Umbraco upgrade from U13 to U14, returning 401 error

Questions
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1

I am trying to upgrade our project from U 13.13.1 to U 14.3.2, but application returning 401 error. I have share few details and attached screenshot below.

  • I am using gulp file to generate css/js files.
  • No compile/runtime error I am getting.
  • Url - localhost
  • These are the few serilogs details:
    [INF] Umbraco is in “Upgrade” mode, so uSync will not run this time.
    2026-05-28 10:04:09.404 +05:30 [INF] The request URI matched a server endpoint: “Authorization”.
    2026-05-28 10:04:09.428 +05:30 [INF] The authorization request was successfully extracted: {
    “redirect_uri”: “https://localhost:8881/umbraco/oauth_complete”,
    “client_id”: “umbraco-back-office”,
    “response_type”: “code”,
    “state”: “kutzaaXgOvEd”,
    “scope”: “offline_access”,
    “prompt”: “consent”,
    “access_type”: “offline”,
    “code_challenge”: “SBNeF5LPvH8KOTX5swe1lPECtAP8_oVXj7_ovtDBPoA-s”,
    “code_challenge_method”: “S256”
    }.
    2026-05-28 10:04:09.795 +05:30 [INF] The authorization request was successfully validated.

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2

Why are you upgrading to Umbraco 13? You can upgrade from Umbraco 13 > 17 directly. I think there were also some errors in the migration of earlier versions. I would highly recommend upgrading to 17.

3

Hi @Luuk , I did but got many DB related issue. Many properties data corrupted like, Nested Content, MediaPicker and many others.

If we need to do directly from U13 to U17 then kindly suggest how we can fix those db issue…

4

Nested content and older media pickers are not supported in Umbraco 14 and newer, you you’ll need to change those in any case.

5

Hi @Ajeetkmr154

You will need to using something like uSync Migrations to migrate Nested Content to block list. Likewise, if you have any Grid Layout this will need to be migrated to Block Grid and any RTE macros will need to be converted to RTE blocks. You will also need to update any obsolete data types in the backoffice and switch to newer supported versions. Once you have done this, your upgrade path to v17 should be smoother. You may still have custom backoffice code that needs converting from Angular to Web Components but you can do that once you are on v17.

As @luuk said, you can go directly from v13 to v17, you should not need to go through the intermediate STS versions.

I hope that helps.

Justin

6

Like @justin-nevitech said, you have three options:

  • uSync migrations. There is some rough, but ready code that you can use.
  • Use Umbraco Deploy. Requires a license, but it is free on localhost, so you could try to use that: Import and Export with Migrations | Deploy | Umbraco Documentation . I personally never got that to work well.
  • Use AutoBlockList. I used this for a migration. Auto block list | Umbraco Marketplace
  • Or if you feel like helping me out, I’m building a package that you just install and press ‘convert’ on and it should convert the nested content to block list. It’s loosly based on AutoBlockList. It’s currently in beta. The idea is that you do the conversion BEFORE upgrading past Umbraco 13. It’s in beta, so it needs some love, but the migration part is ready, I just need more testing.
7

Hi @Justin,

uSync.Migrations only have 17 version available and we couldn’t able to install in U13 project.

Do I need to install directly in Umbraco 17?

8

Hi @Ajeetkmr154

There is a version of uSync Migrations for v13 but it is a pre-release and there was never a final release. You will need to tick the pre-releases box on NuGet to see it. Install this on a v13 project and do a full export of schema and content, then run a migration and import the result of the migration. This will migrate Nested Content to Block List and Grid Layout to Block List. You may need to perform extra migration work depending on your requirements and the complexity of your content.

Once you have migrated your data, you can then upgrade beyond v13.

Justin