All-in-One WP Migration restore freezes upon restore

abasson

June 11, 2019

To begin this article, I must first compliment ServMask for an amazing plugin to backup your entire WordPress website, with the plugins as well as the database. I am using the free version of this plugin, and to date, all my website backup pains have been solved. It does all the work for you, without having to backup individual files using FTP or your cPanel software. You can install the plugin directly from your WordPress plugins (Add New), or you can find it HERE to download for testing purposes, or to manually upload it to your WordPress site.

At some stage, we all have experienced some form of plugin or component on your WordPress site that just don’t do what it needs to do. Recently, I needed to restore one of my clients’ WordPress site (because… don’t ask why). I had a backup which I have made recently using All-in-One WP Migration, so all I needed to do was to remove the damaged site, remove the Database, perform a clean install, run the plugin and restore the site. Right? Well. While uploading the 240MB backup, the progress bar just froze. Numerous times I have tried to upload the backup file, but it freezes at random stages. The feature to upload it via FTP to the backup folder and restore it from the “backups” feature of this plugin, you need to have the paid version. Immediately, I felt my heart skipping a couple of beats and what to do now.

Before attempting this fix, you should have basic to moderate knowledge of WordPress and MySQL (phpMyAdmin).

I have also made some changes in my cPanel’s PHP ini Editor (you can perform these changes if your hosting provider permits you to do so):

max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = 300
memory_limit = 512MB
post_max_size = 256MB
upload_max_filesize = 256MB

Before moving to the next step, perform a backup of your WordPress existing database in phpMyAdmin within your cPanel.

Make a note of the DB name and the table prefix (as this will just ease the whole process)
Export your DB using the custom option, and make sure Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION / EVENT / TRIGGER statement is ticked/selected.
Export your Database and save it in a location for later use.

These settings did not work. So, now that you have a bit of a background of the scenario which I had, here is what I did to fix the issue:

I have downloaded a little application (download wpress-extractor here)
Make a folder on your C-drive and call it something like “Extract”
Copy your .wpress backup file to the newly created folder
Open Command Prompt as an Administrator
Navigate to the “Extract” folder in Command Prompt:
1. cd\ (PRESS ENTER)
2. cd Extract (PRESS ENTER)
Now run the following command: wpress-extractor <name-of-your.wpress file> (without the <> brackets)
1. You will see it will extract all the files into the extract folder.
2. The MySQL database file will also be present, but forget about it for now.

Now you have extracted the .wpress backup you have made. Now perform the following steps:

In cPanel, you can make use of the Softaculous service to install WordPress.
1. Most of the fields can be left as is, but you need to provide a username and password to login to the backend.
2. The Database name will be the name which you have noted when you have exported the database.
3. The Table Prefix will also be the one you have noted when you have exported the database.
4. You can now perform the clean WordPress installation.
When you have extracted the .wpress file, you will find 3x folders named:
1. plugins
2. themes
3. uploads
You can now upload (or transfer via FTP) the CONTENT of each of these folders to the WP-CONTENT folder of your WordPress site
1. eg. WP-CONTENT\PLUGINS\your extracted plugins folder contents
2. Perform the same with themes (you can only move / upload the current theme you are using)
3. The same with uploads as these will contain all the media elements of your website.
Now, go to your cPanel and navigate to phpMyAdmin
You will now need to import the database which you have backed up earlier (NOT the one from the .wpress backup).
1. At this stage I assume you know how to import the content into the database, as your DB name and Table Prefixes are the same.
2. Should your data be corrupt in your previous database, you can still import it to create the tables needed, and then import the SQL file which were extracted from your .wpress backup.

At this stage, you can check if your website is working. You can also log into the WP-Admin section to confirm all your plugins are there and working.

The conclusion: This is a simple workaround (a bit tedious though) if you are struggling to restore the .wpress backup when making use of the All-in-One WP Migration plugin. I would also recommend you get in contact with ServMask directly should you need some additional assistance, as they deserve the credit for the working of their software. These steps above were used in a situation where I needed to restore a website which couldn’t afford to be down. You may have a different scenario and hosting limitations which might make these steps useless if your provider is full of stories.

Please feel free to leave your comments, if you have any other suggestions, or if you need some help from us or the other members. You can also have an online chat with us during business hours if the chat icon is available on our website. 🙂

Thank you for reading this article.