Duplicator 500 error

Auto Install

Duplicator Lite

1. Go to: WordPress Admin ❯ Plugins ❯ Click «Add New»
2. Search for «Duplicator» ❯ click «Install Now» ❯ click «Activate»

Duplicator Pro

1. Download the plugin from one of the following locations:
• The link in the purchase receipt email you received when you purchased the product
• The Snap Creek dashboard at https://snapcreek.com/dashboard
2. Login to the WordPress Admin ❯ Plugins ❯ Add New ❯ Click «Upload Plugin»
3. Click «Choose File» ❯ select the .zip file you downloaded ❯ click «Install Now» ❯ click «Activate»

Manual Install

1. Download the Pro/Lite plugin zip file to a temporary location on your local computer.
   • For Pro login to your Snap Creek dashboard then click on the «Downloads» tab.
   • For Lite go to the Duplicator Page at wordpress.org and click the blue download button.
2. On your local computer extract the Pro/Lite plugin zip file to a temporary directory (e.g. C:tempduplicator).
3. Open an FTP Client -OR- go to your host’s control panel (cPanel) file manager.
4. Create a new directory in your sites WordPress plugins directory via sample examples below.
   Contact your hosting provider or server admin for the exact path if you are unable to locate it.
   • /public_html/my_site/wp-content/plugins/duplicator/
   • /public_html/my_site/wp-content/plugins/duplicator-pro/
5. Copy the extracted contents of the zip file from step 2 to the new plugin directory just created.
   Note: The files duplicator.php and duplicator-pro.php and the other plugin zip content should be at the root of the directories in Step 4.
6. Open your WordPress Admin ❯ Plugins ❯ Activate Duplicator Pro/Lite
   The manual install process should be completed.

Auto Remove

1. Go to Plugins ❯ Duplicator Lite/Pro ❯ click Deactivate
   Note: Be sure the plugin does not have any active schedules or builds running when trying to remove
2. After the plugin is deactivated click Delete

Manual Remove

1. Open a FTP Client — OR — go to to your hosts control panel (cPanel) file manager.
2. Navigate to the sites plugins directory. It might look something like this:
   /public_html/my_site/wp-content/plugins/duplicator/ Duplicator Lite
   /public_html/my_site/wp-content/plugins/duplicator-pro/ Duplicator Pro
3. Select the «duplicator-pro» folder and remove it and all of its contents
   Note: Be sure the plugin does not have any active schedules or builds running when trying to remove

Auto Update

Auto updates will automatically update the plugin to the next version when it is released. To enable auto updates follow these instructions:
Goto: WordPress Admin ❯ Plugins ❯ Click Enable auto-updates
This feature is available in Duplicator Pro since 4.5.3
For more details see Configuring Automatic Background Updates

Manual Updates

Manual updates require users to login to their WordPress Admin and manually update the plugin. To manually update the plugin follow these instructions:
Goto: WordPress Admin ❯ Plugins ❯ Click «update now» link by the plugin to update

Overview

Both Duplicator Lite & Pro can be installed from the WP-CLI. Below are some key resources
for getting started with the WordPress command line tool.

• Full WP-CLI Guide
• Installing WP-CLI
• XAMPP WP-CLI Setup

Duplicator Lite

Setup
Follow these steps for WP-CLI:

1. Open a command line (Windows/Mac/Linux).
2. Navigate to the root of the WordPress site to install to for example:
   cd /public_html/mywordpresssite/
3. From the command line type:
   wp plugin install duplicator --activate

Duplicator Pro

Setup
Follow these steps for WP-CLI:

1. Open a command line (Windows/Mac/Linux).
2. Navigate to the root of the WordPress site to install to for example:
   cd /public_html/mywordpresssite/
3. From the command line type:
   Single Site wp plugin install http://[URL_YOUR_COMPUTER_CAN_REACH]/duplicator-pro-4-5-0.zip --activate
   MultiSite wp plugin install http://[URL_YOUR_COMPUTER_CAN_REACH]/duplicator-pro-4-5-0.zip --activate-network

Permissions
Users that run into permissions issues may need to consider the following workflow. For example if the user has superuser access, given the site’s owner is «www-data».
This allows the superuser to run the command as «www-data» (or site owner).

sudo -u www-data wp plugin activate http://[URL_YOUR_COMPUTER_CAN_REACH]/duplicator-pro-4-5-0.zip


Upgrade Duplicator Lite to Pro

The Duplicator Lite plugin is NOT upgradable since Duplicator Pro is a separate plugin with a separate code base. When you purchase Duplicator Pro you will be sent a link to
download Pro after you purchase it. From there you just download the plugin, then upload and activate it on your site. Instructions for how to do this are included in the first email
you receive after purchase or can be found in the Install section above.

Upgrade Duplicator Pro

Duplicator Pro supports 3 separate products: Personal, Freelancer and Business/Gold. To upgrade your product you can either login to your
Snapcreek Dashboard and upgrade or send us a help ticket and we will send you an upgrade link.

Solution 1
Install the Upload Larger Plugins plugin and activate that first. Afterward, upload the Duplicator Pro plugin. In some cases this plugin may not work and return and error such as Error: the server sent us a response (JSON) which we did not understand. In these cases please see the other solutions.

Solution 2

1. Change the file upload limit to 5MB or greater, by following these instructions.
2. Restart your web server for the changes to take place
3. To make sure the value has been updated and taken affect follow these steps:
   1. Install the PHP Info plugin and activate.
   2. Go to Settings ❯ PHP Info and then search for «upload_max_filesize»
   3. Check to make sure the value is set to 8M
   4. Alternatively: Contact your host and ask them to: «Change the php.ini setting for upload_max_filesize to 5MB»

Solution 3
If #1 doesn’t work and your host won’t do #2 (which is very uncommon) perform the following:

a) Extract the plugin .zip into a temporary directory on your local machine
b) FTP the duplicator-pro directory on your local machine to /wp-content/plugins/duplicator-pro
c) At that point the plugin will show up in your plugins list and you can activate from there.

Solution 1
This error can pop up when PHP does not have the cURL module installed. Enabling the module could be as simple as editing your php.ini file or it may be more involved. Talk to your host if you are unsure.

Solution 2
If Solution 1 didn’t help, then manually install the new version of the plugin by doing the following:

1. Download the latest version of the plugin from snapcreek.com/dashboard
2. On Plugins screen ❯ disable and delete the old version of Duplicator Pro
3. On Plugins screen ❯ click ‘Add New’ and upload the new version of Duplicator Pro & activate

Solution 1
An unauthorized error normally means the your license has not been activated or has expired. Do the following:

1. Go to Settings ❯ Licensing
2. Add your license key in the box
3. Click the Activate button
4. Go to the Plugins screen and update the plugin

Solution 2
If you are unable to add/edit a plugin check your wp-config.php file and comment out or remove these lines:


define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);
define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true);


Solution 1
Disable FTP Components in wp-config. For a full rundown of this process see
this link.

Solution 2
Change your systems permissions to fix the issue.

Note: This option is a bit technical so contact your host if you don’t want to mess with it.

Solution 1
Normally the notification should show on your plugins page like other plugins. If you aren’t seeing that you can upgrade manually by doing the following:

1. Download the latest version of the plugin from snapcreek.com/dashboard
2. On your WordPress admin, go to Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings and make sure the uninstall options «Delete plugin settings» and «Delete entire storage directory» are UNCHECKED
3. Go to your website’s plugin list & Disable and then delete the old version of Duplicator Pro
4. On the plugins screen, click Add New and upload the new version of Duplicator Pro and Activate

Option 1

1. Download the latest version of Duplicator Pro from the Snap Creek Dashboard
2. On your WordPress Admin, go to Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings
3. Ensure «Delete Plugin Settings» and «Delete Entire Storage Directory» are both unchecked
4. Uninstall the old version of Duplicator Pro
5. On the plugins screen, click Add New and upload the new version of Duplicator Pro
6. Activate the new version

LOCATING YOUR KEY
When you purchase a product (Personal, Freelancer, Business, Gold) you will receive an email with your license key. Be sure to check your spam folder if you don’t receive an email within a few minutes of purchase.

You can also get your license key(s) by logging into your snapcreek.com dashboard.
The user-name will be the e-mail you used to purchase the product. If your unable to retrieve your password at login please
submit a help ticket

Accounts: Snapcreek accounts are automatically created for you during your first purchase and are associated with your email. First time
users will need to reset their password. Goto the Snapcreek Dashboard and click
on the «Recover Password» link at the bottom of the page to login for the first time.

ACTIVATING YOUR KEY
Activation is very simple.

1. Download, install and activate the plugin from your purchase email link or from your snapcreek.com dashboard.
2. Goto: Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Licensing ❯ Enter your key and click activate.

Solution 1
Validation: Log in to your Snap Creek Dashboard and check the license key number and validate your license count.
If your key is valid and you have the proper count then proceed to the next step. If your license has expired then you will need to
renew it. If you have maxed out your license count then you will need to remove a registered URL or
upgrade your product to support additional licenses.

Solution 2
Activation: Activation requires a connection to the snapcreek.com servers, in some cases cache plugins or even web server caches can cause issues. In these cases try the following
options:

1. Try to deactivate and reactivate your license a few times, waiting a minute or two between tries.
2. Deactivate & reactivate the plugin from the WordPress admin plugins screen then try the key activation again.

Solution 3
Networking: Check with your host to see if their servers can reach https://snapcreek.com

• Contact Host: Contact your host or server admin and ask them to monitor what is happening when you click the license activate button. Specifically, ask if communication
  is getting blocked between your server and snapcreek.com. If they observe nothing getting blocked on their side then proceed to the step below.
• IP Checks: Gather the following IP addresses by going to WordPress Admin ❯ Duplicator Pro ❯ Tools ❯ General Tab ❯ Server Settings ❯ «Server IP», «Outbound IP», «Client IP».
  If any are blank then contact your host or system network administrator as its located at the router layer, and we must have all of them in order to properly diagnose
  the issue from our end. Note: If you on are a localhost server its possible you may see «::1» for «Server IP» and «Client IP». If this is the case for localhost then provide
  the «Outbound IP».

  Once you have all the IPs submit a ticket or reply to an existing ticket with all IP addresses. We will then check
  to see if they are being blocked on the snapcreek.com end. This is typically very rare although it can happen if your server’s IP has been placed on a blacklist of some kind.

If you no longer want the product installed on a WordPress site use one of the following methods to free up it’s license:

Option 1
Remove Plugin
From within plugin ❯ Uninstall the plugin

Option 2
Plugin Settings
From within plugin ❯ Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings/Licensing Tab ❯ click Deactivate button.

Option 3
Snapcreek.com Dashboard
Remove a registered URL via your snapcreek.com/dashboard
Never used the dashboard? Click the recover password link or submit a help ticket
and we can get you access.
Steps to manage site URLs:

1. Login to your dashboard
2. Click View Licenses Link ❯ Manage Sites Link
3. Add/remove URLs that you need to manage licenses on

Upgrade Steps

To upgrade, follow these steps:

1. Login to your snapcreek.com dashboard
2. Goto: Purchases tab ❯ ‘View Licenses’ ❯ ‘View Upgrades’
3. Choose the upgrade level and checkout.
   Note: When upgrading to a different version the billing will automatically get handled for you.
4. In your WordPress Admin: Go to Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Licensing. This will retrieve the license level from our server so you should see information that
   describes the level which you just upgraded to.

Upgrade Prices

We firmly believe in and stand behind our product 100%, but we understand that it cannot work perfectly for everyone all of the time. If you are unhappy with your purchase,
or you have an issue that we are unable to resolve that makes the system unusable, we are more than happy to provide a complete refund within 14 days of your original purchase.

What is the quickest way to get refund?
The quickest way to get a refund is to contact us directly. We can issue the refund directly through the merchant services gateway and provide your refund much faster if you
contact snapcreek.com directly vs trying to contact the merchant provider. Please Open a Ticket Request for a much quicker refund process.

A few conditions:

• If you run into technical issues please allow us to adequately try and assist you. If we are unable to resolve the issue, we will promptly provide a refund. Please open a support
  ticket before requesting a refund for a technical issue.
• Refunds may only be issued within 14 days of the purchase date. After 14 days refunds cannot easily be processed. Please be sure to test and use the plugin upon purchase.

DUPLICATOR PRO
Yes! We offer professional customer support and we understand the lifetime value of a customer. We will do our very best to resolve any issues
you encounter via our ticket system. The ticket support system is monitored during US daytime hours
Monday thru Friday and we typically get back to people within 24 hours. Please Note: We currently we do not offer phone support.

DUPLICATOR LITE
For Duplicator Lite we offer limited ticket support which is always prioritized behind Pro users. Response times can vary from 1-5 business days for Lite.
If you need immediate support for Duplicator Lite we recommend checking out our Duplicator Lite support section.

Option 1
The quickest way to see if you are setup for subscriptions is to login to your snapcreek dashboard
and check the subscriptions tab. If the tab is empty then you do not have any subscriptions (auto-renewals) setup. If you do have them then you can click
the cancel link next to each subscription(s) to cancel it from auto-renewing.

Option 2
Depending on the merchant type cancelling a subscription has a few different paths. Please choose the payment type below that was used to purchase the product.
If your not sure please contact us and we can cancel the subscription for you.

• PayPal: See PayPals step-by-step instructions.
• Stripe/Other: For other payment types submit a ticket and we will cancel it.

If you are unable to login to the dashboard or you forgot your password please follow these instructions.

Username

1. Use the help ticket system
2. Provide your license key, first and last name of the purchaser of the product
3. Submit your ticket and we will get back with you

Password

1. Click on the Account link in the upper right corner
2. Click on the «Lost Password?» link at the bottom of the login form.
3. Enter the username/email used when purchasing the product and click the button.
   If the username/email is not found then the form will not submit; see «Forgot Username» above.
4. An email will arrive shortly with a link that will let you reset your password.
   Be sure to double check your SPAM folder if you don’t receive an email from snapcreek within 5-10 minutes.
5. Click on the link in the email. This will take you to a form where you can reset the password.
6. Enter in any password you like, this includes a previous password you may have used.
7. Now enter in your username/email with the password you just updated into the login form.

The number one reason for having issues with getting your password reset deal with emails that is sent to your SPAM folder. Please monitor
your SPAM folder as well when looking for you password reset link.

In many cases the answer is yes,

however

it really depends on your servers capabilities and the overall size of your package.
If your trying to backup a 10GB site on a budget host the chances will be much lower that the servers specs can handle it, without adding directory
exclusion filters.

However if your using a higher end server or VPS where you have more flexibility and control of the servers settings
then we have seen large packages over 8GB build without issues.

Remember we do have a full 14 day money-back guarantee should the product not meet your needs.

The Duplicator Pro Installer allows you to set the following in the destination site’s wp-config.php file:

Posts / Pages

• Theme Editor Enable/Disable
• Autosave Interval
• Post Revisions

Security

• SSL Enforce on Admin
• Generate New Unique SALTS and Authentication Keys
• Core Auto-Update Control

System / General

• Cache Control
• WP Debug Enable/Disable
• WP Debug Log Enable/Disable
• WP Debug Display Enable/Disable
• Script Debug Enable/Disable
• Save Database Queries Enable/Disable
• Cookie Domain
• Memory Limit
• Max Memory Limit

Check out the Duplicator Pro homepage for a description of all the features of Duplicator Pro.

Before you create a new package a requirements check will show you the status of your system.
The following are system checks that are performed before package creation can take place.

PHP Support

• Duplicator requires PHP 5.3.8+ or higher. Contact your host to upgrade to a stable secure version of a PHP Release
• To create a zip file the plugin requires ZipArchive extension -OR-
  shell_exec for PHP with zip support enabled. Contact your host
  to enable. Alternatively you can also use the DupArchive format found on the Duplicator ❯ Settings ❯ Packages Tab ❯ Archive Engine.

Permissions

• Paths that are listed in this section should have permissions of 755 for directories and 644 for files. On some hosts the permission set requires 777.
  Setting items to 777 is a security issue and should only be set temporarily. Please avoid any hosting company that requires this kind of setup.
• Also be sure to check the Owner/Group settings and validate they are correct and match other successful directories/files that are accessible.
  For more details contact your host or visit their help pages for more information on how they implement permissions and group settings.

Server Support

• WEB SERVER:
  The Duplicator currently works with these web servers: Apache, LiteSpeed, Nginx, Lighttpd, IIS, WebServerX. However the best success we have seen with Apache
• DATABASE SERVER:
  In order to complete an install the mysqli extension for PHP is required. If you are on a hosted server please contact your host and request
  that mysqli extension be enabled. For more information visit: http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.installation.php

Installation Files

If this check fails then a reserved file was found in the WordPress root directory. See the following FAQ to resolve this issue:
Which files need to be removed after an install?

Duplicator requires certain PHP and server level dependencies in order to work.

MySQLDump
In order to generate the database SQL script with MySQLDump, PHP functions such as shell_exec are required. Below is a list of ways to enable disabled functions on your host.

• Contact your host and ask them to enable the PHP function in question.
• Some hosts have an interface that will allow you to disable/enable features through a control panel
  such as this.
• Open your php.ini file and look for disable_functions and remove the function you want enabled.

Shell Zip
Shell Zip uses PHP shell_exec to call out to your servers
‘zip’ executable to create the package using a zip format. This is generally a faster and
more robust solution than using PHP ZipArchive code. We recommend you choose this
option if it’s available on your system and you do not experience any issues when using.

ZipArchive
The PHP ZipArchive engine uses PHP logic to create the zip package. This method is generally slower than the Shell Zip option and can
have problems capturing files with non-western filenames. In some cases it will be better to use the ZipArchive, however generally speaking you should try
to use the Shell Zip if its available.

DupArchive
DupArchive is a file format that creates an archive.daf file. This format is specific to Duplicator Pro. This format
is designed around performance and scalability. Many budget hosting providers have very strict timeouts, cpu and i/o constraints that they configure into
their servers. With DupArchive, the format was designed to help get around these server constraints so that users can build larger packages.

When creating archives Duplicator

requires

the ZipArchive class to be installed. For installing a package it is not required.
Below are instructions for getting the ZipArchive working in your environment if it is not already setup.

You can easily validate the installation of ZipArchive by checking with
phpinfo. These settings can be viewed by going to Duplicator ❯ Tools ❯ General ❯ PHPinfo.
Within the phpinfo output search for «Configure Command» within the results of this command look for «—enable-zip». If that is not present then
talk with your hosting provider.

Hosted Server

Just contact your hosting provider and tell them you want PHP with Zip support so that the «ZipArchive Class» will work. This is a very common feature and is available
on almost all shared hosting environments.

Duplicator says the Zip Archive extension fails, but my host says it’s enabled. What should I do?

Be sure your host is looking at the same thing as there are several versions of doing Zip compression in PHP.
Have your host visit this link for instructions on how to enable the
Zip Archive class. This extension is enabled on almost all major hosting platforms by default.

Your Computer

On your own computer you will to to make sure the Zip extensions are enabled for PHP. Check your php.ini file for the following:

On Windows: extension=php_zip.dll
On Mac and Linux: extension=zip.so

PHP 7+ Linux

When upgrading to PHP 7, make sure to install the PHP 7 versions of you libraries as well. On some linux distributions PHP 7 also provides a php7.0-zip package.
You can install it with:

sudo apt-get install php7.0-zip
To see additional PHP 7 libraries that are available, run:
sudo apt-cache search php7.0-*

Additional Resources

PC (XAMPP, WampServer, ect…) resources:
PHP manual |
XAMPP Forums |
WampServer Forums |
Google Search

Mac (MAMP) resources:
PHP manual |
MAMP Forums |
Article 1 |
Article 2 |
Thread 1
Thread 2

Also see: How do I do a ‘Manual Extraction’ or run installer without Zip enabled?

Option 1
The most common reason why the plugin UI is not working is that other plugins or themes are having conflicts with Duplicator. To turn off other plugin hooks when using Duplicator go to ❯ Settings ❯ General Tab ❯ Advanced then check both boxes for:

1. Foreign JavaScript — OR — «Other Plugins/Themes JS»
2. Foreign CSS — OR — «Other Plugins/Themes CSS»

Then try to reload the page/view you were having issues with.

Option 2
If option 1 does not work, consider deactivating your plugins or trying another theme temporarily. Then try to reload the page/view that was having issues.

Option 3
If option 1 and 2 still provide no solution then follow these steps to find the JavaScript error that may be occurring.

1. Open your browser console, how-to instructions here:
   https://balsamiq.com/support/faqs/browserconsole/
2. Retry the action that was causing issues.
3. Copy any error messages that show up in the browser console and create a help ticket. An image screen-shot capture is preferred.

Option 1
Possible Cause: A third-party plugin is corrupting the AJAX response
Resolution: Deactivate all other plugins except Duplicator and then try to reset packages.

Option 2
Possible Cause: A third-party theme is corrupting the Ajax call response
Resolution: Activate the default WordPress theme for example «Twenty Twenty» and then try to reset packages.

Option 3
Possible Cause: The server is running out of memory or time to process the reset.
Resolution: Increase value max_execution_time and memory_limit variable in php.ini. If this is beyond your abilities or you don’t have permissions to
do this then contact your hosting provider.

Option 1
To view the packages menu the current role of the logged in user must have the
‘export capability’. This means the user your logged in as should have a role of
‘Administrator’. Go to ❯ Users ❯ ‘Select User’ ❯ ‘Role’ setting ❯ set to ‘Administrator’, then logout and login. If this
option still does not work consider these options below.

Option 2

• Try User Role Editor Plugin:
  Install plugin, then enable the ‘export’ capability on the current role (most commonly Administrator).
  Note: When editing Administrator you must enable «Show Administrator role at the User Role Editor» in the Settings ❯
  User Role Editor menu.
• Edit functions.php
  Add the following to your functions.php
  
$admin_role = get_role( 'administrator' );
$admin_role->add_cap( 'export', true );


Also see:
WordPress Form: Menu Tools — Export Missing
WordPress Codex: Roles and Capabilities

Solution 1
SYMBOLIC LINKS
Links that point to themselves can cause a recursive loop. Check the file system for directory links that link to itself. For example if /public_html/mydir points back to
public_html/ then that might create a recursive loop for PHP in which case you would need to filter public_html/mydir/.

To check for symbolic links go to Duplicator ❯ Tools ❯ General ❯ Scan Validator ❯ «Run Scan Integrity Validation». This will find sym-links and unreadable files. When the scan is
complete add the full path(s) of the «Symbolic Links» to the directory filter list on Step 1 of the package creation process.

If the scan validator does not pick up files then go into your host’s file manager and look for anything that would cause this (for instance that may look like /dir1 and if you go
into /dir1 it would contain the contents of / which would mean it would also include /dir1 etc). For these type of directories/links enable file filters and add the full directory paths
to the directories box when you are creating a package.

Note: If this process seems too technical then simply contact your host and ask them if there are any symbolic or recursive links in your WordPress
directory structure. There are some instances where the scan validator might not pick a symbolic link on your server.

Solution 2
LARGE FILE COUNTS
For some budget host setup with timeouts enabled; large file counts might cause the scan to timeout. If PHP or Apache timeouts are set to low and your trying to scan 250k+ files
then the process may not be able to scan all the files.

To resolve goto Packages ❯ Create New ❯ Step 1 ❯ Archive Directory filters and add a filter to the directory with the large file count. The recommend approach is to increase your PHP and
Web Server timeouts so the scan is allowed time to finish.

Solution 3
UNREADABLE FILES
On some systems certain utf8 characters can cause the scan to have issues. This is a very uncommon issue and typically more prevalent on Windows
operating systems running lower version of PHP.

To check for unreadable files from within the plugin go to Duplicator ❯ Tools ❯ General ❯ Scan Validator ❯ «Run Scan Integrity Validation»
This will run a scan check that will look for unreadable files. When the scan is complete add the path(s) of the «Unreadable Files» to the directory filter list on Step 1 of the
package creation process.

Solution 4
NO FILES FOUND
If you run a scan and the results show up with no files being found. In your server could be configured with «server separation». You will need to contact
your hosting provider for more details however this can be an issue on some systems. Possible options in Domain Configuration window are:

1. No forwarding
2. Forward to subfolder without service separation
3. Forward to subfolder with service separation
4. Forward to IP/Host/URL

Switching temporarily to #2 will allow the Duplicator to run without issues for both the package and installer.

Most 500 web server errors can be difficult to track-down as they are being thrown from the web server and not PHP. Below are
several options you can try for 504 and 502 errors.

Solution 1
Config Update
Consider the following updates to the .htaccess file.

Option 1: Change the dynamic value for ajax calls

<IfModule mod_timeout.c>
<Files ~ ".php">
SetEnvIf Request_URI "admin-ajax" DynamicTimeout=240
</Files>
</IfModule>


Option 2: Update the .htaccess file from the file manager interface(Path: public_html/.htaccess) and also increased the max_execution_time limit from 300 to 3000
from the Select PHP version interface provided in cPanel.

<IfModule Litespeed>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=noabort:1, E=noconntimeout:1]
</IfModule>


Solution 2
Cloudflare
If you’re using Cloudflare the below settings may help

1. Log in to Cloudflare
2. From Overview Page click «Advanced» ❯ Click «Pause»
3. Run installer deployment
4. Turn Cloudflare back on

Solution 3
Contact Hosting Provider
Connect with your hosting provider and let them know your getting a 500 error. Many times your host will have access to the web server logs
which can help isolate what is triggering the error on their server configurations. In some cases the host may be able to provide enough
information to give you a status as to why the 500 error is being thrown, this information in some cases can help us try different configurations in
the hosts environment.

Upgrade: Ask your host if they are running the latest version of a web server software such as
Apache or nginx.
Many times hosts will run very outdated version of software which will have patches and fixes for the issue you’re experiencing.

Solution 4
General Troubleshooting
There are several troubleshooting protocols you can implement to try and validate if the issue is indeed a networking issue between your browser and the
server. If you have the ability to try from a different computer or even different browser that can sometimes isolate the issue. For a full
run-down of various ways to fix this issue please see this article on
Understanding and Fixing 502 Bad Gateway Errors

Also see:
What can I try for 502/503/504 Gateway issues during the install?
Recommended hosting providers for Duplicator?

To resolve this issue please do the following:

1. Go to: WordPress-Admin ❯ Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Packages Tab ❯ Advanced Settings
2. Change Thread Lock Type to «SQL»
3. Change JSON to «Custom»
4. Retry building a package

Solution 1
Go to Packages ❯ Create New ❯ Check the «Archive Only the Database» checkbox. This will build only the database and let you know if there
is an issue with a specific file or directory. If the scanner completes then there is an issue with one of the files in your system. In this case you can follow these steps:

1. Go back to step one «1-Setup» and click the [root path] quick link to add the WordPress root directory as a filter then run the scanner.
2. If this works then continue adding and removing directories until you can locate the problem area. Start with the top-most directories and work your way down if not
   then see «Test 2» below.

Solution 2
If you try all the other options Issue A thru D above and it still fails then check your PHP error log and contact your hosting provider.

The best advice with this setup is to first just try to run the build. Running a build is safe and if the process is killed you will simply just see a
timeout error message. In some cases your host may be configured to handle backing up that much data; it just depends on your provider. We have seen some
shared hosts backup sites upto 4GB with the Lite version and timeout with a 100MB on others. It simply boils down to the constraints imposed by your
hosting provider.

If you run into timeout issues when building a package see the FAQ question
What can I try for Timeout Issues? there are several work-a-rounds that will allow you to successfully
build a package no matter how large your site is. To quickly get going skip down to the section «MANUAL TIMEOUTS WORKAROUNDS» or the FAQ item above
titled What can I do for issues with migrating a large site?.

Try each option starting with Option 1 first and move through in order.

Option 1
The Plugin is configured for the wrong admin-ajax protocol.
If the wp-admin URL is «https» vs «http», then switching protocols may solve the problem (only switch if wp-admin is https).

1. Go to Settings ❯ Packages ❯ Advanced Settings
2. Change the AJAX setting to ‘https’ ❯ save settings ❯ retry build

Option 2
The host is blocking localhost traffic to admin-ajax.php.
Some hosts prevent the server from calling back to itself (localhost). The Fail2Ban service may also be responsible.

1. Go to Settings ❯ Packages ❯ Advanced Settings
2. Enable «Client-Side kickoff» ❯ save settings ❯ retry build

Option 3
Basic authentication is protecting the WordPress admin area.
When accessing the wp-admin area a popup login window shows, then basic authentication enabled.

1. Go to Settings ❯ Packages ❯ Advanced Settings
2. Set «Basic Auth» to the credentials you normally enter in the popup ❯ Save settings ❯ retry build

Option 4
A security plugin is blocking admin-ajax.
It’s possible you have a security plugin running that’s blocking things.

1. Disable any security plugins ❯ Run a package build
2. If build works, turn back on plugins and isolate the setting preventing the build

Option 5
The host is blocking admin-ajax.php
Some hosts have rules that block calls to admin-ajax.php. If you suspect this to be the case submit a support ticket.

DB Script Engine
The 20% mark usually indicates there is a problem capturing the database. Go into Settings ❯ Packages and change the Database setting from PHP ❯ mySQL or vice-versa.

Optimize Tables
If you continue to get stuck around the 20% mark consider optimizing your database with a plugin like wp-sweep. Use this plugin to optimize your tables and get rid of unnessary data. Also look for tables that may have un-useful data when migrated. For example if you have a table that logs statistics/security logs in most cases that data will not need to be used after migration. Consider removing any extra data from your database.

Filter Table
If you have a very large table that your host will not allow for the plugin to process then you can filter it out on the archive database tab and then manually
move the table over.

This can happen on lower-end budget hosts. The zip process is getting killed by the server, due to limited resources. Below are some steps to follow
to get around these constraints:

Filter Files: Try filtering out larger files/directories using the file/directory filter option and retry the build, both in ‘Shell Exec’ mode and ‘ZipArchive’ mode to get a
package to complete. This will help you to identify if the issue is purely related to site size. And let you know which archive engine works best on your server.

Switch to DupArchive

1. Go to Settings ❯ Packages ❯ Basic Settings
2. Change ‘Archive Engine’ to ‘DupArchive’

Switch to ZipArchive If you’re building with the «Shell Exec» Zip Engine switching to the older ZipArchive engine can occasionally resolve the issue.

1. Go to Settings ❯ Packages ❯ Basic Settings
2. Change ‘Archive Engine’ to ‘ZipArchive’

ZipArchive Settings: For ZipArchive use the Legacy setting. Set the «Max Worker Time» to the Recommended Max (see subtext). If your PHP
max_execution_time was set
to 300 then this value would be 210 seconds. Next adjust the ZipArchive Buffer Size. For every 2 seconds of Max Worker Time you can get around 1MB of data.
So if your Max Worker is set to 210 then you should be able to set the Buffer to around 105MB. These rules are a general guidelines, if you find out that
the build is working with the 2 seconds to 1MB ratio then it should be safe to slowly increment the buffer size by 10MB increments.

Also see:
What can I do for issues with migrating a large site?
Recommended hosting providers for Duplicator?

Option 1
Repair the database tables in question.
For a full overview see this article.

Option 2
Switch database build Engines
By default the process used to build the database is MySQLDump. On most hosting platforms
this process works without issues. In the event you run into issues with MySqlDump consider switching to PHP mode. Go to: WordPress Admin ❯ Duplicator Lite/Pro ❯ Settings ❯
Packages Tab ❯ SQL Mode ❯ PHP Code

Common Error Messages
— Runtime error in database dump
— QUERY ERROR: Table ‘databasename.wp_sometable’ doesn’t exist in engine

Option 1
Repair the database tables in question.
For a full overview see this article.

Option 2
Enable a Table Filter
If you can identify the source of the issues such as a plugin then try to filter out all the plugin tables and also filter out the plugin directory when you build the package.
This will typically be located at {your root}/wp-content/plugins/plugin_name/. Then on the destination system just install the plugin again. If this is not desirable you might
contact the plugin author and ask them how to repair or reinitialize the table that is showing issues.

Option 1
Check for plugin conflicts
This can be related to security or other backup plugins that are changing files while Duplicator is trying to back them up.

1. Determine what plugin is actively writing or removing files on your site.
2. Deactivate that plugin temporarily ❯ Build the package ❯ Reactivate plugin.

Option 2
Filter Cache directory

If you can’t determine which plugin is causing the problem, add the cache directory to the file filter:

1. Click Enable File Filters
2. Click the cache link above the Directory box.

Option 1
Switch to the Duplicator Archive Format (daf)
The DupArchive format is a good alternative to ZipArchive on many hosts. DupArchive is a robust archive format developed by Snap Creek specifically to work better on
budget hosts or in restricted environments. To enable DupArchive, go to Settings ❯ Packages ❯ and set «Archive Engine» to «DupArchive».
Note: in Duplicator Lite DupArchive only supports packages upto 500MB.

Option 2
Filter Files
If you prefer to stick with ZipArchive (.zip format), then filtering non-required files may be an option. On the scan phase of the build, check if files are showing up in the
«Size Checks» list and determine if there are any files/directories that can be safely excluded. Typically this would be backups created by other backup programs or even
nested WordPress sites.

Option 3
Check Disk Space
ZipArchive close problems can also be caused by lack of space on your account. Log in to your host panel and observe how much space you have left. If the amount of space left
is less than 2x your site size, go through your account and look to eliminate unneeded files. If this is not an option, talk to your host about increasing your disk quota.
Note: If you have Duplicator installed on the same site be sure that no other backup plugins are running at the same time this can lead to close failures.

Option 4
Custom Options

• Lite Only: Go to Settings ❯ Package Tab and turn off «Archive Flush». This setting forces a ZipArchive close response after so many files have been loaded. This process
  can help with FCGI setups. If your package is not building with this setting it is recommended to turn it off.
• Pro Only: Go to Settings ❯ Packages Tab ❯ Archive Engine ❯ «Shell Exec» if available and then retry the build.

Option 5
Two Part Install
Some hosts are configured in such a way as to limit resources available which can lead to ZipArchive close failures. One way around this is to do a «Two-Part» install.
The process for doing is described here: How to do a Two-Part Install.

Also see: How do «Shell Zip», «ZipArchive» and «DupArchive» engines differ?

Overview
Scheduled builds getting canceled when manual builds work fine can be due to the amount of traffic the site is receiving. WordPress does not have an active thread running so in order
for a scheduled package to build it has to be kicked off and run when visitors are hitting your site. The simplified version is:

1. Visitor hits your site
2. As part of WordPress page processing, Duplicator Pro determines package needs to build
3. Package starts building

Option 1
Sometimes the “ClientSlide kickoff” option can be turned on when it doesn’t need to be. A side effect of this option is that it causes builds to run slower and timeout.
To determine its state and if it does not need to be on:

1. Go to Duplicator Pro > Packages > Advanced and see if “Client Side Kickoff” is enabled.
2. If it is enabled, uncheck it.
   • If it is NOT enabled, then skip the rest of these steps and go to option #2 client Side Kickoff is not a problem
3. Go to Duplicator Pro > Schedules, hover over your schedule and click “Run Now”
4. Observe if the package builds or gets stuck at a certain percentage.
5. If the package builds then you are good and the package should not time out.
6. If the package gets stuck/doesn’t build, re-enable Client Side Kickoff and proceed to the next option below.

Option 2
Consider setting up a remote cron schedule that will generate consistent traffic to your site. For full details to this process see
How to make my scheduled build run on time?

Option 3
If there is very light traffic occurring when the schedule is supposed to run, the package build can actually time out. To resolve this, do the following:

1. In Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Packages set Server Throttle to Off or Low at the most
2. In Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Packages set Max Build Time to at least 270 Minutes
3. Set your schedule build time to a time when you will be getting a decent amount of traffic

Also, since you are setting the start time to occur during a period when you get more traffic we recommend Server Throttle be turned on — this will ensure your visitors are minimally
impacted by the processing of the backup.

Option 1
When running multiple Duplicator plugin instances on the same server (on some hosts), the PHP process (depending on architecture) might have conflicting overlaps. Since each site builds
the package file independently, they may interfere with one another. Some web servers are setup in such a way as to only handle the activity on one site at a time (this is not common
on most hosting platforms).

A quick fix for this is to switch your schedule start time on each site. Make sure each site has a unique daily start time so if all of your sites are set to run at 1am, then try to
offset each one by X minutes depending on the size of the site, with your smallest sites running first. For example:

• Site-1 [Size 250MB]: Starts @ 1:00am
• Site-2 [Size 500MB]: Starts @ 1:02am (2 minute offset for Site 1)
• Site-3 [Size 1.0GB]: Starts @ 1:06am (4 minute offset for Site 2)
• Site-4 [Size 3.0GB]: Starts @ 1:14am (8 minute offset for Site 3)

The offset will depend on the quality of server you are running the schedules on. If you are on a budget host with shared/throttled resources then consider increasing the offset from
two minutes to 5 minutes and so on.

Solution 1
URL Download: In some cases when using https (SSL) in WordPress [WordPress ❯ Settings ❯ General ❯ WordPress/Site Address URLs].
The browser may block requests to non SSL assets based on server mime types. To get around this issue goto:
Duplicator ❯ Packages ❯ Package Details ❯ General Section ❯ Share Button and copy the archive URL into a new browser window for a file download prompt.

FTP Download: Download the package files via FTP or cpanel by going to your builds directory at the following paths:

• Duplicator Pro: See path: /your_site/wordpress_root/wp-content/backups-dup-pro (or the new storage path you setup) on your web-server.
• Duplicator Lite: The path will be in only one of the following:
  • Content Path: ‘/public_html/wp-content/backups-dup-lite/’
  • Legacy Path: ‘/public_html/wp-snapshots/’ folder (from your WP root)

Solution 2
Contact Host Provider:
If trying to download the archive or installer is persistent, then we recommend you check with your hosting provider to see if they have any
constraints or rules setup that might prevent certain file types such as .zip, .daf or .php files from downloading.

Solution 3
Disable .htaccess:
On some systems the .htaccess file inside the storage directory can cause issues with downloads. To find out if this is the case on your system go to:

• Duplicator Pro: Settings ❯ Storage and check the box «Disable .htaccess File in Storage Directory» & save.
• Duplicator Lite: Settings ❯ General and check the box «Disable .htaccess File in Storage Directory» & save.

Then try to download the installer or archive file from the main menu or the package details screen.

Solution 4
Adjust Mime-Type: If you have issues downloading the these file types .sql, .log, .zip, and .daf it is likely the web server does not have the correct mime
types setup. Check with your server administrator on how to make sure the correct MIME types are configured for download.

A quick setting for Apache web servers is to create or edit the .htaccess file following these instructions. Add the following text to your .htaccess

AddType application/octet-stream .zip .log .sql .daf

This tells the web server to treat the extensions files as download-able. Other web servers will have similar configurations. Please check with your
server administrator for your proper setup. If you can not download the installer.php file then you will need to follow the directions
below and get the file off of the server via FTP.

Solution 5
Browser Settings: Check your browser settings to make sure that the save as dialog is designed to pop up for the the following mime types
.php, .zip, .daf. For example in FireFox settings
Under Options ❯ General ❯ Applications see under applications set zip files to «Always Ask». Also consider switching browsers for any kind of download issue, even if
you are only getting a partial download.

Solution 6
WordPress URL Settings:
On some servers trying to access https (port 443) when you are on http (port 80) or vice versa can cause issues. To fix this issue we recommend using
SSL on all parts of your site. To do this you will need to update the WordPress URLs. Before making this change please read through all the steps in
order to be aware of how to back-out of the change if needed. We recommend that you test these steps in a staging environment before trying on a production one.

• Goto: WordPress Admin ❯ Settings ❯ WordPress Address (URL) & Site Address (URL)
• Change the values from http to https. If the values are disabled you can update by changing your admin URL to https://mysiste.com/wp-admin/options.php
• Try to download the installer or archive file from the main menu or the package details screen.
• For a full overview on how to change these values back see this article

Solution 1
Backup Installer:
In the event you can download the archive but not the installer, you can always obtain a copy of the installer from within the archive.zip/daf file.
Inside of the archive file at the root is a backup copy of the installer named installer-backup.php or for a secure installer [hash]_installer-backup.php.
If you need to extract an archive.daf file details can be found here.

Solution 2
Rename Installer:
Some hosting providers (very few) will not allow php files to be downloaded or created directly from their servers. In this case you can rename the installer file that is
created during the build process. Goto: Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Packages Tab ❯ Advanced Settings Tab ❯ Local Installer Name and rename it to something like installer.txt.
When the installer file is created it will create it as «installer.txt». This will allow you to download the file, but it will need to then be changed to installer.php.

After successfully creating the package files (installer.php & archive.zip/daf) you would like to redeploy them to a new location. The following options can be used to
re-install/redeploy your archived site.

Import Install

This Duplicator Pro only feature is the easiest way to install a packaged Duplicator archive. Users can either Drag-n-Drop or Link an archive file for rapid installs.
This feature will import

both

Duplicator Lite & Pro archive files. For step-by-step instructions see
File & Link Imports section of the the Quick Start guide.

Overwrite Install

This process is very similar to the «Classic Install» except that it depends on an existing WordPress site content to be present vs and empty directory. This option can be used with

both

Duplicator Lite &
Duplicator Pro. This process requires that you upload both the installer and archive files to the destination server with WordPress already installed. For full step-by-step instructions see
Overwrite Install section of the the Quick Start guide.

Classic Install

This feature differs from the Import Install since it does not require WordPress to be installed. This option can be used with

both

Duplicator Lite & Pro.
The «Classic Install» process requires that both the installer and archive files are uploaded to the destination host in an

empty

directory. For step-by-step instructions see the
Classic Install section of the the Quick Start guide.

Database Only Install

Running the installer in «Database Only Mode» is useful when you only have database changes or a large site where all the files were moved manually.
The full details of the Database Only Install can be found in the quick start guide.

Solution 1
Self Discovery: You can easily find the domain to server path location by simply following these easy steps:

1. Create a file called test.txt on your local computer with the text «Hello World» and save it.
2. FTP the test.txt file to your server and observe the path you place it in.
3. Open a web browser and browse to http://www.yoursite.com/test.txt you will get one of two results:
   • A message that says something like 404 file not found
   • The results of the text file with show «Hello World», meaning you found the correct path.
4. Keep moving the file around in the various directories on your server until you can locate the test.txt file
5. Additional details for control panels that use the cPanel software can be found here.

Solution 2
Contact Host: This is by far the fastest way to locate the proper path. The physical path on a web server will map to a domain name and inside of your hosts control panel will be various
ways to manage this process. Since there are so many hosts that do mappings differently and use different software its best to contact your host and ask them where «http://www.yoursite.com»
maps to the physical folder structure on the server such as /public_html/yoursite/. Simply send the question below to your host:

Dear YOUR_HOST,

I would like to install a WordPress site on my domain «http://YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME_HERE.com», however I’m not 100% sure where this domain name maps to on the servers file structure.
Could you please point me to the full path for where this domain name points to on the server?

Thanks

Once you have received the path from the host, place the installer and archive in the path they have provided. Next open up a web browser and browse out to the installer
file such as http://your_domain_name.com/installer.php

.htaccess
.htaccess Workflow
The Apache .htaccess file is very robust and can provide a multitude of settings for the web server, PHP, WordPress and more. In order to properly install/migrate your
site this file needs to be reset to a very basic state in order to prevent install issues.

When working across multiple hosts, PHP, MySQL, Apache and WordPress versions, the possible combinations of configuration settings is almost unlimited. With this many options Duplicator
has chosen to keep the process simple and allow users to safely update their own configuration files vs trying to parse millions of different combinations. Below is a quick outline for
how .htaccess files are managed during the install process.

1. Build Process: When an archive.zip/daf is created the .htaccess file is added in a hashed format .htaccess_[secure-hash]
   example: .htaccess_048063d-14160036.
2. Installer Step 1: When archive file is extracted in Step 1 it will extract the file in this .htaccess_[secure-hash] format.
   • This is by design so that the .htaccess file from the old system is not executed by the server with parameters that do not correlate to the new environment.
   • Trying to run the .htaccess file from the original server can and does cause issues on the new server in many cases. So a .htaccess file is only made available till the install is completed in step 4.
   • The .htaccess_[original-hashed] will be temporarily available until step 4 is ran. This allows for the advanced options in step 1 to considered if needed.
3. Installer Step 4: After step 3 is ran either the .htaccess_[original-hashed] will be used if you enabled the option in step 1 or a new basic one will be created.
   1. If the advanced option is chosen then the .htaccess_[original-hashed] file will be renamed to .htaccess at the end of Step 3 and start of Step 4
   2. If no option is chosen then the default mode of creating a new streamlined .htaccess file is performed and the .htaccess_[original-hashed] is removed.
4. Existing .htaccess: If you have a .htaccess file in the directory with the archive.zip/daf file before step 1 is ran then that file will be backed up and look something like: .htaccess-200314160148-5e6cffec5ff52-duplicator.bak

wp-config.php
.wp-config.php Workflow

1. Build Process: When an archive.zip/daf is created the wp-config.php file is renamed and placed in a special directory in the archive
   dup-installeroriginal_files_[secure-hash]source_site_wpconfig
   example: dup-installeroriginal_files_048063d-14160036source_site_wpconfig.
2. Installer Step 1: When the installer extracts the archive.zip/daf file in Step 1 it will extract this directory with the renamed wp-config.php file.
3. Installer Step 3: In step 3 on the options WP-Config file tab there are optional parameters to add to the wp-config.php file.
4. Installer Step 4: This process will generate the wp-config.php based on the new environment settings and additional settings from step 3

Workflow
Database Workflow
Below is an overview of the database workflow that takes place when a database is created and then re-deployed to its new location. The below outline covers the installer
when used in advanced mode which contains four steps vs the two steps found in basic mode.

1. Build Process: When an archive.zip/daf is created it will build a complete copy of your database into one single file in a hashed format named
   dup-database___[original-hashed].sql example: dup-database__4ae9c8c-14214644.sql. The .sql file can be built in two separate SQL modes «Mysqldump» and «PHP Code».
   • Mysqldump: This format uses a program called mysqldump to generate your SQL File.
   • PHP Code: This format uses PHP code to generate SQL statements that contain your entire database.
2. Installer Step 1: When the installer extracts the archive.zip/daf file in Step 1 it will lay-down the SQL file (dup-database___[original-hashed].sql) on disk.
3. Installer Step 2: The process will execute the SQL data file and install an exact copy of how it was built into the specified database choose in the installer (step 1)
4. Installer Step 3: This step is where the database data is updated to support its new environment. The update engine runs through every cell in the database looking for
   the old URL of the source site (old site) replacing it with the destination site (new site).

Emails
When you migrate a site to a new domain, by default the emails associated with the source domain are not touched. For example if a.com migrates to b.com then a@a.com, b@a.com, etc.
will remain on b.com. There is an option that lets you change this behavior, so the email domain is switched as well. To enable this option in advanced mode see step 3 of the installer.

Workflow
When installing the archive to a new location, nothing should happen to the old domain where the archive was created. Duplicator is designed to be self-contained, meaning
that if you create a package on Site A then run the installer and package at a new location on Site B, it has no knowledge/dependencies/hooks on Site A.
However there can be a few scenarios that play out that make users feel like the old domain was updated.

1. If your on the same server and setting up the database for Site B you accidentally connected it to Site A database.
2. A WordPress redirect plugin (if you have one installed) may have not properly gotten updated during the install and is pointing to the URL on Site A.
3. A web server configuration file such as a .htaccess or .htconfig setting is causing conflicts on the server. This option is really rare but its always a good idea to double
   check the files.

This is an uncommon scenario but can happen if you’re moving sites on the same server and do not pay attention to the database or even
the location where you’re installing the archive.zip file. Please be sure you know the

exact

name of the database and the

exact

location of were you place the archive and installer
files

Forum Thread:
Below is a forum thread that lays out this issue with several different users, and should address most of these scenarios.

What is happening to the site on the old domain?

The ‘Manual Extraction’ option in the installer allows users to manually extract the archive file vs having the installer extract it. This can be helpful
if you are experiencing timeouts, slowness or general extraction issues.

Solution 1
ZIP ARCHIVE

1. On your local computer see «LOCALHOST» steps. On a host/remote server see «REMOTE-HOST» steps.
   Note: Local computer setups require software such as
   XAMPP, MAMP, WAMP, Flywheel or similar applications

   LOCALHOST

   • Place installer.php & {archive}.zip files in an empty directory where you want to install your site.
   • Open your computers file browser ❯ navigate to the {archive}.zip ❯ extract zip file.
     Note: Make sure archive contents are not extracted into their own subdirectory

   REMOTE-HOST

   • Open your hosts file browser utility (cpanel) or FTP ❯ to an empty directory where you want your site.
   • Transfer both the installer.php & {archive}.zip files to your desired directory.
   • Extract the zip contents directly into the same
     directory as the {archive}.zip file
     Note: Make sure archive contents are not extracted into their own subdirectory
2. Open a web browser and browse to the http(s)://your_site_location/installer.php file.
3. Goto Step 1 ❯ Advanced Mode ❯ Options Section ❯ Advanced Tab ❯ Extraction Mode ❯ ‘Manual Archive Extraction’
4. Complete the install process. This mode will simply skip the installers extraction process.

Solution 2
DAF ARCHIVE

1. On your local computer see «LOCALHOST» steps. On a host/remote server see «REMOTE-HOST» steps.
   Note: Local computer setups require software such as
   XAMPP, MAMP, WAMP, Flywheel or similar applications

   LOCAL-HOST

   • On you local computer place the {archive}.daf in an empty directory where you wish to install your site.
   • Extract the daf contents directly into the same directory as the {archive}.daf file

   REMOTE-HOST

   • On you local computer place the {archive}.daf in an empty on your computer.
   • Extract the daf contents of {archive}.daf file
   • FTP the files to your remote server including the installer.php file but not the {archive}.daf file.
2. Open a web browser and browse to the http(s)://yoursite/installer.php file.
3. Goto Step 1 ❯ Advanced Mode ❯ Options Section ❯ Advanced Tab ❯ Extraction Mode ❯ ‘Manual Archive Extraction’
4. Complete the install process. This mode will simply skip the installers extraction process.

Note: The DAF format rarely has issues with extraction so it is rare that you will need to perform these steps

Also See:
Video: How to extract zip file on cPanel

Solution 1
It’s highly desirable to have little to no downtime when moving a site — but how exactly can you install the new site while the DNS is still pointing to the old site?
In short, you trick the machine running your browser into thinking the DNS has already been changed by editing its hosts file and then install to perform this process do the following:

1. Change your hosts file* to make your domain name point to the new location
2. Browse to the installer.php and install the site
3. Test to ensure everything is working
4. On your domain registrar, switch to your new host’s DNS servers
5. After you are confident the DNS changes have propagated remove the entry in your hosts file

*This site explains how to edit the hosts file on different operating systems.

Currently not every url will work with the import feature. Below is a table of what is currently supported.

Common Error Messages
AJAX ERROR! STATUS:403 Forbidden

Solution 1
AJAX 403 Forbidden
In the event you receive a «AJAX ERROR! STATUS:403 Forbidden» message consider checking to make sure you do not have Imunify360 enabled. For more details see the FAQ item
How to fix installer validation checks (Issue A)?.

If Imunify360 is not installed
its possible you might have a .htaccess file that is preventing requests to access the proper server paths. In this case we recommend letting your host know or just
trying Solution 2 or 5.

Solution 2
Manual Upload
If the file or link upload of the archive.zip/daf file is having issues simply FTP the archive file upto the server which will allow it to show in the import list. In order to manually upload
a Duplicator archive follow these instructions:

1. Open an FTP Client -OR- go to your host’s control panel (cPanel) file manager.
2. Copy the archive.zip/daf file to the WordPress root -OR- to wp-contentbackups-dup-proimports directory.
   Note: The WordPress root is normally where your wp-config.php is located allow with the wp-admin and wp-content folders.
3. Browse to Duplicator Pro ❯ Import screen and look for the uploaded archive file in the archive list.

Common Error Messages
Duplicator cannot launch Import because on this Server it isn’t possible to execute PHP scripts in folders:
      — /var/www/htdocs/wp-content/backups-dup-pro/imports
      — /var/www/htdocs/

cURL error 7: Failed to connect to localhost port 8080: Connection refused»

Solution 1
Server Permissions
If you see a permission error in the log consider visiting this FAQ for solving various permission issues.
I get an error/warning about file permissions what should I do?

Solution 2
PHP Execution
There are several items you check if the location where the import installer file is trying to run does not allow PHP execution.

1. htaccess File:
   A block via htaccess file. For example an .htaccess files placed in the wp-content folder that prevented execution might look like this:

   <Files *.php>
   Order Deny,Allow
   Deny from all
   </Files>

   The presence of an .htaccess file in wp-content does not necessarily prevent execution. Solution: Temporarily rename the htaccess file

2. Security Plugin: Some plugins like Wordfence «might» try to block the request. If this is the case try to temporarily disable
   the plugin to see if it resolves the issue.
3. Host or Software
   If the hosting has set the block via server setting the only solution is to ask the hosting to deactivate the block or change hosting
   On other systems software like Secure 360 have the ability to prevent the execution of PHP files via cPanel settings.

Solution 3
Install Modes
In the event your host does not allow for PHP execution in the directories where Duplicator is trying to run the import then you may need to switch to a different
Install Mode. For example you could try an overwrite install mode by copying both the installer and archive to
the root directory, browse to https://{domain}/installer.php, then click ‘apply’ to reuse the database of the site you are overwriting. After that, just proceed with the install.

Solution 4
Docker Container
If you are using Docker and running into curl errors consider changing how the port are setup. Modify the Apache2 conf inside the container so that Apache will respond inside on the
outside port.

See /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Listen 80
Listen 8080


/etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

<VirtualHost *:*>


For more details
to this solution see stack overflow.

You need to restore your site from a previous backup. Before doing so consider that purpose of your restore. For example if your site has been hacked, has crashed or something has gone wrong, what are your options?

Solution 1
Recovery Point Restore
This option which is only available in Duplicator Pro and allows users to restore from a specific recovery point or simply a URL link. For full details on
this process please visit the following article
How to Quickly Restore Your WordPress Site using a “Recovery Point”.

Solution 2
Manual Restore
If you choose to restore a site here are some recommended steps to take. We recommend cleaning out the directory and starting with a brand new database, this way you can be sure
the issue you where having before will not show back up due to a corrupted file or database table. Starting with a clean environment always helps to lower your risk for issues.
Follow these steps to restore a site.

1. Clean out Directory: Delete all the exiting files of your WordPress site. If your not sure contact your host.
   Its not required but having your host backup all the current files and database is a good idea.
2. Copy Package: Place the archive.zip/daf file and the installer.php file inside of the directory you just cleaned out.
3. Run Installer: Open a web browser and browse to http://yoursite/installer.php and run through the setup.

Solution 3
Professional Restore
Depending on the severity of your site going down there are alternatives you can take before trying to restoring a previous backup. It is recommended to take these approaches
first because you won’t loose any data that may have been added to your site since the previous backup. In some cases if you do restore of a previous backup that may not fix
the issue permanently.

For example in the case of a hacked site if the security patch was not applied to the back up you want to restore then the security
breach can easily happen after the site is restored if the threat is not properly identified. Below are some options to consider before trying to restore a site.

• Hire a professional developer to troubleshoot your issue.
• Have your site cleaned by a service like WordFence
• If your in a hurry or not familiar with Duplicator, consider hiring a professional developer.

Common Error Messages
Duplicator cannot set Recovery Point because on this Server it isn’t possible to execute PHP scripts in folder:
— /var/www/htdocs/wp-content/backups-dup-pro/recover

Option 1
Server Permissions
If you see a permission error in the log consider visiting this FAQ for solving various permission issues.
I get an error/warning about file permissions what should I do?

Option 2
Security Plugins
Many security plugins including iThemes Security, Securi, WordFence along with several others can create hardening rules that lay down .htaccess files which prevents execution of php
files in the wp-content directory. This has the effect of blocking the creation/execution of recovery points. If you know this to be the case then check the settings in your
security plugin and temporarily disable it or rename the .htaccess temporarily while you perform the action that is generating the warning/error.

Option 3
Host Admins
In general if you cannot run a PHP file it is always a good thing to ask your host. If it is not possible to solve the situation there then the standard install modes
are still available. Remember that if the package you try to install was created in the same place where you install it, the
backup restore installation is activated by default, which is practically identical to the recovery point.

Solution 1
Contact Host: This error indicates that your web server is not setup to serve up web pages. If your not familiar with setting up web servers such as Apache, then the
quickest way to fix this issue is to work with your hosting provider and tell them you get a 404 at «XYZ» URL. They should be able to get you up and running in minutes.
This is not something the plugin will be able to handle or fix as its a web server configuration issue.

Solution 2
Apache Setup: When setting up the web server (typically Apache) one of the common overlooked setup parameters is the
<Directory> directive. The following configuration will work on most setups but check with
your server admin to be sure on their server:

<Directory />
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
Allow from all
</Directory>


Solution 3
Troubleshoot: To troubleshoot this issue place two files called test.html and test.php in the same directory as the installer.php file. Then try to browse out to both of them via a web browser. If neither work then your site is not setup to server from the location at which they are placed. If only the test.html file works then PHP may not be properly enabled on your web server. If your not sure about how to configure your web server to server from the proper path or serve up PHP files then

contact your hosting admin

as these are not issues the plugin will be able to fix.

Option 1
Contact Host: The 405 Method Not Allowed is an HTTP response status code indicating that the specified request HTTP method was received and recognized by the server but the server
has rejected that particular method for the requested resource. The bulk of 405 responses have to do with how the web server is configured.

The fastest way to resolve this issue is to work with the hosting companies technical support team. Typically what needs to be adjusted is how the web server excepts requests.
The server error log on your hosts platform should help the system admin locate the specific request and adjust the server accordingly.

Option 2
Troubleshoot Server If you are familiar with troubleshooting web server issues you might have a look at this detailed
405 troubleshooting guide.

Options

1. Web Server: Check to make sure the web server is setup properly. Create a new file named test.php in the same location as the installer.php file. Inside the test.php file place the following code:
   

   <?php phpinfo(); ?>

   If this works and you see the text «PHP Version» at the top followed by other PHP settings info then continue to the other options below, if not then something is wrong with the web-server setup and you will need to contact your host or server administrator.

2. Server Logs: Examine the server error log as explained here. Also you may access all server error logs by going to cPanel > Statistics > Error Logs or using your host-specific control panel. If you don’t have direct access to the server logs ask your host support to look for any errors in the logs for you.
3. Permissions: Check the permissions on installer.php file and its parent directory. On most hosts it should be 755 and files should be 644. Be sure to double check with your hosting provider or server admin as to how they want permissions setup on their servers.
4. Change Browsers: Open another web browser and check for the white screen. If it works in the new browser then it may be a browser cache issue. You can usually fix this by holding down ctrl+F5 or manually deleting your browser cache.
5. Config Files: Backup and remove hidden configuration files such as .htaccess, web.config and .user.ini files (Apache, Microsoft IIS, WordFence). These files
   under certain circumstances have have configurations that prevent the installer from running. Simply remove them from the same directory that the installer.php file
   is in and try to again. If the problem persist try and backup and remove the files from your root web directory, in most cases public_html.
6. Installer.php Some hosts and security software will automatically block requests to files named «installer.php». In this case try to rename the file to something else.
   Using the ‘installer.php’ file name on a public server is not recommended and users should consider using the hashed installer by going to Duplicator ❯ Settings ❯ Packages Tab
   ❯ Installer settings ❯ Set to [name]_[hash]_[date]_installer.php

7. Reverse Proxy: When running behind a reverse proxy, the value of the original hostname called is in HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST. To get around this setup add the following
   to the top of the installer.php and dup-installermain-installer.php as such:

   $_SERVER[‘HTTP_X_ORIGINAL_HOST’] = $_SERVER[‘HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST’];

Also See:
How to handle «Internal Server 500» messages?

The following rules apply to the password types found here:

Pro ❯ Packages ❯ Step 1 ❯ Archive ❯ Setup Tab ❯ Security Mode: Installer Password & Archive Encryption
Lite ❯ Packages ❯ Step 1 ❯ Installer ❯ Security (Installer password)

Solution 1
Installer password
Go back to the server where the package was created and goto Duplicator ❯ Packages ❯ Details ❯ Installer Section and toggle the password to see
the password that was assigned to the package. For the archive file name see the General section.

Solution 2
Archive Encryption
Passwords are case-sensitive and if lost cannot be recovered. Please keep passwords in a safe place!
If this password is lost then a new archive file will need to be created.

Solution 1
Installer Location: The installer.php has to be in the same location as the archive.zip/daf file. So if you place the archive file at the following location
/public_html/my-wp-site/archive.zip the the installer will also need to be located at the same location /public_html/my-wp-site/installer.php.

Solution 2
Browser Restarts: These quick solutions can resolve most issues with this notice:

• Close your browser and browse to the installer.php again.
• Clear your browser’s cache and cookies restart the browser and try to browse to the installer again.
• Try a different browser
• An attempt was made to access the main-installer.php file directly without using the installer.php file. Be sure to always start the install wizard by first
  going to the installer.php file in your browser.

Common Error Messages
— Archive not found!
— Installer and archive mismatch detected

Solution 1
LOCATE ARCHIVE NAME
Double check the name of the archive file name. Goto the package that you downloaded and get the full name which will be in the format [full-unique-name]_archive.zip.

• Duplicator Pro ❯ Packages ❯ Expand Package Overview ❯ Click «View Details» button ❯ Expand General Section ❯ Copy Full Name of «Archive» link
• Duplicator Lite ❯ Packages ❯ Package Details Button ❯ Expand General Section ❯ Copy Full Name of «Archive» link

Solution 2
EXTRACT BACKUP
To quickly fix, exact the installer-backup.php from the archive.zip file; which is an exact copy of the installer file. Be sure to look for a file labeled {HASH}_installer-backup.php.
Once extracted you can browse to the installer-backup.php file.

Note: You can rename this file to whatever you want but be sure to delete it after the install process is completed.
Instructions on how to manually extract a DAF file can be found here.

Solution 3
VALIDATE DOWNLOADS
Make sure that when you download the installer, that you download the archive that goes with the installer. Also, make sure the archive has been fully downloaded and then uploaded.
The size of the archive on your local machine needs to match the size of the archive shown on the packages screen — if it doesn’t try to re-download.

Solution 4
SECONDARY BROWSER
In more rare cases you might try the install on a different browser without any extensions enabled. If you are running your sites behind a proxy consider temporarily turning off the proxy
then flush your dns cache. If you are running a VPN or firewall software, consider turning off those features temporarily to see if that resolves the issue.

Option 1
On some web servers the server auto-inserts an .htaccess file in the dup-installer directory or even one of its sub-folders. Go into /dup-installer directory and remove the
.htaccess file if it is present (you may need to enable viewing of hidden files in your FTP client or File Manager). After doing that browse to the installer.php again and see if it works.
In some cases you may need to clear your web browsers cache.

Solution 1
In Mac OS systems running Safari files may be set to automatically unzip upon download. This will cause issues with the Duplicator because the installer
looks for a .zip or .daf archive file. To turn this feature please follow these steps:

1. Open Safari Browser
2. Go to: Preferences > General > Open Safe files after downloading — leave this box unchecked.
3. Attempt to download the plugin again — it should come down as a single file.

RE-ARCHIVE
To repair an archive that has been reconfigured by your operating system or some other process follow these steps:

1. Extract the archive file onto your local computer and navigate to the installer-backup.php file.
2. Select all the files/folders and re-create the archive.zip so that installer-backup.php is at the root of the archive.
3. In some cases you may need to rename the archive created in step 2 to the same one extracted in step 1
4. Place the newly re-organized archive file in the same location as the installer.php file and try again.

IMPORTANT: Even though a re-archive will work in most cases, the key to solving the issue is to prevent your browser/operating system or external program from changing
the structure of the archive file when its downloaded to your computer.

When opening a web browser and browsing to the installer.php (i.e http://yourserver/installer.php) you are asking the web server to process the PHP file.
If you see a bunch of text and code then the web server you placed the installer file on is not setup correctly or the installer file was corrupted when the
web server served it up as part of the download process. Below outlines a few different scenarios you might run into when trying to run the installer.php file.

Solution 1

Plain Text:

For plain text/code on the screen edit the httpd.conf or .htaccess file and add the following lines:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .htm .html
AddHandler x-httpd-php .php .htm .html


It will be different on your setup so Google whatever platform your using XAMPP/MAMP/SUSE etc. along with the term AddType php
and there should be some posts that explain exactly how to set it up. For example a similar question using MAMP was
found here.

In order to run WordPress you will need a web server such as Apache, PHP and a database like MySQL.
For instruction on how to setup your own WordPress server see this article.
There may be others issues you run into. Below are various suggestions/fixes for this possible scenarios.

Solution 2

Binary Text:

If you are just seeing binary text/code on the screen such as:


1f8b 0800 0000 0000 0003 ecfd 7b57 1bb9
d228 0eff 9dbd d6fe 0e8d 7706 ecd0 3636
09b9 d8e9 7813 7012 26dc 8221 2401 86a7...

Then the web server may have some issues with pushing the file down to your computer. The easiest way
to get a good copy of the installer is to try the following:

• Direct FTP Download:
  1. When transferring the package files from your FTP client be sure it is in binary mode since ASCII mode can/will corrupt the zip file.
  2. In Duplicator Pro FTP to ‘/public_html/wp-content/backups-dup-pro’.
     In Duplicator Lite FTP to:
     • Legacy Path: ‘/public_html/wp-snapshots/’ folder (from your WP root)
     • Content Path: ‘/public_html/wp-content/backups-dup-lite/’
  3. Find the installer file name associated with the correct package and download it.
  4. Open in an text editor such as Notepad++. The file at this point should
     be a normal PHP file.
• Use backup installer: Another option is to open the archive.zip file and find the installer-backup.php file it will be an exact copy
  of the original installer.php file.
• Contact Host: Let your host know that the download of files needs to be set in binary mode not ASCII.

Solution 3

Download Prompts:

If you browse to the installer and get a download prompt then you may have a .htaccess file that is corrupt or not configured to work correctly. To validate this simply create a blank file called test.php and place it at the same location as the installer.php file. If you also get download prompt when browsing to it via
a web browser then your web configuration setup is not correct. Here are a few options:

1. Non-Technical Route: If your not technical or just don’t have time to mess around with server setups contact your host and tell them your site is not properly processing PHP files. They should be able to get you going quickly.
2. Technical Route:
   Try to explicitly set PHP5 in your .htaccess file:

   AddHandler x-httpd-php5 .php
   or with CGI
   AddHandler x-httpd-php5-cgi .php

   Consider these handlers for your version of PHP.

Solution 4

Parse Errors:

If you see an error such as:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting T_VARIABLE or T_DOLLAR_OPEN_CURLY_BRACES or T_CURLY_OPEN in … installer.php on line 1300
Then the encoding on your file is not being accepted by your web server correctly. Below area few options:

1. In many cases the transfer of the file from one server to another can cause the installer to get corrupted. To solve this issue see the section above titled
   «BINARY TEXT». In many cases changing the FTP mode from ASCII to binary can fix this issue.
2. If the first option does not solve the issue then open a program like Notepad++ and play around
   with the «Encoding» setting found in the top toolbar. Change from ANSI to UTF-8 try to convert from one format to the other and then save the file and then re-upload the installer
   file to the server to see which version works.

Additional Search Links:
Stackoverflow |
Google Search

Also see:
Why can’t I download files / get a corrupted installer / see a 404.3 message?

Solution 1
ModSec
Check to make sure your host does not have a mod_security (ModSec) rule that gets tripped. On some servers running allot of database commands or even unzipping a file can
trigger a mod_security black list rule. This simply means the host your on is blocking your IP from doing certain operations. This can easily be solved by contacting
your host and making sure they don’t have a mod_security rule that is blocking you from accessing the installer properly.

Solution 2
3rd Party Services
There are a few issues around WordFence and Cloudflare that can cause these codes. See the FAQ below for details:

• What can I try for 502/503/504 Gateway issues during the build?

Solution 3
DYI
During the install process it is possible that your host might automatically lay-down a .htaccess file. Typically Duplicator works best if no .htaccess files are present
durning the install process as some of the directives in the file can cause conflicts. If your wanting to try and resolve the issue your-self without your hosts assistance then
check out the article below:

• How to Fix 504 Gateway Timeout Error in WordPress

Solution 4
Permissions
A 500 error in Step 1 processing on Duplicator Lite can sometimes be due to a timeout during zip extraction or on Duplicator Lite or Pro when file permissions are being set.
To get around this, first do a Manual Extraction then uncheck the Files and Directory
permissions boxes on Step 1 of the installer.

Solution 5
Cloudflare
If you’re using Cloudflare the below settings may help

1. Log in to Cloudflare
2. From Overview Page click «Advanced» ❯ Click «Pause»
3. Run installer deployment
4. Turn Cloudflare back on

Solution 1
In the event the host you are on has issues with AJAX callbacks the best solution is run a manual install. For a step by step run of this process
see the FAQ item How do I do a ‘Manual Extraction’ or run installer without Zip enabled?.

Notice: The quickest way to isolate this error is contact your hosting provider or server admin. They will be able to monitor the web server logs for clues much quicker
that our support staff can with logs only generated by PHP.

Option 1
Validate Archive
The process of moving the archive.zip/daf files across servers can corrupt the files. To quickly determine if the archive is valid try to extract it on your
local computer a program such as winzip, winrar, 7zip etc. If the client program errors during extraction then the archive.zip file has become corrupted either during the download
or the creation process. Proceed to option #2 if the client side program also errors. If the client side program works without issues then proceed to option #3.

Option 2
Validate Download Process

• FTP Downloads
  If you transferred via FTP make sure that the FTP client is in binary mode when transferring down to your local box and then also when it’s transferring back up to
  your host or destination server. If you downloaded straight from the plugin interface then try the download one more time to make sure that the http transfer is clean.
• Web Server Downloads
  Check Web Server Configuration
  These problems usually indicate the web server it not allowing files to be written to the directory. A common solution is to edit the Apache virtual hosts file
  and include the «AllowOverride All» instruction.
  Example:
  
<VirtualHost *:80>
{various instructions}...
<Directory /var/www/html>
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>


Option 3
Change Archive Engine
On Step 1 of the installer under «Options» you can change the engine which tries to extract the archive. On some hosting providers you will have the ability
to use multiple extraction engines. By default almost every server will support «ZipArchive», however some hosts also support «Shell Exec Unzip». If you run into issues
during the extraction process try to switch the archive engine from one format to the other.

Option 4
Manual Extraction
If for some reason the client side program works fine (see step #1) and neither of the archive engines work from step #3 then you may want to try a
manual extraction of the archive file.

Option 5
Imunify360
If your server or host runs Imunify350 then its possible the software might cause issues with the extraction process. If so consider checking out this FAQ titled
How to fix installer validation checks? and See Problem-A.

Option 1
This behavior should NOT happen and is usually caused by either a corrupted zip file or a zip file that was created with filenames that are too long. Below is a list
of items/plugins that create file names that are too long.

To validate files are not correctly extracting. Download the package to your desktop and try to manually extract with a desktop program like
winrar, winzip or any other zip extracting software. During extraction you will receive and error message if there is a corrupt file in the archive.

Option 1
This issue may happen if a product called «Imunify360» is installed on your hosting provider.
Imunify360 has a feature called «Proactive Defense» which is set to «Kill» by default — it incorrectly views an installer file as malicious so Imunify ends
up trashing package installations.

To get around this issue:

1. Go to cPanel/Host Panel
2. Click on the Imunify360 app
3. Select Proactive Defense
4. Switch Mode Settings to Disabled or Log Only.

After this you should be able to install without an issue. If you want Proactive Defense on your website after the install, you can re-enable after
installation is complete. For additional instructions on how to control this service see this article
Disable Imunify360 cPanel.

Note: In the event you don’t see an option for Imunify on your host panel please contact your host support and ask them to at least temporarily
disable the Proactive Defense part of Imunify360.

Option 1
Wordfence
This behavior is often related to the Wordfence plugin in either the current site or a site above the site being installing to. For example if installing
to /public_html/mysite and WordFence is installed on another WordPress site at /public_html then the location of either plugin can cause issues.

To Resolve:

• While you install, temporarily disable WordFence. Additionally you may also need to temporarily comment out the line that begins
  with ‘auto_prepend_file’ in .htaccess and .user.ini files in the parent site’s directory.
• Alternatively go to your web sites control cPanel ❯ file manage ❯ public_html ❯ show hidden files. Edit the user.ini file and make sure the path shows
  the correct path, if it shows the path from the original account path. Once that is changed the site should work.

Option 1
During step 1 of the installer if a .htaccess file is found in the directory where the installer and archive are placed then that file will be
renamed and backed up. A new .htaccess that is blank will be laid down. This behavior can be skipped by check the option to skip config file updates
under Step 1 options section or you can follow these steps:

You can try to do this:

1. Perform a manual extraction. https://snapcreek.com/duplicator/docs/faqs-tech/#faq-installer-015
2. Once extracted the zip make sure that the htaccess file exists with the following setting
   
---
# Use PHP7 Single php.ini as default
AddHandler application / x-httpd-php70s .php
---

3. Start the installation program and in step 1 Select ❯ Extraction: Manual Archive Extraction ❯ Config Files: Ignore all In this way, the htaccess
   should not be touched.
4. At the end of the installation, check the wp-config.php and .htaccess configuration files and manually edit what is needed.

Solution 1
Validation Checklist: Double/triple check your user-name and password, this is often overlooked. Make sure the database user has the correct permissions.
For example: a read only privilege can’t add data to the database. Check the following list to validate permissions.

• Be sure the database and database user have been created
• Be sure the password matches the database user being used
• Be sure the database user is assigned to the database with the correct permissions
• Temporarly change the database user password to ‘test123’ to validate character input
• Contact your hosting provider for the exact required parameters

Solution 2
Hostname Validation: The host input ‘localhost’ works in most cases however it may not on your host so double check with your hosting provider for the

exact settings

.
Often it’s something like mysql.yourname.com or mysql.hostingcompany.com. Sometimes it may even have a port number like «mysql.hostingcompany.com:1400»
If you ask your hosting provider they can point you in the right direction. Please see
this site for other various combinations.

If the error message contains something such as «Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock’ (2)» then it is most likely that
you don’t have the hostname correct. Please see this forum thread
for an example of how to locate the correct hostname.

Solution 3
For issues related to «Error reading database variables» its possible the server is running on a MySQL instance that has «ANSI_QUOTES» enabled by default in their sql mode.
When using that SQL mode, MySQL interprets anything in double-quotes as identifiers rather than strings, which most likely causes the issue.
To overcome the issue, please remove the ANSI_QUOTES SQL mode.

Common Error Messages
— Unknown column ‘wp_table’ in ‘where clause’

Common Error Messages
— Error: ‘Access denied; you need (at least one of) the PROCESS privilege …
— The database user for this WordPress site does NOT have sufficient permissions to write stored procedures to…

Solution 1
In order for the database connection to properly take place a database user but be

assigned

to the database and

granted

‘full privileges’ to
the database. Below are some resources that cover this process:

• The quickest way to validate full level of permissions is to contact your hosting provider.
• This codex covers creating a Database and User.
• For a cPanel demo follow along in this Step-By-Step Video.

MySQL 8+:
On some MySQL 8+ systems the following is required to get full including procedures.
GRANT SHOW_ROUTINE ON *.* TO <USER>@<LOCATION>

Solution 2
If solution 1 still does not work then try and create a new database user granting full permissions and assigning it to the database. This process can sometimes alleviate
any cache issues stored on the database. If the problem still persists contact your host and have them perform the «Basic Troubleshooting» section below to find out
why the hosting environment is having issues with database user permissions through PHP.

Solution 3
When moving a site from one mysql server to another the destination server may not have the correct privileges enabled. In other cases when moving across
different versions of mysql/mariadb one version may not support the directives of the other version where the database package was built. In those cases you might
see a message like this:

sql=mysqldump: Error: 'Access denied; you need (at least one of) the PROCESS privile ...


To work-a-round these issues you have a few options:

1. Build in PHP Mode: To avoid any directives that mysqldump generates you can change the build mode to PHP which uses the minimal amount of
   mysql/mariadb directives. Simply goto Settings ❯ Packages Tab ❯ SQL Script ❯ «PHP Code». Then rebuild the package and re-install.
2. Modify SQL Script: Advanced In a web browser browse to the installer.php. Then check the file system (via FTP, cPanel, Explorer etc.) a directory named «dup-installer» should be present. Open the database.sql file found inside the dup-installer directory and modify this file so that the directives support the new mysql/mariadb server your on. To do this typically you can remove settings that look like the code block below.
   Typically its best to only remove the line where you are seeing the errors.
   
...
/*!40111 SET @OLD_SQL_NOTES=@@SQL_NOTES, SQL_NOTES=0 */;
/*!40101 SET @saved_cs_client = @@character_set_client */;
/*!40101 SET character_set_client = utf8 */;

   So in the event the installer reported an error such as:
   
'Variable 'character_set_client' can't be set to the value of 'NULL'' - [sql=/*!40101 SET character_set_client = @saved_cs_client */;...]

   Then you might simply try to remove the last line, save the dup-database_[hash].sql file and run the installer again. If the issue persists check
   the errors till the version of msyql/marida is satisfied with the directives set. If the database engine versions are too far apart then it would
   be recommend to work with your host or server admin to bring the version closer together.

Solution 1
Database Chunking
This is a multi-thread process that runs query the database install process over multiple HTTP requests.

1. Rebrowse to the installer Step 1 ❯ Advance
2. Check Options ❯ Database Tab ❯ Processing ❯ «Chunking Mode».
3. Continue with the install.
4. If Option 1 does not work or the SQL chunking option is not available then try option 2.

Solution 2
Skip Database Extraction
This process allows users to skip the database table creation process, but still run the database update (step 3) process. This solution requires
that users to follow the «Quick Steps» or «Advanced Steps» listed below.

Solution 3
Duplicator Lite Only
Version 1.4.7.2 or earlier
Typically most budget hosts will work with databases under 100MB. Some shared hosts can support databases upto 200MB+. The Lite version only supports a single concurrent
thread when trying to create the database. If your host throttles requests or you’re on a shared server that is being heavily utilized by other sites then they might be draining your resources. If step 2 is having issues on Lite we recommend trying some of these options.

• Try running the installer at different times of the day if your on a host that is currently being heavily utilized.
• Change Build Mode: WordPress Admin ❯ Duplicator ❯ Settings ❯ Packages ❯ SQL Script. Some hosts work better with a PHP built SQL Script and others mysqldump.
• Contact your host to see if you can increase their PHP/Web Server timeout limits
• Consider upgrading to Duplicator Pro and trying the SQL file chunk option

Common Error Messages
— MySQL Server has gone away, out of memory, or 500 Error

Solution 1
The installer uses a very simple PHP function called mysqli_connect to talk to your database. If you believe all the parameters your
entering in the installer are correct, you can validate them by creating a simple file in the same directory as the installer called db-test.php. Then place the
following code in the file and fill out the parameters in the mysqli_connect section. This will help isolate if your params are in-deed correct, if you’re unsure of
how to use the script send it to your host and ask them for help.

<?php
// Update the 4 parameters to match your server requirements

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
echo "Success: A proper connection to MySQL was made! The my_db database is ready to use ." . PHP_EOL;
echo "Host information: " . mysqli_get_host_info($conn) . PHP_EOL;
?>

* Note: This script is also available in the Duplicator Pro tools directory /plugins/duplicator-pro/tools/db-test.php

Common Error Messages
— DB ERROR: Could not get the CREATE query for the table wp_XYZ. Incorrect information in file: ‘./database_store/wp_XYZ.frm’
— DATABASE ERROR: This function has none of DETERMINISTIC, NO SQL, or READS SQL DATA in its declaration and binary logging…
— Tablespace for table xxx exists. Please DISCARD the tablespace before IMPORT

Solution 1
For general write errors there are a few options to consider. Try these in the order they are presented.

Solution 2
Resolve write issues for create queries related to the following error message:

EXCEPTION message: DB ERROR: Could not get the CREATE query for the table wp_XYZ. Incorrect information in file: './database_store/wp_XYZ.frm'


1. Run a database repair on your current WordPress site.
2. On Installer Step 2 ❯ Tables Tab ❯ Uncheck the Import flag for the table generating the issue
3. Alternatively When creating a package on Step 1 exclude the table in question from being added

Solution 3
Resolve write issues for functions related to the following error message:

DATABASE ERROR: This function has none of DETERMINISTIC, NO SQL, or READS SQL DATA in its declaration and binary logging is enabled (you *might* want to use the less
safe log_bin_trust_function_creators variable)


Execute the following in the MySQL console OR add the following to the mysql.ini configuration file:

SET GLOBAL log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1;


log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1


The setting relaxes the checking for non-deterministic functions. Non-deterministic functions are functions that modify data (i.e. have update, insert or delete statement(s)).
For more info, see here. For complete details see
this article.

If your hosting provider does not allow the settings above then contact them directly or consider working with the developer who wrote the Functions and have them re-evaluated.
to work properly with the database engines requirements.

Solution 4
During an install if you receive a message such as the one shown below, its likely you may need to delete one of the tablename.ibd files, that did not properly get deleted
during the database table removal process.

Tablespace for table xxx exists. Please DISCARD the tablespace before IMPORT

For a full run-down of all the possible solutions for this issue see
this stack-overflow article.

It is best to make sure the server where the installer is running has the same or higher version number than where it was built. If the major and minor version are the
same or close for example [5.7 to 5.6], then the migration should work without issues. A version pair of [5.7 to 5.1] is more likely to cause issues unless you have a
very simple setup. If the versions are too far apart work with your hosting provider to upgrade the MySQL engine on this server.

Solution 1
UTF8MB4 FORMAT:
If the current MySQL server version detected is below 5.5.3 (release on April 8th 2010) then support for utf8mb4 tables will not work. The utf8mb4 format is only supported
in MySQL server 5.5.3+. It is highly recommended to upgrade your version of MySQL server on this server to be more compatible with recent releases of WordPress and avoid issues
with install errors.

Solution 2
UTF8 INPUTS:
If non ASCII characters are detected as part of the database connection string and MySQL
server is not configured correctly then you will not be able to connect. This issue can be resolved by updating the MySQL my.ini configuration.
Add the setting ‘character_set_server=utf8’ under [mysqld] and restart the database server. This value may just need to be uncommented.

Solution 3
MARIA-DB SETUPS:
If a version of 10.N.N shows then the database distribution is a MariaDB flavor of MySQL. While the distributions are very close there are some subtle differences.
Some operating systems will report the version such as «5.5.5-10.1.21-MariaDB» showing the correlation of both. Please visit the online
MariaDB versus MySQL — Compatibility page for more details.

Please note some messages are simply notices. It is highly recommended to continue with the install process and closely monitor the installer-log.txt file
along with the install report found on step 3 of the installer. Be sure to look for any notices/warnings/errors in these locations to validate the install process
did not detect any errors. If any issues are found please visit the FAQ pages and see the question
How to resolve database errors or general warnings on the install report?

Solution 4
CREATE TABLES:
Creating tables across MySQL and MariaDB are very close however there are some small differences that can sometimes (not common) cause issues. To visit the different between each
see the two sets of documentation here:

• MySQL Create Table
• MariaDB Create Table

As you can see they are not a one-to-one match (MariaDB has options that MySQL does not), so when you try to run a CREATE query that worked on MariaDB, but has some table option that
MySQL does not support, it may fail. The current fix is to remove the offending table options from the DB dump by doing a manual search-and-replace on the file.

There are 4 ways to solve this issue. Option 1 is the quickest, easiest and safest way to resolve this issue

Unknown Collation Overview:

An ‘Unknown collation’ error means the MySQL server being installed on (target server) is older than the MySQL engine you
created the package on. An error message such as:

**ERROR** database error write ‘Unknown collation: ‘utf8mb4_unicode_ci’

will be triggered because the MySQL version being used does not support this table format. You can view the MySQL server version comparison by clicking on the ‘Test Connection’
button in the installer or by viewing the installer-log.txt file. The output will look something like:

MYSQL VERSION: This Server: 5.4.22 — Build Server: 5.7.10

Option 1

Update Database Software

The cleanest and safest way to fix ‘Unknown Collation’ issue is to update your

target MySQL server

to the same or newer version than where the
package was built. The most common format errors include:

• utf8mb4_unicode_ci: Mysql server 5.5.3+ is required.
• utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci: Mysql server 5.6+ is required.

If you’re running any version lower than 5.5.3 then your using a very outdated version of MySQL server. 5.5.3 was released in 2010 which means the version of MySQL server you’re using is even older. We strongly encourage users to work with their hosts to use up-to-date software for improved security and performance and to stay in compliance with updates from WordPress core. Don’t let a crappy host use outdated software on your site.

Option 2

Enable Legacy Check

On the installer in step 2 under options is a setting titled «Legacy» and labeled «Apply legacy collation fall-back support for unknown collations types».
Check this check box to apply a fall back legacy collation and continue with the install.

When creating a database table, the Mysql version being used may not support the collation type of the Mysql version where the table was created.
In this scenario, the installer will fall-back to a legacy collation type to try and create the table. This value should only be checked if you receive an
error when installing the database.

For example, if the package was built on MySQL 5.7 with a table collation type of ‘utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci’ and your runing the installer
on an older MySQL 5.5 engine that does not support that type then an error will be thrown. If this option is checked then the legacy setting will try to
use ‘utf8mb4_unicode_520’, then ‘utf8mb4’, then ‘utf8’ and so on until it runs out of options. While this option does work on most setups, option 1 above
is still the recommended and safest option.

Option 3

Run Compatibility Mode

Mysqldump Compatibility mode helps produce a database sql script output that is more compatible with other database systems or with older MySQL servers.
The Duplicator supports several compatibility modes
all of which are only available when mysqldump mode is enabled in the plugin. Compatibility mode can be enabled when building a package using the
mysqldump option.

The Duplicator will only allow compatibility mode during the creation process. It is not allowed when creating templates or with schedules.
The reason for this setup is to discourage using these settings and fix the real issue which is to update your database server.

Consider trying both Modes:

Duplicator currently supports two different modes. Mysqldump and PHP Mode. See Settings > Packages option. If you are running into character issues and running out of options
you may consider trying to build the database in both modes to see if one or the other solves the issues.

Option 4

Manual Configurations

These options are for advanced users and should be performed with caution. The options require updating the database.sql script or
updating the source database table collation types. Below are three different approaches but only one option is required to address the issue.

Update database.sql:
For ‘unknown collation’ issues you can try the follow the steps below:

1. Extract the archive zip file manually
2. Open the database.sql file with notepad and Search & Replace on the collations for example you might :
   • replace: ‘utf8mb4’ with ‘utf8’
   • replace: ‘utf8_unicode_520_ci’ with ‘utf8_general_ci’
   • Always try these options in a sandbox first and never on a production site until your content with the results
3. Then browse to the installer.php file on the server and choose Advanced & check ‘Manual Extract’
4. This can also be attempted with other collations i.e. replace ‘collation_type_1’ with ‘collation_type_2’

Update Source Database with Code:
This options requires that you really understand your system and have made backups ahead of time. The script will allow you to alter the collation
on the build server so that it can be supported by the target server. The full script can be seen on stackoverflow at:
http://stackoverflow.com/a/29939906/2808424

Update Source Database with IDE:
If you don’t feel comfortable running the code above you can also use an IDE or GUI tool that will allow you to manually change the tables collation
either with SQL statements or through and interface. Again these options requires that you really understand your system and have made backups ahead of time.
Below are some easy to follow step by step for updating the collations via an IDE such as phpmyadmin:

• phpmyadmin
• SQL statements
• MySQL Workbench

Also see:
Recommended hosting providers for Duplicator?
http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql
https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/04/02/the-utf8mb4-upgrade

Quick Check: If you do receive any errors on the install report follow these steps:

1. Check your site for any possible issues. If your site is solid and stable and the error counts are low then in most cases you have nothing to worry about.
   You may have to just resave the settings for a particular theme/plugin/widget.
2. If you’re still concerned about the error. Run the SQL queries provided by the install report and check the error log to evaluate the queries that had issues running.
   Also you can perform the checks yourself by using phpmyAdmin.

After the install is complete a «403 Forbidden» or «403 Access Denied» message shows for either the site or admin.
A 403 error means the web server has restricted access to a specific path. This directive is controlled by the web server and Duplicator has no control
or ability to fix this issue directly from the plugin. The fixes for this issue are below:

Solution 1
Contact Host
If your not technical or used to working with web server config files then contact your host or server admin and they can usually fix this issue
for you in a few minutes. Just give them the URL where you are seeing the message.

Solution 2
Edit Config
Edit the web server config file and add the following to the httpd.conf or httpd-ssl.conf if running SSL.

# The Directory path below should match your server the following is a SAMPLE
<Directory /var/www/html/example.com/public_html>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
</Directory>


Solution 3
Additional Resources
For a full detailed troublshooting overview on this issue please visit this URL:
WPBegginer: How to Fix the 403 Forbidden Error in WordPress.

Also See:
WPBegginer: How to Fix the 403 Forbidden Error in WordPress.
How to fix a blank/white installer or 403/404/405/500 issues?

Solution 1
Redirect Issues
This can be caused by a redirect on your server. Here are several places a redirect can be triggered from:

• Mis-configured config file such as: wp-config.php, .htaccess or themes/functions.php
• A redirect plugin that maybe installed. Disabling the plugin at install time see Option 3 below.
• Inside an html file via a meta refresh tag or a JavaScript redirect
• Check your cpanels for redirects or contact your host
• Follow these steps for fixing perma links
• Check the installer-log.txt file for warnings or errors.
• Try to remove your .htaccess file and start with a fresh one

URL Trace
There are a many tools online
to test URL redirects, just Google for it. If you’re testing on a localhost you can find tools online that will help.

A Mac/MAMP solution
1) open terminal and type defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
2) open the folder where the site is and look for a hidden htaccess file and delete it
3) test and check your site (apache restart maybe required)

Solution 2
Path Issues
To prevent the index.php appearing in the address bar or attached to each request the following can be added/changed in your httpd.conf file.

To allow permalinks on Apache you need to instruct Apache to allow individual sites to update the .htaccess file, by adding
the following options to the Directory section in your hosts Apache httpd.conf configuration file:

1. Add the following to the httpd.conf
   
# The Directory path below should match your server the following is a SAMPLE
<Directory /var/www/html/example.com/public_html>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
</Directory>

2. Restart Apache
3. If you’re on a budget host with no access to the httpd.conf file you will need to send this FAQ item to your host

Solution 3
Plugin/Theme Issues:
Sometimes plugins or even themes can cause redirect issues. Below is an option to help isolate the issue with plugins and themes. If the issue still persists after
trying the options below consider investigating your themes functions.php to make sure there is not custom code causing a redirect. Also consider looking at some of the
options in this FAQ.

Solution 4
Browser Cache
Google Chrome and other browsers will cache your 301 redirects. To get around this, and to keep the tabs open, you’ll just need to clear your browser cache.

Chrome Menu Chrome Menu ❯ Settings ❯ Search for «history» ❯ See option «Clear browsing data». Whatever else you select, make sure «Cached images and files» is a checked option. Then click Clear browsing data and you should be able to retest again. If you’ve just followed the redirect, you only need to delete data from the past hour. Alternatively, test and develop in incognito mode. There the cache is flushed after the browser is closed.

Also See:
How can I fix my site when the home page shows but no sub-pages work?
Why are some of my plugins/images/links/styles not updating?
WordPress.org Forums: 404 Errors on all pages but home page?

Option 1
Add Admin User
Typically the quickest way to login to the WordPress admin is to add a new admin user from the installer. This can be done with the following settings:
See Installer (Advanced mode) ❯ Step 3 ❯ Options ❯ create a new Admin account and use that to login.

Option 2
Validate/Reset Login
If you lost the admin password or logging in is not working consider these options.

• Try to login a few times and try having the password emailed to you
• Pay attention to the «User Mode» used on Step 1 ❯ Options ❯ General.
• See Installer (Advanced mode) ❯ Step 3 ❯ Options ❯ disable all plugins in-case you have a plugin conflict
• You may have to reset the password by following these instructions
• If all other options fail you can use the emergency password reset script

Option 3
Redirect Issues
If you are trying to login to the WordPress admin dashboard, but keep getting redirected back to the login without any notice of invalid username/password.
Then the URL link might be messed up. Try changing the URL address in your browser to either of the following addresses and then try to login:

• https://yoursiteurl.com/wp-admin
• https://yoursiteurl.com/wp-login.php

Option 4
User Mode
If you are performing a single site install then you will need to pay attention to the «User Mode» setting in the installer wizard step 1 advanced options (default is overwrite).
This mode will control which users are overwritten, kept or merged. For example if you wanted to keep the users from both the source and target sites then you would follow these steps:

1. Switch to «Advanced Mode» in the upper right corner of the installer on step 1
2. Under «Options» ❯ «General» for the option «Users Mode:» select the «Merge» option
3. Choosing this option will result in details listed below for Merge

User Mode Overview:

Overwrite: Overwrites users is the classic mode, users from the source site will be installed and those from the target site will be discarded.

Keep: Keeps all users of the target site by discarding users of the source site.
All content on the source site will be assigned to the

content author

selected user.

Merge: Merges users from the target site with users from the source site.
The target site users will be unchanged and the source site users will be added by remapping ids and logins if duplicated.

The plugin migrates all defined constants from your wp-config.php, due to some complexity on how the defined constants can be initialized in PHP, it could happen in rare and exceptional
cases that the replication of your previous wp-config.php silently fails or with an error. Some examples are:

• A defined constant is initialized with a flow check
• A dynamic variables concatenated to your plan value
• Backslashes or other custom settings

In such circumstances it could happen that you might see the following in your logs:

PHP ERROR: Unexpected end of file
PHP WARNING: Use of undefined constant


Solution 1
Inspect wp-config
We would advise to check your wp-config.php for missing macros. Check to fix any macros for broken values in case of complex initialization with flow checks,
dynamic variables, backslashes, etc…

Solution 2
Reset wp-config
Recreate the wp-config.php manually from scratch or grab a fresh one from wordpress.org

Solution 1
In some cases simply re-saving the permalinks will fix the issue. In your WordPress admin Go to Settings ❯ Permalinks, and click on save changes button. Check a
sub-page to see if the issues is fixed.

Solution 2
Another common cause is that the ‘mod-rewrite’ module has not being enabled. To enable mod_rewrite or its equivalent see the instructions below.

Apache 2.x on Linux
In a terminal, execute:

a2enmod rewrite
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart


WAMP Instructions here |

IIS Instructions here

All Other Systems
Google for how to enable mod-rewrite or permalinks on your particular system.

Solution 3
If solution 1 or 2 do not work you may also need to adjust the «AllowOverride» setting (Apache Only). If your not sure what the value should be for your
hosts environment, then please contact your hosting provider to be sure. The full run-down for how to work with this setting can be found here.

Solution 4
In some cases plugins and/or themes can cause initial issues with the install process. Installing your site in «Safe mode» can sometimes help to quickly isolate and solve site issues.
To run the installer in safe mode follow these steps:

If the issue still persists after trying the options below consider investigating your themes functions.php file to make sure there is not custom code causing issues with how your pages
are being severed up.

Solution 1
Check to make sure you do not have a default.html or index.html in the root directory that is overriding the WordPress index.php file.

Solution 2
In some cases plugins and/or themes can cause initial issues with the install process. Installing your site in «Safe mode» can sometimes help to quickly isolate and solve site issues.
To run the installer in safe mode follow these steps:

Safe Mode:
To quickly isolate common issues with your site try the settings below:

• Installer: Step 1 ❯ Options ❯ Advanced ❯ Safe Mode.
  • Basic Mode: This option will disable all plugins at install time.
  • Advanced Mode: Runs «Basic Mode» and re-saves theme settings during wp-admin login.
• Installer: Step 3 ❯ Options ❯ Active Plugins to disable individual plugins one-by-one.

Note: Its recommended to first try «Basic» and then the «Advanced» option if the issue persists. If you suspect the plugin(s) causing the issue then just
disable those specific plugins on step 3. After logging into your wp-admin re-enable each plugin one-by-one and resave any settings if applicable till the
problem is isolated.

Safe Mode:
To quickly isolate common issues with your site try the settings below:

• Installer: Step 1 ❯ Options ❯ Advanced ❯ Safe Mode.
  • Basic Mode: This option will disable all plugins at install time.
  • Advanced Mode: Runs «Basic Mode» and re-saves theme settings during wp-admin login.
• Installer: Step 3 ❯ Options ❯ Active Plugins to disable individual plugins one-by-one.

Note: Its recommended to first try «Basic» and then the «Advanced» option if the issue persists. If you suspect the plugin(s) causing the issue then just
disable those specific plugins on step 3. After logging into your wp-admin re-enable each plugin one-by-one and resave any settings if applicable till the
problem is isolated.

Solution 1
Depending on the source web server configuration, non-English characters in filenames can occasionally be stored incorrectly within the .zip archive. The resolution to this
varies depending on how the characters were changed.

If filename characters have been replaced with a hash sign, ‘U’ and number (e.g. file_ü.txt => file#U00fc.txt):

1. Using FTP or your host’s File Manager copy wp-content/plugins/duplicator-pro/tools/file-renamer.php to the destination web site’s root directory.
2. Browse to the tool (I.e. http://mydomain.com/file-renamer.php)
3. Use tool to rename the files.

By default Duplicator resets the .htaccess file to a simple baseline setup. This is needed in the vast majority of cases because most .htaccess files can grow to be very complex
and when migrated to a new environment/server the current directives can cause issues. With millions of directives and settings to account for its impossible for Duplicator
to determine if the directive will work in the new location.

Customized Settings
For advanced users there are still options for users to retain the original settings. In order to keep the original .htaccess file or prevent Duplicator from doing anything with the
.htaccess files, see the available options below:

1. Duplicator Lite Installer ❯ Step 1 ❯ Options ❯ Advanced Tab ❯ Config Files.
2. Duplicator Pro Installer ❯ Step 1 ❯ Advanced ❯ Options ❯ Advanced Tab ❯ Configuration Files

Please note: That the solutions above could have issues so you will need to manually open your .htaccess file and update all the settings to match your new server.

3rd Party Plugins
In the even you use a plugin that updates the .htaccess file you can easily get those settings back. In the vast majority of these situations you can simply deactivate and reactivate
the plugin in question. If you are not sure, just contact the plugin author.

Also See:
How does Duplicator handle data/file migration?

This behavior should not happen and is usually caused by a corrupted database or data that was not transferred properly.
Here are a few things you can perform if you see this issue:

Option 1
Re-run the installer

— Running the installer again can help validate if the issue is persistent.
— Be sure that ONLY the archive and installer.php files are present in the install directory.
— Clear your browser cache and re-run the install process
— Pay close attention to the install report and look for any possible errors or notices
— If the WordPress installer screen shows up a second time consider looking into options 2 & 3 below.

Option 2
Check log file

— After completing step 3 in the installer check the installer-log.txt
— Look for lines with **ERROR**. This indicates that data was not properly transfered to the new/existing database
— The installers MySQL server may not fully support the SQL script from the MySQL server where it was built
— See the following question for more details:
    How to resolve database write issues?

Option 3
Repair DB

— Run a repair and optimize on your database.
— Create a new package again
— Start over with a new install

Option 1
Try a different «Extraction Mode». See: Step 1 ❯ Advanced Mode ❯ Options ❯ «Extraction Mode». If your system supports a different extraction mode then try the other options.
If the issue persists then try «Option 2» directly below.

Option 2
Manually extracting the archive before attempting an install will solve any slow or problematic extraction issues. For a full overview of this process see the link below:

•   How to do a «Manual Extraction» or run installer without zip enabled?

Option 1
Try removing the files «object-cache.php» in the wp-content directory on the newly installed machine.

Copy to Clipboard

=========== SENSITIVE INFORMATION START ===========

WORDPRESS ADMIN (NETWORK ADMIN FOR MULTISITE)
url:  http://full-url-to-yoursite/wp-admin
user: [temporary wp-admin account]
pass: [temporary wp-admin password]

FTP ACCESS* -or- Your Hosting Control Panel
url:  domain-or-ip-address.com
user: [temporary ftp/control panel account account]
pass: [temporary ftp/control panel account password]

=========== SENSITIVE INFORMATION END ===========

Test Logins:
Please test ALL usernames and passwords and make sure you can login to the specific system yourself. This will help avoid having to resending the data.

Accounts: Create temporary admin level WordPress account and control panel account (cPanel) or FTP accounts. If you can’t create a temporary account then temporarily change the password while we diagnose your system. You can easily change your password back once we are complete. Do not send your current password!

Recommended: If you prefer to not create or modify your WordPress users then install the plugin Temporary Login Without Password» and replace the text below the section «WORDPRESS ADMIN (NETWORK ADMIN FOR MULTISITE)» with just the URL generated by the plugin. Be sure the Role of the temporary login is «Administrator».

Copy to Clipboard

=========== SENSITIVE INFORMATION START ===========

WORDPRESS ADMIN:
This is where package was created. This section is OPTIONAL.
url: https://my_url/wp-admin
user: [temporary_wpadmin_account]
pass: [temporary_wpadmin_password]

INSTALLER INFORMATION:

SETTINGS:
url: https://my_url/path_to_installer.php
path: [/public_html/path_to_my_site/installer.php]

FTP SERVER -or- Your Hosting Control Panel:
(Where installer.php is located)
url: [domain-or-ip-address.com]
user: [temporary_ftp_or_cpanel_user]
pass: [temporary_ftp_or_cpanel_password]

NEW DATABASE SETTINGS:
(values used in installer.php setup)
host: [localhost_or_hosts_requirements]
database: [database_name]
user: [database_user]
pass: [database_password]
validate: Yes I followed the <Install Preparations> below

=========== SENSITIVE INFORMATION END ===========

VERY IMPORTANT! Please read all instructions to diagnose your issue quickly.
Copy and paste the text from the box above into your help ticket using the

exact format

.

Accounts: Create a temporary account or change the password while we diagnose your system. Do not send current password! Please test ALL usernames and passwords to
help avoid having to resending the data.

Recommended: To skip WordPress user setup, install the plugin
Temporary Login Without Password and replace the text above
«WORDPRESS ADMIN (NETWORK ADMIN FOR MULTISITE)» with the URL generated by the plugin. Be sure the Role of the temporary login is «Administrator».

Copy to Clipboard

=========== SENSITIVE INFORMATION START ===========

SOURCE:  Import Archive File
URL:  https://full_url_to_daf_or_zip_archive_file_used_for_importing


To get the URL follow these steps:
1. Login to your SOURCE WordPress Admin where the archive.zip/daf file was created.
2. Goto ❯ Duplicator ❯ Package Row ❯ Details ❯ General ❯ Share File Links ❯ Copy/Paste Archive URL
-OR-
Supply a link to the archive.zip/daf file to use for IMPORT.
This could be a link from Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.


DESTINATION:  WordPress Admin
URL:  https://yoursite/wp-admin
USER: [wp_admin_user]
PASS: [wp_admin_password]


This is where you want the package installed - THIS SITE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN!


DESTINATION:  FTP Server -or- Hosting Control Panel
URL:  domain-or-ip-address.com
USER: [temporary_ftp_or_cpanel_user]
PASS: [temporary_ftp_or_cpanel_password]


The FTP server where the import will run. This is optional, but recommended to recover site in the event of a critical failure.


=========== SENSITIVE INFORMATION END ===========

VERY IMPORTANT! Please read all instructions to diagnose your issue quickly.
Copy and paste the text from the box above into your help ticket using the

exact format

.

Accounts: Create a temporary account or change the password while we diagnose your system. Do not send current password! Please test ALL usernames and passwords to
help avoid having to resending the data.

Recommended: To skip WordPress user setup, install the plugin
Temporary Login Without Password and replace the text above
«WORDPRESS ADMIN (NETWORK ADMIN FOR MULTISITE)» with the URL generated by the plugin. Be sure the Role of the temporary login is «Administrator».

Caution: Be advised that some database tables and files can be overwritten. The following scenarios may apply.

When running different functionalities in the plugin or in the installer, a request could fail and you could get a status code in the (ajax) error message.
HTTP response status codes indicate whether a specific HTTP request has been successfully completed. Responses are grouped in five classes.

Click here to load HTTP error codes
Page will reload…

Solution 1
500 errors are generic in nature and can be difficult to isolate. These errors can be related to file permissions, ownership rights, firewall/proxy configuration
constraints or a server that is not configured correctly. Below is a list of starting points to isolate the issue:

ERROR LOGS:
In many cases error logs are critical with 500 errors. The best place to start is by checking to see if there are any clues in the error logs.

1. WordPress Error Log: Occasionally there are incompatibilities with the new web server and the site itself (PHP version changes for instance).
   To track down the problem capture an WordPress error log while you refresh the page causing the error.
   See this article for how to capture the WordPress error log.
2. cPanel Error Log: If your host is running cPanel, click on the «Errors» icon to review the latest errors experienced on the server.
3. Web Server Logs: These include the PHP error log and your web server error log such as Apache or Nginx. To find these files consult your
   hosts documentation. To find the latest errors match the correct time stamp in the error log with the time for which you were attempting to
   use the Duplicator. Sometimes error log messages can be vague and a quick Google search for the actual error message many times will lead
   to a quick resolution, especially if you include your hosting providers name.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE 500 ERROR?:
A 500 error can be experienced either during the package build process, during the install process or post-install. Below are some helpful tips depending on where you experience
a 500 error.

1. During Package Build:
   • Disable Plugins: In some cases certain plugins (especially security and caching) will prevent certain actions from happening.
     If you have a security or caching plugin installed its recommended to temporarily disable it to make sure its not conflicting with anything.
   • Create Filter: Sometimes creating a root directory filter will allow the package to skip any files or directories that are problematic
     to how PHP is able to process and read them. This test step can help you isolate which directory (if any) might be triggering a 500 error.
   • open_basedir: The php.ini setting can cause all kinds of issues if not properly configured. See question:
     What is PHP Open Base Dir or «open_basedir restriction in effect»?
2. During Install:
   • Disable Plugins: If the 500 error is present on the installer side then its recommend to create your package with
     all cache and security plugins disabled and add all cache paths to the directory filters list.
     Note: The directories filter has a quick add link for cached WordPress data.
   • If you receive a 500 error during the installation process see the FAQ item below:
     How to resolve 403/500/timeout issues on step 3?
3. Post-Install:
   If you experience a 500 error or blank screen when loading a site after installation, please review one of the logs mentioned in the «ERROR LOGS» section above.

Also See:
How to resolve 403/500/timeout issues on step 3?
How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error on Your WordPress Website
Recommended hosting providers for Duplicator?

Increase Memory

Some hosting providers limit PHPs ability to use additional memory or cap the limit very small. This issue tends to be more common on
low-end budget hosts. The options below can help you increase PHP memory.

Common Error Messages
— Fatal error: Out of memory (allocated 301989888) (tried to allocate 921600 bytes) in /somepath/ on line 100

Option 1

1. If the memory error occurs when creating a package then edit your wp-config.php file and add this:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '500M');

2. Edit your .htaccess file in your WordPress root

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
   
php_value memory_limit 500M
</IfModule>


3. Edit the php.ini and set:

memory_limit = 500MB


Bitnami users click here

Option 3
Contact your host with the memory error and have them increase PHP memory for you.

Validating Memory
After updating any of the options above be sure to make check that the setting are updated. You can do this by going to: Duplicator/Pro ❯
Tools ❯ General ❯ Server Settings ❯ PHP Section ❯ «Memory Limit» and make sure the value matches the value in one of the above options.
On some system the web server will have to be restarted.

Its recommend to set the value 50% above the memory setting before any updates were made. For example if your memory setting was at 250MB before the memory error
then the new settings would be 375-400MB. If that doesn’t work try 100% of the allocated warning which would be 500MB.

Package Builds

When building a package try to use the following settings if available on your host:

• Duplicator: Settings ❯ Packages ❯ SQL Script ❯ Mysqldump
• Duplicator Pro:
  • Settings ❯ Packages-Basic ❯ SQL Script ❯ Mysqldump
  • Settings ❯ Packages-Basic ❯ Archive Engine ❯ Enable «DupArchive» or «ShellZip»
    These engine options consume much less memory than ZipArchive
  • Settings ❯ Packages-Basic ❯ Server Throttle ❯
    This prevent resource complaints on budget hosts. The higher the value the slower the backup

Running Installer

If running into memory issues on the installer, Pro users you can also use the ‘Manual SQL Execution’
option by following these steps:

1. Have your host or server administrator run the database.sql file for you. In some cases you may be able to use phpmyAdmin if the memory
   options to run it are different than how your web server is setup.
2. After the database has been installed go to step 1 of the installer and choose ‘Manual SQL Execution’ from the Action drop-down.
3. Continue to finish out the installer as you normally would.

Also see:
What can I try for timeout issues?
What can I do for issues with migrating a large site?
Recommended hosting providers for Duplicator?

When creating or installing a package a notice about disk space issues is logged.

Common Error Messages
— MSG:ZipArchive::close(): Write error: No space left on device

Overview
If you’re not sure about your Disk Quota contact your host. Some hosts will advertise that you get «unlimited space», however the truth is a quota is
placed on every account according the the Terms and Conditions of the account. Many hosting control panels or cPanel accounts give you an unlimited number of domains you can setup.
With each domain they create a new directory and hosting control panels or cPanel silo for that domain which usually has a quota on how much space you can allocate to that directory
see the link above.

Most web hosts control panels will have a progress bar on the main dashboard that shows how much space you have for the specified domain. If you’re not using a cPanel setup
ask your host where you can find out your disk quota. So in short try to get a real answer from your host and if they still give you a canned response then try to upload
a file which should be 5 times the size of your ‘Pre-Scanned’ site size. So if the pre-scan shows 50MB then try to upload a file that 250MB add see if it allows the file to upload.
If it does not then you definitely have a disk quota issue.

How to locate space allocation
Check your disk quota on some of these popular systems
[GoDaddy]
[BlueHost]
[cPanel Systems]

Solution
How to free up-space

• Remove unused files and folders
• Cleanup older backup files from plugins or system processes
• Cleanup your databases with phpmyadmin
• Cleanup your databases with a plugin

If you are running into build issues or notices about hight resources here are some tips you can consider.

Adjust Settings
^Pro

1. Go to: Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ Packages
2. Check «Client-side Kickoff»
3. Set Server throttling to «low» or «medium»

Adjust Backups

• Create file filters to keep your overall package size smaller
• For scheduled backups consider only backing up the database daily and the full site on a weekly basis.

If you have control over the hosting package and you’re using the lowest/cheapest package consider upgrading to a more
performant level or switching to a better host overall. While its rare and very few hosts will mention resource issues, some lower end ones will keep track and
notify users of issues.

Also see:
What can I do for issues with migrating a large site?
Recommended hosting providers for Duplicator?

Strange characters such as » � » or «????» are a sign of encoding issues when you move from one server to another. If the database version changes
across servers then scripts may not work as expected. By default WordPress sets your character encoding to UTF-8 or UTF8MB4.
Adjusting the database charset and collation can help clear up these issues on some servers. Here are some items you can try:

Solution 1

wpconfig.php:

Online Overview See: DB_CHARSET,
DB_COLLATE


define("DB_CHARSET", "utf8");
define("DB_COLLATE", "");



define("DB_CHARSET","");
define("DB_COLLATE","");
//define("DB_CHARSET", "some_value");
//define("DB_COLLATE", "some_value");


Try various options UTF8MB4 to UTF8


define("DB_CHARSET", "utf8mb4");



define("DB_CHARSET", "utf8");


Solution 2

Installer

1. On step 2 of installer under options
2. Set charset: utf8mb4
3. Set collation: utf8mb4_unicode_ci

Solution 3

General Issues

Update Meta Tag:
This is usually something you can do in your header.php file.The server is not sending the charset in the Content-Type header and the HTML meta fallback is broken:

<meta http-equiv=»Content-Type» content=»text/html; charset=UTF-8?>

Note the invalid curly quotes instead of straight quotes. That means there’s no valid declaration for what encoding the page is in and hence the browser takes a guess.
Some browsers guess wrong.

Fix Database: Encoding issues can get complex and if the above solutions don’t work then you may need to perform
a deeper dive into fixing the issue.

Consider an Upgrade:
In some cases we have seen that updating to PHP 7+ along with a the latest MySQL server can solve some of these character encoding issues.
After updating to these new and improved platforms be sure to re-build a new package.

Solution 1
Support for international character can vary across systems. The process of converting/retaining a character set when moving across different operating
systems, web servers & database servers has many complexities, especially when the various versions are different across the build location and install
location. If you run into character conversion/encoding issues below is a list of things you can try:

DATABASE ISSUES

• Check wp-config.php
  Look for the DB_CHARSET and
  DB_COLLATE constants, these values can affect how
  WordPress handles your character encoding. If DB_COLLATE and DB_CHARSET do not exist in your wp-config.php file, try adding/editing either definition
  to your wp-config.php file. Please be sure to read the following article to better understand
  Converting Database Character Sets.
• Advanced Options
  In step one of the installer under advanced options there are two character values that you can try to enable which are
  «MySQL Charset» and «MySQL Collation» indirectly these values work with
  mysqli_set_charset. These values may not work on all systems.
• Database.sql File
  Open the database.sql file in Notepad++ and selected «Encode in UTF-8»
  from the Encoding menu, without changing the contents at all. In some situations this can be more important than changing the
  DEFAULT CHARACTERSET, as it determines how the file is read by the operating system.

FILE SYSTEM

On some operating systems and version of PHP there are known issues with working with international characters. This is a limitation with the underlying PHP ZipArchive and json_encode logic used in both Lite and Pro.

• Filter Files
  A common work-a-round at this point is to filter the international files and then manually move them later. The scanner process will help you to spot
  these files.
• Shell Zip
  In Duplicator Pro there is a new process option called shell_exec which is
  supported by most hosts. This process can on most systems better handle international characters in file names. Please use this option in Pro if you’re running into file/directory names with unicode characters.
• PHP 7+
  PHP 7+ has been improved to better handle unicode issues. If you can migrate or get your host to upgrade to the improved/faster performing version of
  PHP 7 this can solve the issue for internal characters issues at many levels.

Solution 1
VirusTotal Check: If you do receive a virus scan that reports as true be sure to validate the integrity against other scanners. In the vast majority of most cases we are quite
confident there is nothing to worry about for a few reasons:

1. For example if you receive a threat from a virus scan be sure to check the virustotal site.
   Check the total virus scan counts. If the count is say 50 virus scanners on all files and Duplicator passed 49 of them with nothing detected and only 1 or 2
   of them showing a «possible» threat, then the chances are very low there is a possible corruption or hack of the plugin on your site.
   Note: You can update the full plugin zip file or just the file in question to the virus-total portal.
2. Virus signatures can be tricky and it is not uncommon for certain byte or code patterns to set them off. The virus-total site is also aware of false
   positives and addresses these types of issues on their website.
3. If the file does indeed show a threat across more than 2+ zones feel free to contact us with the file in question and we can do a compare against the base to determine if
   the file(s) have been compromised on your system. Our recommendation in all cases will be to remove the plugin and install a fresh clean copy. If the problem persists
   then there is a wider hole in your site and you will probably need a security analysis done on your site by a company that deals with these issues, like WordFence and the like.

Solution 2
Contact Provider: A warning by a Malware scanner may not provide you with the details needed to pin-point a possible threat. The scanner should report why it thinks the
file is a risk and what it thinks the issue might be. Be sure your scanner does more than just say XYZ file is a threat. It needs to give details and say
exactly what line(s) of code are an issue and why. For example «Heuristic logic has detected something unsafe…» is entirely to general to determine if a file
is a threat.

The base install of the Duplicator is known to be safe and continually scanned by third party security companies. You can be assured that the original install of
the plugin is safe and if any items are reported that a patch will be applied promptly. However because WordPress systems can and do become compromised it is
your responsibly to evaluate any type of possible compromise to your system.

In the case you want more information about the scan result we recommend you contact the virus scan company that reported the result and ask them for a full
detail of the virus/malware threat. The Duplicator has been on the WordPress forums years with over 25+ million downloads. We work very closely with the WordPress team and other
third party companies to make sure the plugin stays safe for the community.

False Flags Example:
In the world of malware detection it is common for companies to release scanners that do in fact report a false positive. This has happened on several occasions
with Duplicator and in some cases the companies are quick to respond with an update to their software and it other cases they are not. Below is an example
of a company who was very quick to respond to let users know it was a false flag.

From the wordpress.org forums

…
My name is Jelmer Verkleij, CTO at Patchman. This issue was brought to our attention about 30 minutes ago and after some quick research we noted that
these detections are the result of an error in our definition development process. All detections of the installer/build/assets/inc.libs.js.php file
in the duplicator plugin folder seem to be false positives at this point. My sincere apologies for the confusion — this should of course not have
happened and naturally we have immediately started looking into how and why this went wrong, and what needs to be done to prevent this from happening
again in the future.

In the meantime, we have deployed a definition update to all our Patchman customers that rolls back any automated quarantine actions that took
place for these files, and retracts the associated detections. This should automatically restore all websites to their original state without problems.

Once again, I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience, and I would like to reiterate that we are taking this matter very seriously. If you have any
further questions or comments you have regarding this incident, please don’t hesitate to let me know here or by sending an e-mail to support@patchman.co.
I will make sure to address each response as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Jelmer Verkleij
Patchman B.V.

Solution 1
To mitigate these results users can do the following:

1. Disable High sensitivity scanning and return to recommended settings.
2. If you don’t want to disable High sensitivity scans, you can click ignore on the individual results and they won’t be bothered by them again (until one of the file hashes changes at least)
3. Under their scanner’s Advanced settings, they can exclude any specific filepath or a wildcard path from being scanned (See https://www.wordfence.com/help/scan/options/#exclude-files for some detail).

The Duplicator currently includes several large minimized JavaScript libraries that have been detected as a false
positives on some system scanners. In most cases these notices can be ignored, however if other plugins or portions of your site also show positive readings
for Malware then you should probe deeper into the issue.

Timeout issues are prone on shared budget hosts that limit the time a PHP/Web-Server/Database process can run. Timeouts are spotted by Duplicator log files (package or installer)
that do not finish. Completed logs have text with ‘DONE PROCESSING’ or ‘COMPLETE’. Incomplete logs indicate the host has restrictions on process run-times. Some hosts allow for increases
in process runtime beyond the default. For a list of approved hosting providers see the Duplicator hosting
resources page.

SETUP OVERVIEW

The build process for Duplicator Lite is a single threaded design that runs as a continuous process until the site is archived. While the Lite version can build packages upto 4GB it will
depend on the host. Duplicator Lite typically does best with sites under 500MB on most budget hosts. If you’re running into timeout or build issues and need help we suggest the following:

1. Server Upgrade: Budget host may run into constraints with larger complex sites. Upgrading to a
   managed VPS/dedicated server can help in most scenarios.
   These systems allow for better control and come with excellent support from the hosting company.
2. Duplicator Pro: The Pro Version uses a multi-threaded architecture to better handle larger data sets.
   It also comes with dozens of other great features that help to enhance your full WordPress backup/migration strategies.
3. Adjust Settings: Directly below are several strategy options for your current host and with-in the plugin.

Solution 1
Duplicator Lite Only

1. Try Again: Try more than once with the ‘Try Again’ button. The first pass on a build request is very slow as it has
   to cache the IO scan. The second pass is much faster as on some servers the IO seek is cached.
2. Archive Flush: On some web servers if the server doesn’t flush a response after a specific amount of time then the process will be killed
   even if the timeout was increased. In the Settings menu check the ‘Archive Flush’ option. This will try and keep your connection open via a flush response.

Solution 2
Duplicator Lite & Pro
Duplicator Pro is designed to run on large sites. However on some budget hosts tweaks to the Duplicator Lite & Pro settings might be needed.

1. Toggle SQL Mode: Consider trying a different database build process. First try «Mysqldump» then try «PHP Code». See Settings ❯ Packages Tab ❯ SQL Mode.
2. Enable Filters: Many times you can get a package to finish building simply by creating multiple directory filterS on a large data source such as your
   wp-content/uploads folder which contains larger files such as images/movies/pdf etc. For details see the section below titled «MANUAL TIMEOUTS WORKAROUNDS».
3. Enable DupArchive:
   A new format known as DupArchive has been Developed by Snap Creek to overcome problems experienced on large sites and restricted host environments. Using DupArchive
   greatly diminishes the changes you will experience a timeout on package builds. When using DupArchive on Duplicator Lite there is a 500MB limit for the size of you package.

   To use new format set:
   Duplicator Lite > Settings > Packages > Archive Engine = DupArchive
Duplicator Pro > Settings > Packages > Basic Settings > Archive Engine = DupArchive

Large Databases: If you have a large database consider optimizing
it or filtering out larger unused tables.

SERVER WORKAROUNDS

All of the options below can help solve timeout issues on both Duplicator Lite and Pro. The settings will help with both package creation and package
installation. Timeouts can be controlled at three different layers so you will need to visit each one and work with your server administrator to validate them.

Solution 1
PHP TIMEOUTS:
The PHP processor will time your script and then kill the connection after a specific time (normally 30 seconds). This value can be changed if
your hosting provider allows it. The Duplicator will try to adjust this value if it has privileges to do so, if not then you will need
to

work with your host

to resolve the issue. We would love to help but this level of control is outside of our control.

Because every hosting provider is different, you

must

contact your hosting provider to find out how to adjust this value properly on
their systems. If they do not provide you with a solution then in most cases you will not be able to fix timeout issues on that server.
In this case you may have to upgrade to a package on their system which gives you more processing power such as a VPS. Otherwise you can try
working with filters as described below, to get the overall size of your package lower.

Also note that if your hosting provider tells you that there is no PHP timeout limits set or they have adjusted it to a very high number,
yet you continue to experience timeout issues (your log file continues to still get cut off) then the hosting provider may have timeouts set
at the web server level. Please see the section Web Server below…

Solution 2
WEB SERVER TIMEOUTS:
The web server can also place a timer on your script and then kill the connection based on a specific time. This value can only be changed by your hosting provider or server administrator. Please contact your host to find out if this is true for their setup. Please do not email or submit a request for this issue as there is nothing we can do to fix the restriction.

# Example .htaccess file Inserted By Customer Control Panel
SetENV PHPRC /home/username/public_html
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteBase /
   RewriteRule ^$ - [E=noabort:1]
   ...
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

<IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
   AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
   FcgidIOTimeout 900
   ProcessLifeTime 7200
   IPCConnectTimeout 180
   IPCCommTimeout 7200
</IfModule>

<IfModule litespeed>
   RewriteRule .* - [E=noabort:1]
</IfModule>

OR

<IfModule Litespeed> RewriteEngine On
   RewriteRule .* - [E=noconntimeout:1]
   SetEnv noabort 1
</IfModule>

Solution 3
DATABASE TIMEOUTS
If you are trying to create a package and the package log suddenly stops on a table and you see something like:

…
02:55:06 done: wp_posts
02:55:06 start: wp_stats (1435897)

followed by no additional logging, then the SQL generation has failed.

There are few things you can try:

Also be aware that you can also run out of disk space on your server, which can also show itself as a timeout issue. Be sure that you have plenty
of space to create your archive.zip file when creating a package.

Solution 4
CLOUD-FLARE
If Duplicator is having issues with Cloudflare active and kepts getting server timeouts. It could be related to the time out on Cloudflares
Railgun. See the feature here: https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200171926-Error-524-A-timeout-occurred.

Try turning off this feature temporarily to see if Duplicator works. Also consider these steps:
1. Log in to Cloudflare
2. On the Overview page, click «Advanced»
3. Click «Pause»
4. Run installer deployment
5. Turn Cloudflare back on

Package Timeouts
If the log indicates that you made it past the database script process then you may experience timeouts with backing up all your files. Below are a few
items you try to if you run into issues with backing up all your files:

• Try to exclude large files such as movies, large images or other backup files (like .zips or .tar files) from the file filters section
• Exclude your wp-content/uploads folder by adding it to the directory filters option. Then after the install is complete at the new location
  you can manually copy/FTP those files back over.
• Perform a Two-Part Install

Installer Step 1 Timeouts

• If possible try to rebuild a smaller package by excluding larger files/directories that can be moved over manually see «Package Timeouts» above.
• On Step 1 under options try the «Manual Extraction» step. For a step by step of how to perform a Manual extraction see these steps:
  Also see How to do a ‘Manual Extraction’ or run installer without Zip enabled?.

Installer Step 2 Timeouts

• If your database is too large for your servers configuration see the steps/options above for «Database Timeouts».
• Pro Users Only enable Options > Chunking > multi-threaded requests to chunk SQL file.
• Pro Only Users enable Setup > Action > Manual SQL Execution (advanced) option. This requires that you have manually imported the
  database ahead of time. This can be done by your host or a tool like phpMyAdmin if it supports larger sites.

Solution 1

If your moving from https to http or vice versa and run into issues below is a check-list of possible work-a-rounds:

1. Check Plugins: If you have an SSL plugin installed that controls SSL links on your site, try to deactivate/reactivate or temporarily remove the
   plugin to see if the issue persists. Plugins can be deactivated on step 3 of the installer under the options section.
2. WP-Config: Check the wp-config.php file for the FORCE_SSL_ADMIN constant and try to toggle it true/false.
3. Codex: Check the codex on Administration Over SSL to see if your site complies with the
   recommendations.

Solution 2
On some systems editing the apache ssl.config to include the following lines can resolve SSL issues. If you are not sure how to make these changes ask your hosting provider to help you.

RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Port "443"


There is no additional code that can be added or changed to get permission to work in your environment should you receive a permission error. The plugin uses standard PHP calls for accessing the file system. If the PHP process that runs under your web server is unable to access a file or folder it’s because PHP does not have enough privileges.

You will need to modify your permission setting to get the plugin to work. Because there are so many different possible configurations,
web-servers and operating systems you will need to consult the documentation of your hosting provider or your personal web server you’re using. One of the most helpful places to check is the forums for these particular services and software as permission issues is what they are used to dealing with.

Solution 1
The php.ini setting open_basedir limits file access for PHP scripts to designated directories.
A limited number of hosting providers feel that without this setting your site is less secure, while this can easily be disputed it’s still a fact that some hosts will not disable it.
Below are two options that you can work with your hosting provider on to get around this security setup configuration:

The package process may still work if this check fails, however because this setting tends to introduce other possible side effects it’s desired to have it disabled.

Also See:
How can I configure PHP open_basedir?
How can I relax PHP’s open_basedir restriction?

The following password types are available in Duplicator

• Installer password:
  The archive is NOT encrypted. When the installer starts, it will prompt for a password to prevent anyone from running the installer.
• Archive encryption:^Pro
  The archive IS encrypted with a password, and the installer will ask for a password when started. This option is the recommended maximum level of security.

Solution 1
Archive Encryption
Passwords are case-sensitive and if lost cannot be recovered with Archive encryption. Please keep passwords in a safe place!
If this password is lost then a new archive file will need to be created. Support cannot help recover a lost archive encrypted password.

Solution 2
Installer Password

• When creating a package, users have the option to set a password on the installer. This password can be easily recovered by just going to Duplicator ❯ Packages ❯ click the
  package details button ❯ Installer Section and look for ‘Password Protection’ label.
• In the event you no longer have the package details and you forgot your password below are the manual steps to override the installer password.
  1. Browse to installer file via a web browser. The password screen will show.
  2. On remote server ❯ Open FTP connection to location of installer file, for localhost open a file browser.
  3. Navigate to the following file: dup-installerclassesclass.password.php
  4. Edit the function CheckPassword and
     
Replace: return $hash === $stored_hash;
With: return true;

     Need a little help? Check out our Partners at Codeable
  5. On the installer password screen enter anything in the password field (e.g. ‘test’) and click submit.
  6. This should place you at step 1 of the installer ❯ Continue with installation

Menu Setup: Upon install you’ll observe that the Duplicator Pro menu appears at the Network level rather than the Admin level as is the case when installing on a standalone site.

Subsite Installs:
Currently adding a subsite requires the install process to be run for each subsite. So if you currently have 20 subsites you want to move into another multisite network the
installer will need to be run 20 separate times. In future version we plan to have this process narrowed down to just one installer run.

Solution 1
Duplicator Lite does

not offically provide support with Multisite issues

do to the complexities involved. Duplicator Lite is designed to be fast
and lightweight with minimal processing for single small WordPress sites. If you use Duplicator Lite to move an Multisite site you will be own your own. In the event you understand
the needs of a Multisite network and wouldlike to try and move it with the free version you may find
this article helpful.

Solution 2
To streamline your process with Multisite and perform many advanced features consider upgrading to Duplicator Pro.
For a full run-down of what Duplicator Pro supports and how to use the Multisite features check out these links:

• How does Duplicator handle Multisite support?
• Duplicator Pro Multisite User Guide

Solution 1
The quick answer is to check the variable below and make sure it matches your database entry:

define( ‘DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE’, ‘www.example.com’ );

For more details visit this forum thread.

Option 1
This issue is typically related to max_inputs_vars configuration in the php.ini file.
This parameter defaults to 1000 but with high number of tables it needs to be increased. We suggest you to increase it to a number larger than your table count. You can also create a template
with the general tables you want to exclude and then when you create the package use this template as a starting point to create the export of the standalone site.

Option 1
Duplicator does not filter users when exporting. You can however run a manual query to enable the removed inactive option in the installer’s advanced settings.
This option removes all plugins/themes and inactive users in the Standalone installation.

Option 2
The second solution involves following these steps:

1. Filter the user table and use_meta when creating the package
2. Export users and usermeta with a specific query
3. Import users and usermeta tables into new database manually
4. Run the installation and select as database action «Connect and Do Nothing (Advanced)».

Option 1
Upload Size: This can be related to a temporary network condition. In the event you experience the problem update this option:

Settings ❯ Storage ❯ Storage Types ❯ Google Drive and set «Upload Size» to 1000kb.

This will decrease the amount of data Duplicator sends to Google Drive and should help to stabilize various intermittent network problems.

Option 2
Common Account: If you have many copies of Duplicator Pro connected to the same Google Drive account, you may be running out of connections — Google only permits
around 20 connections per App per account. Per the Google documentation you can get around this limitation by using different accounts or by using a GSuite account
with different admin users.

From the Google documentation:

If you need to authorize multiple programs, machines, or devices, one workaround is to limit the number of clients that you authorize per user account to 15 or 20.
If you are a G Suite admin, you can create additional admin users and use them to authorize some of the clients.

Option 1
Go to Securi Security ❯ Settings ❯ Hardening and click «Revert Hardening» for «Activate Automatic Secret Keys Updater».

Option 2
Go to Duplicator Pro ❯ Settings ❯ General and uncheck «Enable settings encryption». In some cases you may need to reauthenticate with Google Drive after making this change.

Either of these options should keep your Google Drive connection stable from now on.

Solution 1
Upload Size: This can be related to a temporary network condition. Consider the following option:

Settings ❯ Storage ❯ Storage Types ❯ OneDrive and set «Upload Size» to 1000kb.

This will decrease the amount of data Duplicator sends and should help to stabilize intermittent network problems.

Solution 1

Common Error Messages
— The refresh token is not set or no permissions for ‘wl.offline_access’ was given to renew the token

Option 1
Try creating another storage endpoint but this time enable the option «All folders read write permission».

Solution 1
Invoke OneDrive API
(recommended)
The following process describes how to revoke all refresh tokens. Useful when you want to prevent a machine that is no longer under your control from using your OneDrive account.
For a full overview of this process call the
revokeSignInSessions API.

Solution 2
Periodic Site Removal
Periodically remove the folder that is being stored to within the OneDrive /Apps folder. So if the machine is storing to /Apps/oldsite.com then once every X days remove oldsite.com so it
is not consuming space on your OneDrive.

Solution 3
Revoke Entire Application
To revoke access for all your Duplicator Pro sessions to OneDrive follow
these instructions.


Note: This process is only recommended if you have only ever setup one or just a few Duplicator Pro OneDrive storage accounts. Revoking the entire app will remove all
OneDrive connections that Duplictor Pro — OneDrive was created with. This means none of the other machines would be allowed to use it ever again,
unless new sessions were created.

Solution 1
If upgrading PHP versions on GoDaddy gives you issues with ZipArchive then check a box to
enable ZipArchive support.
If you don’t see that please talk to GoDaddy support and ask them to enable the ZipArchive PHP module.

Duplicator Pro

Package Build Issues:

GoDaddy may be the most resource-constrained of all the major web hosts. Because of this, if your site is over 150MB you may have to switch from the zip format to the DupArchive format which was developed to work on restricted hosts.

To build a package using DupArchive:

1. Go to Duplicator ❯ Settings ❯ Packages
2. Set Archive Engine to DupArchive.
3. Set the «Max Build Time to 270 if your site is over 1GB.
4. Attempt to build.
5. If still encounter an error set the following values in Settings > Packages and rebuild:
• Server Throttle: Medium
• Client-side Kickoff: Enabled
6. If you still have problems:
• Increase your GoDaddy plan’s resource level to level 3. By default, All GoDaddy shared plans start at level 1 or 2, even Ultimate. Resource levels are described on GoDaddy’s resource page.

Installer Timeout Issues:

When installing to GoDaddy you may experience a timeout. To avoid a timeout perform a manual extraction install as described in the answer to FAQ question How do I do a Manual Extraction?

Duplicator Lite

What can I try for Timeout Issues?

Solution 1
GoDaddy has implemented a new block recently for managed hosting where it is
not possible to run an arbitrary php file inside wp-content and in the main path. The only possible solution is to run the installer in a subfolder.
In the meantime, to work around the problem, you should do the following:

1. Creates a temp folder in the root path or location where you want to install for example dup_temp
2. Upload the installer and archive files into the dup_temp folder and browse to the installer http://mydomain/dup_temp/installer.php.
   
   Note: This starts a classic installation so the pre-set values will not enabled like they are for an import install.
   By default the installer considers the current folder as root path but this can be changed in the advanced installation
   
3. On step 1 choose «Advanced Mode» and remove dup_temp path from the ‘New Site URL’ & ‘New Path’ inputs
4. Click validate without filling in the other fields<
   
   Now the validation fails because you didn’t enter the database connection data but the GoDaddy wp-config is detected so you are prompted with
   the correct db connection data that you need to apply.
   
5. Next set all the ‘Configuration Files’ to ‘Do nothing’
   
   Now you can continue with the installation and it should work. We are working to streamline this process.
   

Option 1
If you have an SSL certificate setup you may encounter a Scan timeout error. This is due to two symbolic links SiteGround creates in the root of the site
that point back to the site directory and cause a recursive loop.

To resolve this problem do the following:

1. On the Packages screen, click the Create New button
2. Click «Enable File Filters» ❯ Above the Directories box ❯ click the root path quick link.
3. Append ‘/www’ to that path. For instance if the root path is /home/myhome/public_html the path should be /home/myhome/public_html/www
4. Perform the same ‘root’ quick path procedure shown above but this time append the name of your domain (for instance if your domain is mydomain.com
   append /mydomain so it would be /home/mydomain

Note: To find the proper paths to filter, load the SiteGround file-manager and observe the symbolic link paths. If you continue to have the problem, please talk to
SiteGround support. If you do not need SSL for subdomains they should be able to remove the symlink without affecting the operation of your website.

Option 1
Enable Shell Zip: If your host/server supports shell zip you can enable this feature on the installer. To enable on the installer Step 1 set the mode to Advanced
❯ Options ❯ Advanced Extraction ❯ Shell Unzip.

Option 2
Manual Extraction: During step 1 of the archive extraction process you get an error saying:
Warning: opendir(/somepath/on/your/server/: failed to open dir: Too many open files in /somepath/
This issue can be solved by performing a «Manual Extraction»

Option 3
Build with DupArchive: In the event you can easily rebuild the package, you can switch the build mode to DupArchive and create a archive.daf file.
To perform this simply goto Duplicator ❯ Settings > Packages Tab ❯ Archive Engine ❯ DupArchive. Rebuild that package and re-run the installer

Solution

1. Go to Duplicator ❯ Settings ❯ Packages.
2. Set «Archive Engine» to «DupArchive»
3. Go to Duplicator ❯ Settings ❯ Packages ❯ Advanced.
4. Set «Lock Type» to «SQL».
5. Set «Installer Name» to «installer.ph1». The default setting of «Installer.php» doesn’t work because WPEngine prevents creation of PHP files.
   When you install, be sure to rename the Installer.ph1 file to Installer.php before browsing to the installer.

A WordPress site consist of two primary assets «Files» & «Database Tables». By excluding these assets with filters you can create any version of a site you want.
The installer (Pro Only) has features to re-deploy a package and exclude specific data from an existing package. Below are workflows that will allow you to filter/exclude data for you package.

Package

Package Process

File Management: When creating a new package you can exclude any files/folder, file extensions or database table you want. With Archive Filters
(Packages ❯ Create New ❯ Archive ❯ File filters) along with Overwrite or
Import install modes users have the flexibility to move portions of there site. To move just a
portion of your site exclude all the files that do not need to be moved. For file filters enter the

full path

of the directory(s) you want to exclude. You can separate additional
exclusion paths with a semicolon. This process can be useful if you have large files such as images or videos that you don’t want to package.

Database Management:
Table filters (Packages ❯ Create New ❯ Archive ❯ Database Tab ❯ Table filters) will allow you to exclude any table from being added to the database.sql file which contains the data
needed to restore your database.

Installer

Install Process

At install time you can then perform the Overwrite or Import Install process which allows you to move only the files you have in the archive. Another key feature of the installer
the «Skip Files» option (Pro Only) on step 1 of the installer (Installer ❯ Step 1 ❯ Options ❯ Skip Files). These options include the following:

1. Extract all files: Extract all files from the package archive. This option is selected by default.
2. Skip extraction of WP core files: Extract all files except WordPress core files. Choose this option to extract only the wp-content folder and other non-core files and directories.
3. Extract only media files and new plugins and themes: Extract all media files, new plugins, and new themes. The installer will not extract plugins and themes that already exist on the destination site.

Warning: Moving portions of your site requires a deep understanding of the assets you are trying to move. When moving small portions of your website into an existing
website it is strongly encouraged to perform these operations in a staging environment beforehand. Do not perform these type of migrations on a production server without knowing
the end results from a test run!

Option 1
In the event you have a very large site that you need to continually move around and have issues with upload/download speeds you can quickly improve this workflow by using the
«Classic Overwrite Install» method.

Prerequisites

• You have two sites i.e. a Development and Staging site
• The sites files are identical except for their physical location.
• The sites databases are the same except for locations which could be the same or different servers.

Work-Flow

1. Create a new package on the Development site and exclude/filter the wp-contentuploads directory.
   This can also be other locations that might have large files.
2. Download the package files locally then transfer them to your Staging site in the WordPress root
3. Browse to the installer.php file on the staging site and exact the archive.
4. Upon completion that Staging site should have all the updates of the Development site minus the filters from step 1.
5. Since the sites were identical initially the wp-contentuploads should still be functional on the Stage site.

Notes: This process typically becomes more impactful the larger your site, it also requires that you have a good understanding of the files you are
filtering and moving. The basis of the workflow is that you don’t always have to bundle your complete site with every migration as long as you are aware
of the structure of your data.

Option 2
The Duplicator import install mode can rapidly improve your workflow.

1. Install Duplicator Pro on both sites
2. On the main site set the engine to DupArchive (Settings > Packages > Archive Engine = DupArchive)
3. Build a package on your main site
4. Perform an import URL install as described here
   Import Link tab

After doing the above your staging site will match the original site. After the upgrade you can then perform the reverse procedure. Note that the database gets fully replaced
when a package is installed (so if you have any customer payments or other records coming in on the main site while you are working on the staging site then those would get erased
were you to install the staging site back onto the main site)

In the event you need to execute custom SQL code instead of what is placed in the archive via that database.sql file. This process can be done by following these instructions:

1. In a new browser tab, go to phpAdmin or the equivalent on your destination machine.
2. Remove existing database tables from your the destination database.
3. Import your own custom script (this should represent a copy of your site in most cases).
   This can be done via the phpMyAdmin import procedure.
4. Launch the Duplicator Pro installer.php in a browser tab
5. Switch to Advance Mode ❯ Choose «Manual SQL Execution» from the database option.
   this will prevent the installer from using the .sql within the archive and skip past the data insertion step all-together.

6. Finish the install process

Option 1
There may be situations where you need to keep an existing table on a particular site. For example say you have development site (dev site) and a staging site. On the staging site
you do NOT want to overwrite any of the sites current posts from the wp_posts table. In order to retain the table follow these steps.

1. Login to your development site and goto Duplicator Pro ❯ Packages screen ❯ «Create New» button
2. Archive ❯ Database Tab ❯ Check «Enable Database Table Filters» ❯ check «wp_posts» table & build package
   Note: This will exclude/ignore the «wp_posts» table from being created in the database.sql script

3. On staging site open the installer.php and location the «Setup» area on Step 1.
4. Choose Action «Overwrite existing tables» ❯ Click the «Validate» button
   Note: This will keep all the existing tables in the database and overwrite those with the same name.
5. Validate the «wp_posts» table is NOT in the removal list
   See: Validate tables Validate ❯ Database ❯ «Tables Flagged for Removal or Backup»
6. Continue with the install process & upon completion the «wp_posts» table should remain unchanged

Option 1
At the moment Duplicator does not support differential or incremental backups. Many people use filters to cut back on backup size, though — for instance you could do a full backup with
all files every week or x days and then a database only backup every x hours or every day, based on your needs.

Option 1
Duplicator does not currently migrate individual items such as just blog posts, however the WordPress import/export tool combined with FTP transfer of files should allow users to do this process.
More details about this process can be found here.

If you are new to setting up a web server locally such as XAMPP or the like we ask that you go through the online documents of those products. While we will try
our best to point you in the right direct our support does not include time training users on other systems. If you have general setup questions for
other software out-side of Duplicator specific questions they will be moved to the bottom of the priority queue.

Below are some resources that will get you started. If you’re having trouble getting your local environment setups please use the general WordPress forums to
ask your question(s). If you receive errors from the Duplicator on your local development box please contact support and we will get looking at you’re issued right away.