I ended up installing a fresh 8.18.8 site and pointing it at the SQL database on the installation set up screen, it seems to have worked in terms of versions so now I need to set it all up again in terms of CSS/Scripts and Views/Partials. However it does lead me to wonder... I have spent a lot of time over the last 6 weeks upgrading about 12 sites, some on 10 and some on 8. Very few of them worked easily and some were a complete nightmare. And even when I thought I had a routine that worked for a couple in a row, on the next site this routine failed miserably. I'm wondering what am I missing, is it supposed to be this difficult? I'm dreading the next security patch when it might be more urgent and 12 sites need to be upgraded today