Alternative method required to upgrade from 2.2.5 to 2.3.4

[mrstainless]

I have tried using the Web Setup Wizard and the process gets stuck at "update is already in progress", I left it running for 6 hours. Next I tried to do it via CLI and I can't get past the "composer update" command as the process gets killed very time, I tried increasing the memory but that doesn't work either, it would seem my hosting server does not have enough memory allocated to my account to perform the task.

By choice I have a plain vanilla Magento 2.2.5 installation with no additional modules or extensions, is there an easy alternative method (I'm doing this upgrade as a favor for someone so the easier the better) to do this? For example can I do a clean installation of 2.3.4 and migrate the settings and data somehow? Some other option? I'm getting desperate as the site was virus infected and I need to update to more secure software.

[mrstainless]

I tried to upgrade to 2.2.9 (with additional memory) using commander, see commands below. It seemed to work, as I could log in and view the dashboard but none of the options on the left would work, click on Sales nothing happens, click on Customer nothing happens etc. Reviewing the list below is there something I have missed?

composer require magento/product-community-edition 2.2.9 --no-update
php bin/magento maintenance:enable
# remove all files from vendor except .htaccess
composer update
rm -rf var/di var/generation
php bin/magento cache:flush
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php -d memory_limit=2G bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento indexer:reindex
php bin/magento maintenance:disable

[prema_mani1]

Try the following, most of the time, it will resolve the issue,

Goto Magento 2 root directory -> pub -> static and remove static folder and remove var/cache, var/composer_home, var/generation, var/page_cache, var/view_preprocessed

Then run,

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

Note: While removing pub/static contents do not remove .htaccess file