Scope: Prime Mover Free / Pro version
IMPORTANT: If you are using Prime Mover Pro for the first time, please read this get-started guide.
This tutorial applies to both Prime Mover Free and Pro Versions. It teaches you how to migrate your WordPress single-site installation to another single-site installation. The target site installation could reside on a different server or your local host.
Exporting a package
- Activate Prime Mover Plugin
- Optionally opt-in to Freemius notifications.
- Go to Migration Tools or Prime Mover -> Packages -> Create New Package.
- Click “Export,” and the export options dialog will show.
- Select appropriate export options. In this tutorial, we select the complete export mode (Export database + media + plugins/themes).
- Under “Export type,” select “Export to single-site format.”
- Click Export Now.
- Wait until this process is completed; this can take time for huge sites.
- The package will be downloaded to your Downloads directory after completing the export process.
Tip: Some hosting hosts have a timeout for downloading the package. You should download your package using either SFTP or your hosting file manager to ensure it will not be partially downloaded or corrupted. Please read this tutorial for details.
Importing/Restoring a Package
- Now, go to the target single site to migrate the package. Ensure you install the same version of Prime Mover used to generate the export.
Tip #1: You should clean the target site uploads directory or database before restoring another site with Prime Mover, but this is not a requirement. Cleaning before restoration will keep your site size manageable as it contains no files or data that do not belong to the current site.
To clean a site, you must reset the WordPress database and delete all files in the uploads directory. You can use free plugins like the Advance WordPress Reset plugin to restore a fresh WordPress install.
Tip #2: If possible, ensure the first administrator email address in the target site is the same as the source site. For example, if the source site user_id: 1 has the email address xyz@test.com, then the target user_id: 1 should also be xyz@test.com.
This will ensure the users are consistent and replicate with the source site.
Warning! If you are using the PRO version, use the custom backup directory path feature to move your backup directory away from the default WordPress uploads directory BEFORE cleaning your uploads directory. Otherwise, you can accidentally delete your backups when you clear the uploads directory!
Once you have cleaned up your site and are ready for restoration, here are the steps:
- Activate the Prime Mover version and opt-in to Freemius notifications.
- Go to Migration Tools.
- Click Import.
- Browse to the uploaded package and select it.
- A confirmation dialog will pop up. Please read the details and make sure they’re correct. Use this information to verify whether you have the proper site to be imported and other details.
- Wait until you see “Import done.”
- Go to Settings – Permalinks.
- Without changing any settings, click “Save changes.“
Tip: Another way to restore your site is via the package manager method. This is often the most recommended method because it does not depend on your package size. Browser uploading (from the first method mentioned previously) is limited to 3GB to 4 GB.
Troubleshooting
- Export/Import will not be completed—if you think the process will not be completed, please read the following solution guide.
- I got an “Export fails” or “Import Fails” Error. Can you try increasing the web server timeout?
- Tips and Techniques in migrating large sites with Prime Mover Plugin
- Import / Restoration Hang or Freeze Issue Troubleshooting
Last updated: December 6, 2024