FAQ – User difference detection feature

Benefits

Starting in Prime Mover 2.0.3 – the plugin checks for user differences. It gives a warning if it detects these issues.

This is only added for best restoration results and practices. By implementing the suggestions in the user difference warning, you will get the following benefits:

• Your source site user IDs are preserved when restored to the target site. When the site is freshly installed, there are no users except one administrator recommended by Prime Mover. During restoration, all users will be re-created using their original user IDs.

• By preserving your site user IDs at the target import site – you will most likely avoid issues associated with user functionality. This is particularly helpful if your site depends heavily on user-based functionalities such as membership sites, E-commerce sites, forums, and subscription-based sites. However, if you skip the fresh install, Prime Mover will still attempt to make an automated user adjustment (by adjusting the source site user ID to the target user ID). But this won’t cover all possible cases, depending on the complexity of your site plugin. That is why a fresh install is usually recommended.

• Starting from a fresh install speeds up user import/restoration. Prime Mover will skip user adjustment if no differences are detected between the source and target site users. This is particularly important if you migrate a site with many users, as it will save restoration time.

• Since starting from a fresh blank WordPress database – you will eliminate all possible issues associated with existing and conflicting data. This results in fewer errors and more stable restoration. Otherwise, Prime Mover will still attempt to clean up these tables, which is sometimes complicated due to some existing locking data (such as existing enforced foreign keys).

What happens if I proceed with “Yes” and ignore the user difference warning?

The import/restoration should proceed as usual. However, when the users migrate to the target site, a new user ID will be generated if that user ID is already used by other existing users (because the site is not blank; there are existing users).

Otherwise, it will still use the original user ID if it isn’t used on the target site. If a user difference is detected – Prime Mover automatically adjusts the old user IDs in the database to their new equivalent user ID at the target site. The detection is based on your site database table user_id column, and this automated adjustment does not cover all cases.

This is why, to be safe and ensure all source site user IDs are preserved, the target site should start from a fresh install so the user tables are clean. For this to work fully, the target site’s first user should also match the source site’s first user.

How does Prime Mover resolve user differences?

This warning dialog only appears if you migrate a package to a WordPress single site. This does not apply to multisites because they already have existing users, and a fresh install is not feasible.

For explanation purposes: “first user” is defined as the user with the least user ID on a site. The summarized logic is as follows when restoring the package:

Case 1: Package’s first user has a user ID of 1, and its email is not the same as the target site’s first user

If the target site user ID 1 has an email of target@test.com and the package from the source site with user ID 1 has an email of source@test.com, Prime Mover will recommend a fresh WordPress install using the source site email. This will align the users from the source site with the target site, resulting in zero differences in their user IDs.

Case 2: Package first user has user ID greater than 1

Prime Mover recommends a fresh install using a different email address from the source site’s first user. This way, the package’s first user will always use the source site ID and not in conflict with the target site’s first user email. This, again, will align the user IDs from the first user to the last user. The user ID of 1 is a unique user that only exists on the target site.

Case 3: The source and target site’s first user are already the same, but there are already other users

In this case, the site is not blank or a fresh install. A fresh installation using the source site email address is recommended. Once the fresh install procedure is completed, there is only one user/administrator in the database, and the rest of the source site users will be migrated using their original user IDs.

What if the recommended user is not an administrator from the source site?

You can “temporarily” make that user the administrator to restore and resolve user differences. Once the restore is done, log in as another administrator and change the user role of that temporary administrator back to its original role.

If this is impossible, click “Yes” to skip the user difference dialog and proceed with the rest of the import. Prime Mover will automatically resolve all user differences via an adjustment.

Can I turn off this feature? I don’t want to check for user differences during restore; I wish to proceed immediately with the rest of the import process.

Yes, if you need to turn off this feature altogether. Please do the following:

• Login to your target site as an administrator.
• Make sure the Prime Mover plugin’s latest version is activated.
• Go to Prime Mover -> Advanced -> Debugging Tools -> User diff check -> check to turn off.
• Save the setting.
• Proceed to restore. It no longer checks for user differences for all packages.

Why is there no user difference warning in multisite?

The user difference warning feature does not apply to multisites; it is only applicable to single sites.

Can I still benefit from a fresh install in a multisite to preserve user IDs during import, even without this warning dialog?

Yes! Only if you are restoring to a brand-new, freshly installed multisite with no subsites, only one user on it, and your source site’s first user has a user ID of 1.

If so, install your multisite and start with only one user (“the network administrator“). Ensure that your network administrator user ID matches the first user from your source site. This will automatically preserve the user IDs from the user source site.

For example, suppose you want to migrate an existing single site or from another multisite subsite to the target multisite, and the first user of that source site is someuser@user.test, with a user ID of 1. In that case, you can resolve user differences at the target multisite by creating your multisite with the network administrator email of someuser@user.test and ensuring this first user has a user ID of 1.

Does it require a new export using the latest version to take advantage of this new feature?

No – as long as the package has an WPRIME extension and has users exported. You can take advantage of this feature. It does not matter if it’s a package created with older Prime Mover versions.

Does this feature work for both the FREE and PRO versions?

Yes, this works for both the FREE and PRO versions.