X Child Theme Disappears on Parent Theme Update

[webpropeller]

Having a strange issue here, I have downloaded the latest theme update for X and uploaded it via FTP to my themes folder per usual. Once theme files are in place I append the old theme folder with the version number - in this particular case I change “themes/x” to “themes/x-5.2.2” then change the latest version parent theme folder from “themes/x-6.2.5” to “themes/x” everything appears to work properly once this is done however, my child theme simply disappears from the themes list in the WP Dashboard and I am unable to activate it on the new parent. I’ve done this many times both with X and other themes on other sites, I cannot figure out what I could be doing wrong here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ruenel]

Hello There,

Thanks for writing in! Before you have uploaded the latest files, did you do anything or add anything in your child theme? Is your x-child folder present is you check it via ftp? To better assist you with your issue, please provide us access to your WP site and FTP details so that we can investigate. You can post the details in a secure note.

To know how to create a secure note, please check this out: https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/how-to-get-support/288

Please let us know how it goes.

[webpropeller]

The child theme has been customized as per usual to customize the theme all within the typical folder structure format “themes/x-child” - as I said before, this has been done multiple times even using this exact installation and I have not had this issue.

[ruenel]

Hello There,

I have checked your site and your child theme is still active. Did you reverted back to an older version of the theme? Could you please update the theme again so that we can take a closer look at the issue?

Thank you in advance.

[webpropeller]

I have just activated the latest version of the theme, however, as I cannot activate the child theme once it is setup I’m concerned with actually activating the latest theme for fear of overwritting any theme settings in the database upon activation. Attached is a snapshot of my themes dashboard upon changing the name of the file for the parent theme, as you’ll see, there is no child theme listed for X, and this is what baffles me.

[rad]

Hi @redzephyrdesign,

I couldn’t tell what’s wrong from the screenshot, perhaps you have uploaded the theme updates in your child theme overwriting it? Would you mind providing your admin and FTP login credentials in a secure note? I just like to confirm the issue.

There should be no know activating the child theme, it was in the old versions where switching to child theme affects the setting (since it was using https://codex.wordpress.org/get_theme_mod). But not anymore just as long as it points to the parent where the settings are configured and sidebar namings are still the same.

Thanks!

[webpropeller]

As I mentioned, this site is on a server where the security is very high and I am not in control of providing that access. Perhaps this can help, this is my theme file structure when the latest X theme version is activated, you can clearly see that the x-child theme is still in place, yet it doesn’t show up in the theme list in WP Dashboard, it is as if the child is not recognized by the new parent theme. Is there some reference to a specific theme version in the standard x-child folder that I should be updating? This would be something new as I said before, I have never experienced this issue.

And for the record, in troubleshooting this in recent attempts I have completely deleted the old theme version files and folder, moved it to a different (disabled) folder with no difference.

[paul.r]

Hi,

Can you check the content of your child theme and see if it matches the content below.

style.css

/*

Theme Name: X – Child Theme
Theme URI: http://theme.co/x/
Author: Themeco
Author URI: http://theme.co/
Description: Make all of your modifications to X in this child theme.
Version: 1.0.0
Template: x

*/

functions.php

<?php

// =============================================================================
// FUNCTIONS.PHP
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Overwrite or add your own custom functions to X in this file.
// =============================================================================

// =============================================================================
// TABLE OF CONTENTS
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//   01. Enqueue Parent Stylesheet
//   02. Additional Functions
// =============================================================================

// Enqueue Parent Stylesheet
// =============================================================================

add_filter( 'x_enqueue_parent_stylesheet', '__return_true' );



// Additional Functions
// =============================================================================

Thanks

[webpropeller]

I figured out the issue! I mistakenly had the updated parent theme in a double folder, so it was actually “themes/x/x/…” which then of course the child theme was not finding the parent and wasn’t being displayed. Sorry for all of the confusion but hopefully this will serve to help others.

Learn from the errors of others.

[mldarshana]

Glad you were able to figure it out