The update stops at "Extracting files"

Why it happens

Extracting copies thousands of files. On slow or limited hosting, PHP can hit its time or memory limit halfway, and the progress bar stops.

Fix it

1. In your hosting panel, set max_execution_time = 300 and memory_limit = 256M.
2. Check you have enough disk space: the package plus the extracted files need a few hundred MB.
3. Run the update again from System → Update → Joomla.
4. Still stuck? Download the update package from downloads.joomla.org and use upload and update.
5. After it finishes, check System → Maintenance → Database and click Update Structure if it lists problems.

Good to know

• administrator/logs/joomla_update.php shows how far the update got.
• If the site is broken halfway, restore your backup rather than copying files by hand.