Move your site on or offline with Duplicator the backup and clone plugin.
I have used the Duplicator plugin for many years. It is my go to when I need to backup or clone a web site. Duplicator and Duplicator Pro which offers additional features have really helpful features and a nice user interface.
I will add the information from the older tutorial that I have.
1 October 2018
Zip Archive is not enabled on Godaddy sites so that one has to enable it to get it to work.
Login to your account at GoDaddy and then go to My Account -> Hosting -> cPanel.
Click the cPanel Admin blue button to open cPanel.
In cPanel scroll down to the Software section. Click Select PHP version. All the way to the right look for zip and then click the checkbox beside it. Then click Save.
Go back to your site and Create a backup/Package in Duplicator.
I tried again creating a backup but again I received a Host Build Interrupt. I selected the option to download the beta of Duplicator 1.3.5 that also contains DupArchive (a better way to backup the site). I tried again doing a backup and received another Host Build Interrupt message, and this time I turned on the DupArchive method and tried again. This time because of the DupArchive I was able to create a backup.
30 Januar 2018
A video tutorial update of the how to use Duplicator.
28 September 2016
A tip!
If you happen to lose the installer.php file there is a way to get it back again.
Unzip the package copy the installer-backup.php (an exact copy of the installer.php file) out of the package folder. Rename the installer-backup.php to installer.php and zip up the package. One then has an installer file and a zipped up package.
18 August 2015
Check out Duplicator Pro
Cory Lamle the developer of the free version of Duplicator has joined forces with Robert Riley in creating a much asked for Pro version of Duplicator called Duplicator Pro. Containing scheduled backups, additional storage options, dedicated support, custom template section and more.
Here is a short intro to the Pro version.
Check out my article on Duplicator Pro.
Or go directly to the Duplicator Pro web site.
A new version of Duplicator was released in January 2014. Version 0.5.0.
How to use Duplicator showing various steps to move a site to a domain.
– A brand new WordPress Admin section for Duplicator has been developed. Older packages will not be visible in this new user interface, but are available in the wp-snapshots folder.
– Basic multisite capabilities are now in place. Meaning you need to do a Network Activation for it to show up on the subsites and then go to a sub site and create a package in usual way.
I have made a new video tutorial showing you how to download a site and upload it to a new domain.
Video from January 2014.
If you have problems with getting Duplicator to work:
– If your using Safari try Chrome instead.
– If your going from offline using MAMP be sure to use MAMP version 3 (newest version).
– For other things take a look at the Duplicator Knowledge Base at Snapcreek.
– Sometimes the word localhost might not work try your specific host name instead.
Update: 5 September 2014
Going from a HTML site -> WordPress
At my youtube channel Duplicator tutorial from 2013 Bill made a comment that can be helpful for others.
“Thank you for this excellent tutorial. I needed to move a WordPress site to replace an HTML site and found Duplicator and your instructions to be very helpful. A few comments on issues I faced that slowed the process for me.
– All were solved by talking with tech support at the host provider.
– First, neither localhost nor my domain name worked for the MySQL. The host provider gave me the much longer name for identifying the database.
– Second, as the original site was only HTML, it did not have a database assigned to it. The host provider pointed me to the panel for creating the database and that problem was solved.
– Third, when I ran the installer.php, nothing happened. It turned out that php had not been activated for the site…the host provider fixed that as well.
Once all these areas were addressed, Duplicator worked perfectly and your instructions were spot on. Hopefully this may help others…thanks again for the tutorial.”
Update: 6 June 2014.
Duplicator and subsites
How to create multiple WordPress sites under one domain.
I added a video showing how to add sub sites with Duplicator (and how to replace an existing site).
– Create one or more folders in your domain and give them a name.
– Upload the package and installer file into each folder.
– In cPanel or other Hosting account control panel – create a database for each install.
– Install the new sites.
In this video I am not including how to export. That you can see in part 1 up above.
Video from June 2014.
An article I found:
https://www.wpkube.com/move-backup-website-wordpress-duplicator-plugin/
Update: 23 May 2014.
NB!
Sometimes the word localhost as the Host name might not work. Try your host name instead.
NB!
The web browser Safari is configured to open “safe” files after downloading. To disable: In the Safari menu: select Safari -> Preferences -> General – go to bottom of page and see if open “safe” files is checked. Uncheck option and a zip file will download and stay as a zip.
(An option is to also CTRL+click and select ‘Download linked files as.)
Btw if you need to compress a folder to create a zip file – right click and select compress.
Overwriting an existing WordPress site
If you plan to upload a WordPress site that overwrites your existing WordPress site and database. You need to do two things:
– In Step 1 of the Duplicator Install process you can select between “Create New” – Which sets up a new database based on the information you provide. The database needs to first have been created in your hosting panel account (Cpanel or other panel).
OR “Remove All Tables” – selecting “Remove All Tables” will clear out the existing database and prepare it for the new installation.
– In Step 2 it will let you know that you also need to delete the wp-config.php file of the current site.
When both of these steps are done, then you can just continue normally installing the Duplicator package, and it will replace the existing WordPress files with the new from the package.
Placing a package into the Root folder and subfolders (see also the video further above)
The package (zip backedup site) can be placed in:
– In the root of a domain.
– In subfolders you create inside the root or other location.
and probably other areas as well that I can not think of right now.
If you add one package to the root, and two more in each their subfolders. One would also need to create 3 databases in your Hosting Panel (Cpanel etc)
Since each WordPress site needs to have its own database.
An example. My site www.easywebdesigntutorials.com is already a WordPress site. The process that I would follow to create two more WordPress sites in two subfolders would be:
Create two subfolders – I’ll call them wp2 and wp3 for this example.
Upload a package and the installer.php file to each of the two subfolders.
Go to Cpanel and create two new databases for the two new sites.
I would then go to www.easywebdesigntutorials.com/wp2/installer.php to install the one WordPress site.
Then go to www.easywebdesigntutorials.com/wp3/installer.php to install the other site.
I will then have the main site and two other WordPress sites in each their folder wp2 and wp3.
If you just need to make different sections that also look different another approach would be to use the https://wordpress.org/plugins/jonradio-multiple-themes/ plugin.
Update: September 2013
Taking an online site. Backing it up to create a local install using MAMP
This video tutorial is about taking an existing online site installing it offline.
I am showing you how to backup a local site and move it online.
It is a simple procedure when it is done correctly.
he Duplicator duplicates your site into a compressed zip file. The file can then be backed up, and/or installed into another location.
Through this tutorial I am showing you how to:
– Install and activate the plugin.
– Make a backup zip file of a (local) site.
– Upload the zipped file and the installer file (installer.php) to a domain.
– Log into CPanel through the hosting provider and make a new database.
– Go to the domain /installer.php and install the new site.
– Check the domain and see that the local site has now become a new live online site.
– Since I have an existing site at the domain I had to rename the index.html file so the WordPress index.php would be used instead. The old side I end up putting into a folder called old site.
The above can sound complex but check out the video it is not as complex as the sentences above might make it seem. It is the easiest way that I know of in getting a site from a local computer (your own computer) to a live WordPress site at the domain of your choosing.
If you get an error message:
500 internal server error has to to with the .htaccess file. By renaming/deleting one can start over with the install procedure.
– Permission error. Check the permission. Right click the online file and check the properties etc. It should be set to 755 anything else can cause an error.
Here is a link to the Duplicator FAQ page at Snapcreek
If you still have a question that the FAQ does not answer a question or comment can also be posted at wordpress.org in the Duplicator plugin forum support section.
May 2012
When I make bigger modifications to a site I use Duplicator to backup the site.
I download the Duplicator package and installer file. Then through MAMP create a local/offline site.
After having made the modifications that I need I have two good options as I see it:
1. Pack up the site with Duplicator and upload the package and installer to the domain that I am working with. Then reinstall the site on top of the existing site.
2. Take the modifications (perhaps a new child theme, updated CSS stylesheet, etc ) and add them to my online live site.
It is up to you to try it out and see what works for you.
This is not a support channel. I am not the creator of the plugin. If your having difficulty with technical aspects, I will suggest you to check out the support area of the plugin: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/duplicator
I presented a live tutorial of Duplicator at the Oslo Meetup 12 November 2013.
25 January 2014
A big update to Duplicator is coming very soon. The 0.50 release!
– The Duplicator backend is rewritten.
It looks really nice and easy to use.
– Basic Multisite is supported.
I have tested it out and any subsite or the main site it will backup the full multisite. Worked fine for me.
I will create one or two new Duplicator video tutorials for the new version. Sometime soon.
Happy Thanksgiving!
28 November 2013
I e-mailed Cory the developer of Duplicator asking how things were going. He told me this:
“I started working on the next version (which is going to be 0.5.0) about 2 weeks ago… Progress is going really good!
I pretty much took a step back from the entire code base and started on a framework that will scale much, much better. With the new underlying framework I’ll be able to get other developers to contribute much easier, and write unit tests for the codebase. It’s going to take a bit longer than I thought, however we should be able to add some really nice features in the future much easier, with the new architecture.
I do plan on doing the MU checks as well, but will probably come towards the end of the rework. I’ll probably need some help with beta testing even before the in MU stuff is done, I’ll give you a heads up on the progress… “
