[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #57546: Appearance>Menus Disappear (actual menu items) When Updating to WP 6+

[WordPress Trac]

#57546: Appearance>Menus Disappear (actual menu items) When Updating to WP 6+
--------------------------+-----------------------------
 Reporter:  truebird      |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Menus         |    Version:  6.1.1
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 Hi folks,

 This has been an ongoing issue for many months. It only affects select
 single sites or select subsites on a multisite for unknown reasons even
 after using the default WP theme and disabling all plugins.

 See page 2 here https://wordpress.org/support/topic/appearancemenus-
 disappear-when-updating/page/2/#post-16399937 for the most recent info but
 also look at the beginning too on page 1.

 On a staging site for multisite I just recently did this to continue
 testing:

 Current is 5.9.5 and everything is fine.  Shows what menus are prior to
 updating to WordPress 6 plus:
 https://app.screencast.com/IeeYd9srBeKVl (this is on a full network
 staging site to test)

 Keep in mind this issue can be on single WP installs or multisite
 installs. See the WordPress forum post

 It can not be replicable because it seems to only affect certain websites
 for unknown reasons even after putting sites on the default WP theme and
 deactivating all plugins (on both single sites WP installs and multisite).

 After updating:
 I was showing some subsites are fine but about 6 or 7 of my 70 subsites
 have menus that disappear https://app.screencast.com/OXcdWgR4D3jE1
 initially on updating WordPress 6 plus. I have found other people with
 single WP site installs that have the same problem like the WordPress
 forum post here for example.
 See:
 https://app.screencast.com/OXcdWgR4D3jE1

 See how I resolved on staging:
 https://app.screencast.com/X60RG8l61sVsG (keep in mind when I tried this a
 couple months ago on my live network, the menus came back initially, but
 then they disappeared after a day or so again...I had to revert back to WP
 5.9.5 to get the menus to stay on those 7 sites).

 For this testing site, so far, on staging, I disabled a couple of menu-
 related plugins before updating and then fixed the menus and reenabled
 (like Max Menu just as a hunch), but there is also a newer version of WP
 now too so that is different too.

 I then made a backup of the menus using the Duplicate Menu plugin on each
 of the 7 sites for all menus just in case they disappeared after a few
 days I would try the backup menus made with the new version of WP. I have
 not had to use them yet. It has been a week on staging and menus are still
 so far there.

 I tried this before on another staging a few months ago, and the menus
 stayed on staging but continued to disappear when trying on the live site
 after af few hours in my case or day or so.

 Excerpt from page 2 recently talking to another person who has a single WP
 site doing the same thing:

 "
 #1 I disabled Max Menu plugin first only cause I suspect (guessing since
 it is a menu based plugin) that may be part of this. You could disable
 only any menu related plugins or all plugins. But if you menus are driven
 by your theme just try also changing your theme before updating WP core
 too.

 #2 I updated to the latest WP core.

 #3 Menus items are gone but…

 #4 I go to the Menus titles that I had active and added a new random page
 to the menus that should have menu items but shows none at that moment. I
 then SAVE the menus. All menu items that were gone then reappear. Don’t
 just try to resale without adding a new random page to the menu. You have
 to add a new page first for it to work. You can remove it after all your
 menu items come back and resale again afterwards.

 #5 Optional…I then used the top plugin in WP repository to duplicate the
 menus as a quick backup (it has about 80k active installs). Search
 duplicate menu in WP repository.

 #6 Then enable all plugins I had disabled (or enable your theme too if you
 changed that).

 #7 All menus are now restored with the latest WP.

 #8 I have left the staging going for about a week to monitor to be sure
 the menus stayed up. So far so good. I made duplicate backups of the menus
 while on the new version of WP just in case the originals disappeared
 again (i.e. #5 above). So far the original menus have not disappeared.
 "

 It would probably be best for you to get a staging site on a single WP
 site that is doing it vs an entire multisite staging to see the
 replication of the issue.

 I am asking the other person ( @marpan ) to post here to and provide you
 access to a fresh single WP site staging site so you can see it for
 yourself too as this only seems to happen on a smaller percentage of
 single sites. For my multisite, I have 70 subsites and only 6 or so are
 doing this too FYI. The other subsites seem fine.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57546>
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