Restore the website from a backup

This is how you restore a backup to your website: from the chosen backup through the pre-check to the verified website. The previous state is kept for 7 days afterwards. For that long, the restore can be undone.

What is replaced and what stays

Part of the website	What the restore does with it
Database	The tables from the backup replace the tables of the website. Tables that are not in the backup stay.
Plugins, themes, must-use plugins, the rest of wp-content, WordPress core	The plugin replaces every entry with the one from the backup. Entries that are not in the backup move to the previous state. What was excluded during the backup, for example caches, stays where it is.
Uploads, files in the root folder	The plugin replaces file by file. Files that are not in the backup stay where they are.
wp-config.php	Always stays as it is.
cloneworx Backup	Stays with targets, backup plans, settings and the list of backups.

What you need

• a backup with a green or yellow dot that is complete at at least one configured target,
• the credentials of an administrator as they were valid at the time of the backup.

Step 1: Choose the backup

In the WordPress menu, open cloneworx and there the Restore page.

1. The last good backup with date, size, target and type.
2. Restore latest backup opens the preparation for this backup.
3. Import from file opens the tile with which you add a downloaded backup to the list.
4. A click on a word of the header line sorts the list.
5. The padlock marks a locked backup.
6. The dot shows the result of the backup: green for complete, yellow for with warnings, red for failed.
7. The green tick marks a checked backup.
8. More … opens the menu of a backup.
9. Show more shows further backups.

For the last good backup, click Restore latest backup. For an older one, open More … in its row, then Restore. Prepare restore appears below the main tile.

Step 2: Read the pre-check

The pre-check starts on its own. It changes nothing on the website.

1. Dismiss closes the preparation.
2. Selected backup names date, size, target and type.
3. The scope: in the Compact view, the restore restores the whole backup.
4. Pre-check shows nine points, each with a coloured dot, state and finding.
5. Start restore is usable as soon as no point blocks the start.
6. Cancel closes the preparation as well.

Every point ends with OK, Warning, Blocked or Not checked. Only Blocked prevents the start. With a warning, you judge the risk yourself. What every point checks is explained here: The restore precheck: every point explained.

Step 3: Start the restore

Click Start restore. The plugin asks once more.

1. The confirmation dialog names the backup and says that the previous state is kept for 7 days.
2. The roots that are restored. A root is a named part of the website: the database or a folder.
3. You will need to log in again afterwards.
4. Cancel closes the confirmation dialog. Nothing happens.
5. Start restore starts the restore.

Step 4: Wait until the restore is finished

The main tile is now called Restore is running. Leave the page open.

1. The step of the restore: its number, the number of steps and its name.
2. The progress: entries, size and remaining time.
3. Abort backup aborts the restore. The link carries this name during a restore too.
4. Cancel does the same.

A restore of the whole backup has five steps: Pre-check, Building files, Importing database, Switching over and Confirming. First, the plugin builds files and tables next to the running website. The website stays reachable during that.

The plugin switches database, core and code in the maintenance mode of WordPress. That takes a moment. Then the new website must confirm itself: the plugin calls itself and only gets an answer if core, plugins and theme from the backup load. If the answer does not come within 60 seconds, the same step brings the previous state back.

Aborting is possible until the switch-over begins. After an abort, it says Restore aborted; nothing was switched. As soon as the switch-over is running, the Cancel button is missing, and the Abort backup link no longer has any effect. Then what remains is undoing after the restore.

Step 5: Log in again and check the website

1. The main tile is now called Restore applied and offers keeping and undoing.
2. The green message confirms the restore. After 8 seconds it closes on its own.

After a restore of the database, your login may be invalid. Then log in again. With the database, the user accounts from the backup come back too: the credentials from back then apply.

Check the home page, the login and the pages that matter to you. If the message is yellow instead of green, the restore is applied, but there were warnings. This message carries no link to the log: you find the log in the Extended view in the Recent restores tile.

Step 6: Keep or undo

If the website runs as it should, click Keep restore. If something is wrong, Undo restore brings the previous state back. More about this: Keep or undo a restore.

If something does not work

If the restore fails, the red message begins with Restore failed: … and names the cause. The Log link in it opens the log of the restore.

Message	What you can do
The pre-check blocks the start.	The message is below the pre-check; the restore has not begun yet. Read the point with the state Blocked. The finding names the cause.
The pre-check blocked the start.	The pre-check runs once more as the first step of the restore. Nothing was written. Open the preparation again and read the pre-check.
The new website did not confirm itself in time; the previous state is back.	The website runs on the previous state again. Read the log and the differences in the pre-check. If the point Self-request possible warns there, leave the Restore page open until the restore is confirmed.
The backup has damaged entries; nothing was switched.	Check the backup: Check a backup. Take another backup, or leave out the damaged entries: Restore only parts.
Importing the database failed three times; nothing was switched.	The log names the error of the database server. Start the restore again later.

Good to know

• If you reload the page, it shows the running restore again.
• As long as a restore is neither kept nor undone, no new restore starts.
• If a restore fails, you get an email like after a failed backup, if On errors and warnings is switched on in the notifications.

See also

• The “Restore” page
• Restore a backup on another website
• Restore uploads when there is not enough space
• Find backups again after a total loss

On the command line

WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.

The restore also works with WP-CLI. The web server takes over the switch-over. All parameters are here: Restore and import with WP-CLI.

# Show the backups with their job names
wp cloneworx-backup backup list

# Run the pre-check for a backup
wp cloneworx-backup restore precheck <Job>

# Restore the whole backup
wp cloneworx-backup restore run <Job>

# Show the running restore or the pending rollback
wp cloneworx-backup restore status