Whilst we are proud of our reputation as a very reliable method of backing up and migrating websites, sometimes our customers encounter issues. This guide aims to help you to resolve those issues.

Installing the plugin:

The free plugin that is available on WordPress is required for all extensions. Please make sure that you have the plugin installed.
If you need instructions on installing the base plugin, please see wordpress.org and for extensions, please see https://help.servmask.com/section/install/

Taking a backup or export of your site

A backup and an export are the same processes. Exporting the contents of your WordPress site with the plugin creates a .wpress file. This archive is the backup that you can keep in case you need it or the file that you can import to a new site to migrate.
The backups page of the plugin will show any backups that you have on your server. Creating a backup on the server from this page will take you to the exports page, where you will select where you want to back up to.

Issues with backups

• you need to have enough space on your server to store the backup file, which means more free space than the size of your backup file that will be created.
• you need to have permissions on wp-content that will allow you to write the backup to the folder. We recommend that you have 775 recursively on wp-content
• If you have a site that is larger than 2GB, you need to have 64 bit PHP due to the limitation of 32 bit PHP file size. Please also check our list of unsupported hosting providers for those with limitations
• you need to have sufficient memory limit on your server to process the backup. The minimum recommended is having memory_limit set to 256M (although small sites can get away with less).
• If you have used other backup plugins, you might find that you are backing up your backups and creating huge files. If you file seems larger than it should be, check that you have removed all backups from your hosting server.
• Transients, large database tables and incompatible plugins can also cause issues. In this case, please contact support for assistance.

With issues on export or import, it can be useful to look at the error log that can be found at wp-content/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/storage/error.log

Downloading a backup

• In some cases, poor internet connections, server restrictions or browser issues can mean that the download from the download button on the plugin can fail. You can try a different browser, but If this happens, we recommend that you download through the file manager in your hosting or using an FTP client. You will find the backups in wp-content/ai1wm-backups

Migrating your website or restoring a backup

Uploading a backup

• Similar issues can occur when uploading a backup as downloading. Again, this can be from internet issues, hosting or browser. If you can’t upload through the plugin, please use the file manager in your hosting or using an FTP client to upload the file to wp-content/ai1wm-backups The file will then be available in the backups page of the plugin. Just select restore to import/restore this version of your website to your WordPress instance.

Issues with restoring a backup

The file that you import must be a .wpress file that was created by our plugin. We recommend a new WordPress install to ensure that the install is clean, but this is not essential.

• If your import page on the plugin doesn’t look right, there might be an issue with your site and home URL
• Whilst the All-in-One WP migration plugin is fully compatible with older and new PHP versions, the content of your website (themes, plugins) may not be. Check that the PHP version of your exporting and importing sites are not in conflict. More information here.
• Use our Traktor tool to check the integrity of your backup and look at the contents if you want to check integrity before import
• you need to have enough space on your server to store the backup file and then recreate the website on your site. You should have enough space to store your site 2.5 times.
• you need to have permissions on wp-content that will allow you to write to the wp-content folder. We recommend that you have 775 recursively on wp-content
• you need to have sufficient memory limit on your server to process the restore. The minimum recommended is having memory_limit set to 256M (although small sites can get away with less and larger sites may need more).
• If the restore process stalls or is taking too long, follow this guide
• Sometimes plugins can conflict during import. You can check the located at /wp-content/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/storage/error.log to see if there are any issues.

You can also look at the common issues on this support site or contact the support team if these recommendations don’t help.