🙂

thank you very much

I have read tens of guides for Linux and no one was so simple and useful. I’d want to all guides was like this. Thank you.
(sorry for my English, i’m not a native speaker)

Thanks for the comment 🙂

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Perfect, worked flawlessly, thanks.

Thanks. Worked without any error message.

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Very thorough tutorial with a successful outcome for me. BOOKMARKED!

Thanks very much all working fine now.

Thank you ! Excellent tuto :o)

Thank you, i really appreciate your tutorial. The errors have been bugging me for a while, now all is fixed. Best regards and keep up the good work.

Within the created DIR "/usr/share/phpmyadmin" is a file calles “config.sample.inc.php”.
Open it, add a 32char alphanumeric string as value of “cfg[blowfish_secret]” and safe it as “config.inc.php”.

While in the editing of

"/usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php"

DO NOT replace

"define('CONFIG_DIR', '');" by "define('CONFIG_DIR', '/etc/phpmyadmin/');".

Instead take the path to the just altered “config.inc.php”. Take care, (maybe) because of the updating-process, there are minimum 2 other “config.inc.php” on your system under
1) “/var/lib/phpmyadmin” (is empty)
2) “/etc/phpmyadmin/” which will load the “blowfish”-file from “/var/lib/phpmyadmin”.

In my case it was just possible to satisfy the error-message when pointing to “/usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php” with filled “blowfish_secret” as “CONFIG_DIR”.

Finally, thank you very much for this guide.

Why not just set define('CONFIG_DIR', '/etc/phpmyadmin/'); ?

This gets rid of the blowfish error.

Hello,

It was working till yesterday, Now i cant find config.inc.php and setting up blowfish_secret in this blog

There is an easier method to get rid of that error. Open /usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php, search for CONFIG_DIR and change it to:

define('CONFIG_DIR', '/etc/phpmyadmin/');

A quicker fix for the blowfish_secret :

sudo nano /usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

Press CTRL + W and search for CONFIG_DIR

Change line to:
define(‘CONFIG_DIR’, ‘/etc/phpmyadmin/’);

Thanks for the tip, Dimitar. Post updated.

Thank you for this article, very clear.

Wonderful straight forward, easy to follow write up. Very well done. And most importantly, thank you for posting this tip to fix this issue for Ubuntu 18.04 users! (Not that it matters as it’s the same Ubuntu as in pure Linux, but implemented this fix in Windows Subsystem for Linux – Ubuntu 18.04)

Many thanks for the kind words.

🙂

sir im new to this why is it after following this steps my localhost/phpmyadmin/ is blank page now?

All I can recommend is that you restore your backup.

sudo mv /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/phpmyadmin.del

sudo mv /usr/share/phpmyadmin.bak/ /usr/share/phpmyadmin

Check that phpMyAdmin is working again.

Perfect tutorial many thx

Glad it helped 🙂

thank u so much

You’re welcome!

Thank you!
Works like a charm 🙂

🙂👍

Thanks!

👍

Thank you

No probs!

works Fine For Me 😀

👍

Thank you very much for this accurate tutorial. Everything works fine.
Have a nice day.

Glad it helped 🙂

Yo realice todos los pasos pero me dejo un warning que dice
El archivo de configuración ahora necesita una frase secreta (blowfish_secret).

Buscando como arreglaro, edite el archivo config.default.php y en la linea $cfg[‘blowfish_secret’]=’ColocarValorAleatorio’

QUEDANDO DE ESTA FORMA
$cfg[‘blowfish_secret’] = ‘a0sfo49nadf89fa3s8f789sf78asb7p1587balz’

segun esto se tiene que colocar un valor aleatorio, no se si sea correcto esto, sin embargo a mi me funciono.

NOTA: para buscar la ubicacion del archivo
sudo find / -name config.default.php

Gracias por la respuesta.

Sort out my issue. God bless you.

👍

Thanks for the tutorial, it helped me a lot.

🙂

Thanks, nice tutorial! It’s works.

Great!