Complete WordPress Website Restore with BackupBuddy: The Ultimate Guide

Open a File Manager Connected to Your Server or Hosting Account

Next, you'll need to make sure you've got a File Manager open for your hosting account or server. You can access your website's files in a couple of different ways:

• From your hosting account > cPanel > File Manager
• From a code/text editor connected to your server via sFTP credentials (you usually get this info when you first purchase your hosting account)

Here's where the File Manager is located within cPanel:

And in this example, we're using the Coda code editor, connected to a server. You can see the file directory listing of this server.

Get Your Database Access Credentials

Log in to your server's PHPMyAdmin account to access your site's database. You're going to need a clean (empty) database and a user with admin credentials.

In another hosting account, you may have a different view of your database info.

Go ahead and copy your database info down as you will need it in a later step:

• Database Name - This is the name of the database you want to restore you site to. It can also be a clean/fresh database.
• Database User - This is the database user account that has permission to access the database. This user must be given permission to this database for the import to work.
• Database Password - This is the password for the database user.

Download the ImportBuddy File + Set A Password

Last up, you need to download the ImportBuddy file.

ImportBuddy can be downloaded in a few ways:

• From iThemes Sync (for any website you have synced that also uses BackupBuddy) (here's more on downloading ImportBuddy from Sync)

• Extracted from your backup zip file (here's where to find a copy of importbuddy.php in your backup zip file)

• From within the BackupBuddy plugin (if you still have WP Admin access). Navigate to the BackupBuddy > Backups tab, then click the menu for ImportBuddy to download it directly. You can also send it to a Remote Destination.

2. Upload the ImportBuddy file and Your Complete Backup Zip To Your Server

Once you've downloaded your backup zip file and the ImportBuddy file, it's time to upload both the ImportBuddy file and your Complete backup zip file to the same directory on your server, where your website currently resides.

Upload the backup file (do not rename the zip file!) and the Importbuddy.php file to your chosen directory. You'll see these two files once they finish uploading.

4. Load Your ImportBuddy URL

Now it's time to let ImportBuddy work its magic. ImportBuddy will load after you access the file using this URL format:

5. Walk Through the 6 ImportBuddy Steps to Complete the Restore

There are 6 ImportBuddy steps to go through for a successful website restoration. Let's walk through them.

Step 1: Authentication Required & Choose Your Backup File

Once you've accessed the ImportBuddy file through your browser, the first step will load. You'll be prompted to enter your ImportBuddy password to continue.

Step 1 also prompts you to choose your backup file for the migration. Since we've already uploaded the file, you'll see it listed as a selection. If you have a Stash account, you can Restore from Stash / Stash Live if you have files saved to your account.

Once you've selected your Advanced Options or if you do not need to select any of these options, click Next Step.

Step 2: Unzipping Backup File

The next step unzips the backup file. There is nothing you need to do for this step. Just select Next Step once the extraction has completed.

Step 3: URL and Database Settings

This is where you will enter the database settings for the new location that you saved as you prepared for the restoration.

These settings control where your backed up database will be restored to. Here are a few important things to note:

• If you are restoring to the same server, the settings below will import the database to your existing WordPress database location, overwriting your existing WordPress database already on the server.
• If you are moving to a new host you will need to create a database to import into.
• The database settings MUST be unique for each WordPress installation.
• If you use the same settings for multiple WordPress installations then all blog content and settings will be shared, causing conflicts!

Once you've entered all the new database information or created your new database, click Next Step.

Step 4: Database Import

Step 4 imports the database information into the database of your new site. Once the import is completed, click the Next Step button.

Step 5: Database Migration

This step updates all of the URLs, paths, etc. on your site to make sure everything matches (this is especially helpful if you are using this process to move your site to a new host or domain name).

Before you move to the final step, be sure to go to your restored site and check all of your links to ensure they have changed. You may view your entire import log for providing to support by clicking the View Import Log button.

Once you've tested your new site, you can move to the final step by clicking Clean up & remove temporary files.

Step 6: Final Cleanup

Step 6 removes any temporary files from your new site that were used for the restoration. Your site will then be ready at the URL indicated on that page.

Once you click the Finish cleanup button, your site will be restored!

Help with Restoring

Your active BackupBuddy subscription includes live, ticketed support. If you get stuck during any step in this process, our BackupBuddy support team is ready to help! Just visit the iThemes Help Desk to open a ticket.

Get BackupBuddy, the 3-in-1 WordPress Backup Plugin

BackupBuddy, our WordPress backup plugin, can backup, restore and migrate your WordPress website to a new host or domain. You can then store you backups safely off-site with OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive integration, or use BackupBuddy Stash, our secure, remote backup storage destination (you get 1GB free with your BackupBuddy subscription!)

Need to restore from a backup? Check out BackupBuddy University: Restore Plugins, Themes, WordPress Version and Individual Files for a look at BackupBuddy's in-dashboard restore feature.

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