Over the last 16 years managing our own websites and brands, one best practice we have learned is the importance of regularly backing up your websites. Backups help you restore your site in case something goes wrong, like a cyber attack, accidental data deletion, or other unplanned events.
However, restoring WordPress from a backup file is not easy for beginners. Whether you’re using a plugin or manually restoring backups, there can be errors. Luckily, we have plenty of experience helping users with WordPress and backups.
So, in this article, we will show you how to safely restore WordPress from a backup step by step.
Understanding Backups and Restoring WordPress
There are different ways to create backups for your WordPress site. In our opinion, the best way to do this is using a WordPress backup plugin.
That said, you can also create a manual backup of your WordPress database and download your WordPress files using an FTP client.
Restoring WordPress from backups depends entirely on how you created the backup. For example, backups created using Duplicator Pro can be restored using the same plugin. Similarly, manual backups need to be manually restored.
A lot of WordPress users don’t back up their entire websites. Instead, they only back up their WordPress theme, uploads directory, and WordPress database. This reduces their backup size but increases the steps needed to restore the site.
No matter how you create your backup, the basic steps are the same.
Pro Tip: If you don’t have the time or technical skills to restore your WordPress site after a cyber hacking event or another online security emergency, don’t worry, we can help.
When you get our Professional Hacked Site Repair Services, we’ll clean up your website in record time. That way, your site will experience minimal downtime, and you can reduce the impact on your visitors. We even offer a streamlined option that will ensure your site is restored in 1 business day.
Now, let’s take a look at how to restore your WordPress site from backup. Here’s a quick overview of what we will be explaining in this article:
- What to Do Before You Restore WordPress From Backup
- Restoring WordPress Using Duplicator Pro
- Restoring WordPress From UpdraftPlus Backup File
- Restoring WordPress Database From Backup Using phpMyAdmin
- Restoring WordPress Database Backup Using cPanel
- Manually Restoring WordPress Files Using FTP
- Troubleshooting WordPress Backup Restore Issues
- Things to Do After Restoring Your WordPress Site
- FAQs About Restoring WordPress Backups
Note: This guide is about restoring a WordPress site from a backup. If you are trying to move your website to a new domain, then you should check out our guide on moving WordPress to a new domain without losing SEO.
Or, if you are trying to move from localhost to a live web hosting account, then follow this guide on how to move WordPress from a local server to a live site.
What to Do Before You Restore WordPress From Backup
Before we go over the different ways you can restore WordPress from a backup, let’s discuss the steps you need to take first.
Naturally, you should already have a pre-existing backup of your WordPress website ready to go. You can learn more by following our guide on how to back up a WordPress site.
If your backups are stored in a remote storage location like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, then you can download your backup files from those locations to your computer.
Besides that, you may also need to delete old WordPress files and do a fresh install. This way, if your site was infected by malware, had corrupt files, or something was missing, then it will be automatically removed and cleaned.
Keep in mind that you should only do this if you are sure your backup is up to date and you have all your customizations and uploads saved.
You can delete files using cPanel or FTP. If you have the option, we recommend using cPanel because it’s faster.
Simply log in to the cPanel of your hosting dashboard. Then, under the ‘Files’ section, click the ‘File Manager’ icon.
The file manager interface will now open in a new browser tab.
You will need to select all WordPress files and delete them. Once all the files are selected, simply click the ‘Delete’ option.
You can also delete files using FTP clients, but this process is much slower.
If you haven’t used FTP before, then please see our guide on how to use FTP to upload files to WordPress.
For this approach, simply connect to your website using an FTP client. Next, select all files in your WordPress root directory, then right-click on the screen and select the ‘Delete’ option to remove them.
After your files are deleted, you need to install WordPress again and log in to your website. The installation process depends on your hosting provider. For more details, please see our guide on how to install WordPress the right way.
Keep in mind that the installation process will depend on which method you are using, but it should be very straightforward for any non-manual approach. We will briefly go over the steps for installing WordPress when restoring your backup manually later on.
Now, you’re ready to restore WordPress backups.
Restoring WordPress Using Duplicator Pro
Duplicator Pro is one of the best WordPress backup plugins. It makes it very easy to migrate and back up your site.
First, you need to make sure that you have a complete backup of your WordPress site created by Duplicator.
Next, you have to download the backup archive file to your computer. This will be a complete copy of your WordPress files, which includes themes, plugins, settings, and more.
Once your backup files are ready, the next thing to do is install and activate the Duplicator Pro plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Important Note: There is also a more basic Duplicator plugin that gives you useful backup and migration features for free. However, in order to use the plugin to restore these backups and follow along with this tutorial, you need a premium Duplicator Pro plan.
Upon activation, you can head to Duplicator Pro » Import Backups from your WordPress dashboard. Next, you can upload the archive file by simply dragging and dropping or clicking the ‘Select File’ button.
The plugin will now upload the archive file and show you the details.
You can review the details and then click the ‘Continue’ button.
Next, you’ll need to set a recovery point to quickly restore your site to a prior date.
Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Set’ button.
After that, you’ll get a recovery URL that you can store for safekeeping to use anytime in the future.
From here, you can scroll down and click the ‘Launch Installer’ button.
Next, you will need to deploy the package. The plugin will give an overview of the installation details, and it will let you choose between ‘Full install single site’ and ‘Restore single site.’
You can select the ‘Restore single site’ option and scroll down to click the ‘Validate’ button.
Once the validation is complete, you’ll need to click the checkbox to accept the terms & notices.
After that, simply click the ‘Next’ button.
A new window will now pop up with installation confirmation.
You can click the ‘OK’ button to continue.
The installer will now extract your backup archive files. Once it’s done, you should see the install results.
You can simply click the ‘Admin Login’ button to finalize the installation of your backup.
Go ahead and log in to your WordPress dashboard.
That’s it! You have now successfully restored your WordPress site from a Duplicator backup.
Restoring WordPress From UpdraftPlus Backup File
UpdraftPlus is another popular premium WordPress backup plugin. If you used UpdraftPlus to create backups, then this section is for you.
UpdraftPlus offers a very convenient way to restore WordPress from a backup. You need to log in to your WordPress website and go to the Settings » UpdraftPlus Backups page.
From here, you can go to the ‘Backup / Restore’ tab in the plugin settings.
Next, you’ll need to scroll down to the ‘Existing backups’ section.
If you already have a backup file from UpdraftPlus, then you should see it in this section. Simply click the ‘Restore’ button for the backup you wish to install. Alternatively, you can also select upload backup files from your computer or cloud storage.
After that, you’ll need to select the components you want to restore. These options include plugins, themes, uploads, must-use plugins, and others.
Simply click the ‘Next’ button after you make your selections.
The plugin will then process the backup file.
Once it’s ready, you can click the ‘Restore’ button.
The plugin will then start to restore the components you selected previously.
Once the process is complete, you will see a ‘Restore successful!’ message. The plugin will also show an activity log so you can track the restored files.
Simply click the ‘Return to UpdraftPlus configuration’ button to continue.
When you return to the plugin page in the WordPress dashboard, you’ll see that the backup has been restored.
UpdraftPlus will also give you the option to delete old folders from the previous WordPress install. You can simply remove these folders by clicking the ‘Delete old folders’ button if you haven’t already done so.
That’s it. You’ve successfully restored a backup using UpdraftPlus.
Restoring WordPress Database From Backup Using phpMyAdmin
When restoring a backup you created manually, you may come across two possible choices. You can either create a new database and import your backup into it, or you can empty your existing database and import the backup.
If you are cleaning a hacked WordPress website, then it is very important to change your MySQL username and password before creating a new database or importing it into an existing database.
To create a new database, log in to the cPanel dashboard of your WordPress hosting account and click on the ‘MySQL Databases’ icon.
Next, you will be asked to provide a name for your database.
Once that’s done, click the ‘Create Database’ button.
After creating the new database, you need a MySQL user associated with that new database.
Simply scroll down to the ‘MySQL Users’ section and add a new user.
Next, you need to add this user to the MySQL database.
Scroll down to the ‘Add User To Database’ section, select the user along with the database from the dropdown menus, and then click on the ‘Add’ button.
Now your new database is ready. You can use it to restore your WordPress database backup.
Head over to the cPanel dashboard again and then click on ‘phpMyAdmin‘ under ‘Databases.’
Next, you will see the phpMyAdmin screen.
Go ahead and click on the ‘Import’ tab at the top of the screen.
Then, simply click on the ‘Choose File’ button to select your WordPress database backup file. After that, click on the ‘Go’ button at the bottom of the page to continue.
phpMyAdmin will now upload your backup and import it into your database. You will see a success message upon completion.
That’s it! You have successfully imported your WordPress database.
The next step is to install WordPress using your new database. If you have already installed WordPress, then just add your new database settings to your wp-config.php file, and you will be good to go.
Restoring WordPress Database Backup Using cPanel
If you manually create a WordPress database backup using the cPanel in your shared hosting, then you can also restore that database using cPanel itself.
To get started, log into your cPanel account. Under the ‘Files’ section, click on ‘Backup.’
On the backups page, scroll down to ‘Restore a MySQL database backup.’
Next, click on the ‘Choose File’ button and select the backup file from your hard drive. Once done, just click on the ‘Upload’ button.
It’s as simple as that!
Manually Restoring WordPress Files Using FTP
To manually restore WordPress using FTP, you need to download a fresh copy of WordPress from WordPress.org and extract it to your hard disk.
After that, you can launch your FTP client and then upload all WordPress files to your server.
Once you have uploaded WordPress files, you can upload a wp-config.php file from your backup (only if you are sure that it is clean and not compromised).
Alternatively, you can rename the wp-config-sample.php file in your freshly uploaded WordPress files to wp-config.php file. After that, you will need to edit the wp-config.php file and enter your database information.
Don’t forget to save the file and upload it back to your website.
Next, you need to upload other files from your backup. We recommend that you only upload your images in the /wp-content/uploads/ directory.
After you have uploaded these, visit your website to check that everything is working fine.
Next, you need to log in to your WordPress admin area and start installing the plugins you had on your site.
Now, you can move on to installing your theme. If you have customized your WordPress theme or were using a child theme, then you can restore it from a backup. However, make sure that those files are clean.
Lastly, go to Settings » Permalinks and adjust permalinks settings to match your site, and then update permalinks.
Troubleshooting WordPress Backup Restore Issues
If you carefully follow the instructions we outlined above, you hopefully won’t have any issues restoring your WordPress backup.
However, there are some common problems that you may come across when restoring your WordPress website. Here are our guides on how to fix a few of them:
- How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
- How to Fix the WordPress White Screen of Death (Step by Step)
- How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress
- How to Fix WordPress Login Page Refreshing and Redirecting Issue
- How to Fix WordPress Posts Returning 404 Error (Step by Step)
Otherwise, you may want to check out our ultimate guide to the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.
Things to Do After Restoring Your WordPress Site
Once you have successfully restored your website, we strongly recommend that you improve your website security.
If you haven’t done so already, make sure that you regularly create a backup with one of these WordPress backup plugins.
To secure your website after a hacking incident, we also recommend that you immediately change your WordPress password. If you are running a multi-user website, then it’s also a good idea to ask all users to update their passwords as soon as possible.
You can also install a website firewall to protect your site from future cyber attacks.
At WPBeginner, we use Cloudflare to protect our website, but if you run a smaller site, then Sucuri might be able to get the job done.
For more details, you can see our guide on why we switched from Sucuri to Cloudflare.
Bonus Tip: If you need help with creating regular backups of your site, then you can hire our WordPress experts. With WPBeginner WordPress Maintenance, you get regular cloud backups, 24/7 support, malware removal, uptime monitoring, and consistent updates to keep your site running smoothly.
FAQs About Restoring WordPress Backups
Here are some common questions users have about restoring WordPress backups:
1. How do I restore my WordPress site from a backup?
This will depend on how you created your WordPress backup. If you used a backup plugin like Duplicator Pro, and you have access to the WordPress admin dashboard, you should be able to restore it in just a few clicks.
However, if you created the back up manually or you don’t have access to your site’s back end, you will need to restore it manually using your hosting provider’s control panel or the file transfer protocol (FTP).
If you are restoring your website after a hacking event or cyber attack, you may also need to delete all your website’s corrupt files and re-install WordPress before restoring a clean backup.
2. Where are my WordPress backups stored?
If you are using a backup plugin, then it will create a default location on your hosting server where the files will be stored. Usually, this is in the wp-content folder. However, depending on your backup tool, you can sometimes choose different cloud storage services like Google Cloud, Dropbox, or One Drive to save your backups.
3. Does WordPress save backups?
Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t offer any automatic backups. You can manually create WordPress backups using your hosting provider’s cPanel or an FTP client. Or, if you’re looking for a simpler approach, you can use a backup plugin. Some hosting providers also offer the option to automatically create backups.
4. Can I recover an old WordPress website?
Yes, you can restore specific parts of your WordPress site, such as individual pages or the database. If you regularly create complete website backups using a plugin, then you can even restore an old version of your entire site. You’ll simply need to choose the specific time and date for when you’d like to restore WordPress.
We hope this article helped you learn how to restore WordPress from backup. You may also want to see our ultimate step-by-step guide on how to back up a WordPress site to Dropbox and how to connect Google Drive to your WordPress media library.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Olaf
I have always performed backups manually, which involves deleting data on FTP, clearing the database, and then uploading backup data both on FTP and importing the backup SQL file. This process works great but isn’t easy for beginners. Duplicator opens up a whole new dimension of usability, allowing many people to secure their websites because backups using Duplicator are really easy to implement. The same goes for restoration. The easier the backup and restoration process is, the more people will do it. That’s what’s great about Duplicator; it indirectly makes the internet on WordPress a bit safer. Plus, with a fantastic community like the team behind this site supporting Duplicator, they can guide users through the entire process step by step.
Oyatogun Oluwaseun Samuel
Restoring a WordPress site from backup can be a stressful experience, but this guide makes it a breeze! One crucial step I’d like to emphasize is verifying the integrity of your backup files before restoring. A corrupted backup can lead to more issues down the line. Thanks for this detailed guide – it’s a lifesaver for me today!
Jiří Vaněk
Thank you for the guide using Duplicator. I started using it, set up automatic backups to Google Drive, and I was still unclear on how to perform a restoration in case of a problem. This is described perfectly here, and now I can finally be at ease knowing my website backups are taken care of.
Moinuddin Waheed
it is good to have a cloud backup like Google drive so that in case restoration can be done easily.
But I think it is always wise to have offline backups at multiple locations as well.
And the backup should be tested on local installations even before something bad happens.
This will ensure that the backup is already in place to take care of the unforseen circumstances.
Bajrang
Let’s suppose, I am restoring 2 days ago file backup, then is it mandatory to restore database backup of the same date also in order to sync both??
WPBeginner Support
It would depend on what file you’re restoring from and for what reason as some backup plugins include database information.
Admin
Daniela
Hello. If I install a backup, will I lose all the changes I made and plugins I installed after the backup? Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
It depends on the backup tool used but normally, yes you would lose any changes not backed up.
Admin
Neha
Hey. Can i restore my site backup if i have only sql file?
WPBeginner Support
You will be missing some things but you will have the ability to restore a good amount of your content.
Admin
KylieM
We’ve only just realised that a page was permanently deleted (not in trash) that we need to recover. We completely updated our website a few months back and believe the page was deleted then. We did do a full back up before changes. Only want to recover the one page and not do a full restore which would replace all of our new content.
How would we do this?
WPBeginner Support
It would depend on what you used to create the backup but the simplest method may be to create a local installation for your site, restore your site on to your local install, then export the page you want on your live site so you can import it.
Admin
Siraj
Very useful tips. Restoring wordpress site through Cpanel is illustrated well. Thanks for sharing.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad you like our guide
Admin
bhanuka
I was referring to uploading via FTP method. But my old files did not load. Only a blank page came. With some nail biting hours I realised that the wp-config.php file includes following important settings to be set with old site values.
1. database prefix. I had a custom prefix. If you dont change, WP upgrade will recreate all tables with ‘wp’ prefix while your old data are in old prefix tables.
2. Authentication Unique Keys and Salts settings must match the old values
Then it worked
WPBeginner Support
Thank you for clarifying, glad you were able to find the root of your issue and resolve it.
Admin
Pawan Sharma
I was hosting my website through hostinger free hosting. Now i moved to another service provider. I took backup from hostinger and uploaded the same in new provider c panel under public_html. But my website not displayed. I’m getting below Error and Warning.
Warning: require(/home/test/public_html/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-autosaves-controller.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/test/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 232
Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘/home/test/public_html/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-autosaves-controller.php’ (include_path=’.:/usr/share/php’) in /home/test/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 232
And don’t find any wp-settings.php file under the root folder piblic_html.
Please help to solve this problem.
Thanks all
WPBeginner Support
For that, you would want to take a look at: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-wordpress-failed-to-open-stream-error/
if you are missing the file then you could try manually adding the WordPress files:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-manually-update-wordpress-using-ftp/
Admin
glenda
I’m not a beginner, but am desperately trying to find out how to get past the first screen if I can’t remember my importbuddy.php password. The last WP Core update broke one of my sites and the most recent backup had a fatal error so I had to go back to an old, old backup. iThemes support used to be good, but now it sucks.
Found your explanation for using BackupBuddy and it’s a good one.
ted
Thank you for the article.
I have a “different” problem:
I have only the httpdocs directory and the
wordpress_d database directory (located at var/lim/mysql)
How can I restore the site with these 2 directories?
Thank you!!
Kawsar Siddik
Backupbuddy is the best WordPress restore/migration tool while working on client’s website. It saves time. Thanks for sharing this tutorial.
Clever Peterson
Hello, I backed up my WordPress site with Drop box for WordPress but I’m still confused of where to upload the back up files I have downloaded. Would you please help me?
Eddy
I successfully restored my Wordpress using phpmyadmin. However when I try to install Wordpress using the new database info it says the db already exists, use another name. What do I do?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Eddy,
Make sure that you are using a different name for your new database.
Admin
Mudass Iftikhar
your article always helped me
Roxanne
I delete my wordpress site, but I made a back-up before I deleted it. Now I want to re-open the website. Is there a way to just upload the back-up and get everything back to the same way it was?
WPBeginner Support
Hey Roxannne,
Depends on how you made the backup. You will still have to setup database unpack WordPress files and upload them.
Admin
Nicolau Nicoleta Mihaela
I have the same question, backup created with cPanel. Thank you I advance for an answer
Vikas
Hi I am trying to restore my wordpress site from bck but after I click upload on restore MySQL database option….dead white screen comes up and nothing happens! Any suggestions? Thanks
Vikas
I have not taken any backup of my site. And my site is displaying “Access Denied”. And my hosting provider states that my files in that website have been attacked by malware. Is there any method to recover all the data from the hosting ?
WPBeginner Support
Hey Vikas,
You can download your data using FTP and your database using phpMyAdmin.
Admin
Vikas
After downloading the data, should i delete everything and should i put it again ? If so will the problem get solved ?
joseph
I am new to blogging. I want to say thanks for your simplified tutorials, it is helpful. I already bookmarked your site so I can always come back. Once again i say thank you.
nicolas blake
can you please tell me how i can access a backup i made with backwpup and I chose “folder” .I once was a programmer now I’m just a duffer
Nate
I just got a cpanel full backup from a client. They are now using Godaddy Wordpress managed hosting. How in the heck do I restore the site and database to Godaddy from the TAR.zip file?
Thanks guys!
Hari Kumar
My blog is live and can login to admin dashboard. but none of my post is available, and I cannot update my previous post. Plus new post added are not found… while opening.. it says —- a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Any Solution??
Jamie
Thanks for the information. Just a question: I have a SQL database backup for my blog saved as a .SQL file. What information does this contain? Does it have the theme customised layout? Blog articles? Pictures?
Many thanks
Soibibo
My site just crashed. I can’t access my wp admin dashboard. What do you suggest I do?
WPBeginner Support
Please see our beginners guide on troubleshooting WordPress errors.
Admin
Mr. Karmaker
My website has been hacked. I have made earlier backup zip file in cPanel FileManager. Zip file size is more than 99MB and it can not upload.
How to restore my site ?
Any suggestion please.
dana
Hi, We recently moved some but not of our blog content from a standalone site to the company website. The posts that we didn’t think we wanted are now in FTP — I’d like to import them to a new wordpress site. Trying to locate specific content within FTP Is a huge pain. Is there any way to export that content into a new wordpress site so I can access it? Thank you.
Prudhvi Raj
Good.
I’ve backed up Home Directory and restoring it, and also uploaded the whole website. it’s like 20 minutes it is saying “restoring files…” . How long does it takes? File is of 1.45GB . Thanks .
Mufaddal
Hi there, I want to change my hosting plan from hostgator(HG) to Digitalocean(DO). I have done the setup of DO successfully, how can I get my backup uploaded?
I have taken a backup of WP site(the file was around 32mb) I m not sure its the whole backup, now my HG plan has expired(not deleted, I can renew it to get my site back) but now what should I do to upload the data, on adminMyPhp it is showing some error while uploading data. I want my site back as it was, on DO server, I dont want to renew my HG plan again, Please guide me, Thank you in advance.
Keesjan
hi,
do you know how to restore a backup when the admin interface is broken?
Then its not possible to use the interface.
Is in that case only the phpadmin method the way to go. Or are there any cloud service out there that help me ‘push’ teh bakcyp back to my site, without loggin in mt wp admin?
WPBeginner Support
You will have to do it manually. You can also hire professionals to do that for you. They will also take the phpMyAdmin approach.
Admin
Mahriya
Thanks, what if I had backed up my whole WordPress site(tags, posts media etc…) but only wanted to restore the Media only. Is there any way to do this? I appreciate the help!
WPBeginner Support
It depends on what method you used to create a backup. Most WordPress backup plugins store all your WordPress files in a zip file. You can extract that file to your computer and then upload the wp-content/uploads folder.
Admin
Belinda
Hello,
Total beginner here.
Started building my first Wordpress site for a client on my local drive. Used the theme Avada.
Long story short, I needed a new hard drive in my Mac.
– Backed up my failing hard drive with time machine.
– Starting fresh on my computer with a new hard drive.
– Reinstalled Wordpress and MAMP.
– Moved the website files from time machine applications/MAMP/htdocs to the same place on my computer.
Reading above I need to do something with the database. But I am completely lost on this.
Please help as soon as possible!
Thank you in advance.
WPBeginner Support
Go to Applications/MAMP/db/mysql/ copy the contents and paste them in your new drive MAMP install on the same location.
Admin
tonythanh
The problem when we restore wordpress is all image will not display. I have already got this trouble and it made me 3 days for resolve. Here is the way I solve for my site
1. Install fresh copy of wordpress with new database
2. Drop all database in phpmyadmin
3. Import database that you back up lastime
4. Your site will not work and It need reinstall. Don’t worry.
5. Login Cpanel, find the wp-config.php file, open, change the prefix wp_ with your new prefix of your last database.
6. Import your images correct to the folder in uploads.
7. Done, your site will work well with full images.
I hope you will get no trouble like me.
Graceson
Can you please assist me to restore backedup files using “BACKUPWORDPRESS” in my local drive?
Thanks in advance.
Tushar
Is the method of using FTP to restore your website valid/useful if the main error in FTP is “552-Quota exceeded” . I contacted the host, he says that some malicious plugin has caused this sort of error to occur and complete restoration of the site will be required. I planning to begin from a clean slate by uploading new wordpress and redesigning the entire site: But will this work with above mentioned error?
Angel
Thanks a lot for the article! You saved my life helping me to restore a site, easy and simple!
All the best, Angel
Paul
Hi, just a (probably) silly question: can I Re-install now from the wordpress dashboard without losing any settings etc on my site?
WPBeginner Support
You can go to Dashboard -> Updated and click on reinstall now button. That will download a fresh copy of WordPress and replace your old files. It will not change your WordPress settings as those are stored separated in database.
Admin
Ben Dixon
Hi guys, very informative read, thanks for that!
I have a backup of my SQL database which was created with a plugin and emailed to me. Unfortunately I’ve lost all other files, I’ve contacted my host and they have no backup.
I’ve installed Wordpress and will install the appropriate theme. I can’t recall all the plugins I used.
I’ve obviously lost all my images, but what else have I lost? Is a restore of my site feasible in your opinion?
Many thanks for any help at all.
WPBeginner Support
Yes a restore of your site is feasible.
Since you do not have backup of your files, so you will be unable to restore images. Some plugins may also misbehave.
Admin
Ben Dixon
Thanks for that, I’ll give it go. Maybe I can look at the database to help me remember what plugins were there before.
Cheers guys!
Ali Sajjad
Hi, i have done everything and my site is running fine. but i have problem with images all over the site. i don’t know why, because there is no error display during restore process.
Zamby
Somewhat complicated question. A few days ago, I updated the wordpress version my site was using. This then made the site fail, and I couldn’t even log in to wordpress due to a fatal error. I then replaced the site with my most recent backup from Feb. 2nd, and things were fixed. However, there is a lot of data from Feb. 2nd that I would like to access if possible.
This data must have been saved somewhere, but I’m wondering where? Or is it all completely lost and innaccessible in the Cpanel after a backup?
WPBeginner Staff
It actually depends on how you restored your backup. If you created a new database to restore your backup into and did not delete any files from your webserver then you can get access to your posts by opening the old database using phpmyadmin. You can also find the files you uploaded on your webserver by connecting to your site using an FTP client. These file uploads will be stored in /wp-content/uploads/ folder.
On the other hand, if your restoration process involved deleting old database by emptying it, and if you deleted old files from server as wel, then you cannot access those files on your own.
Another possibility to recover that data is by requesting your web host and ask them if they have a backup for your site on the specific date when you deleted all old data. If they have the backup, then they can send it to you.
WPBeginner Staff
Simply click on Appearance » Themes and click on the activate button on the theme that you had previously installed. In case you can’t figure out which theme you had previously installed, then you will need to activate them one by one and preview your website until you get the right theme.
Urgent help needed @ WPBEGINNER SUPPORT
Good day Wpbeginner,
This is my terrible situation. I made a mistake and i lost my site. and then i requested my Host gator India to give back file for which i paid. They send me in TAR.Zip file. I don’t know how to go about it. They told me to long CP panel and upload and extract. But it didn’t work. Then one rep who helped me and my site came alive. However, if i click any one of the posts it was throwing 403 error. She couldn’t solve it. and another rep said i need to contact my developer…what is this? Develper,!!!(lol)
and then i moved another host. I tried uploading my back up file. but no use and nothing working. So i had 3 months back up files which i downloaded from WordPress XML. Now it is working except images and the current template is different than the previous.
I have the back up file from Hostgator and if you could help me how to go with it…i really appreciate.
Best regards,
Ramesh.ramaiah
WPBeginner Support
You can extract the backup file on your own computer using a program that is able to extract .tar and .zip archives like 7zip. After that you can browse the files and upload them to your web server using an FTP client.
Admin
Timothy
I was wondering how to recover a WordPress theme, it wasn’t deleted I just hit active on a new on by accident
Gary
Hello, I just stumbled upon this post and was wondering if you could help. I switched hosting plans within godaddy and went from managed wordpress to cpanel. I used a plugin to backup the site before switching, which saved all files including the .sql file. Restoring the site via the plugin did not work so I am trying it the hard way. I have completely removed the site including all files. Then I created a new database and gave it the same name as database_name in the .sql file. Afterwards I uploaded the .sql file from the backup into this database. Then I reinstalled wordpress via cpanel and chose the new database I created. Then I uploaded the rest of the files(themes, plugins, uploads) via ftp. But for some reason this did not do anything. When I logged into wordpress nothing looks different. None of the pages I created or anything was there. The plugins were there and the theme I uploaded was there. However, I can’t access the images from the media button even though they are in the uploads folder. I can’t figure out where I went wrong. The database names match up, I can’t think of anything else. The only thing I can possibly think of is the hostname in my .sql backup file is not localhost. Could that be the issue? I can’t figure out what I am missing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
DFPhoenix
If your database was correctly restored, you won’t even need to install wordpress again. Asking you to install means, your database isn’t correctly restored. Just my guess.
Dill
Hi… I was wondering how to restore my wordpress site if all I have is a complete download of everything that was there. I downloaded everything (everything!) from my host using FTP and didn’t do any fancy backups of databases. Can I just upload that entire backup as is and get the site back? I’m also switching hosts (but not domain names), so I do know I’ll have to edit a file or two also.
WPBeginner Support
If you only copied everything from FTP then you probably only have your WordPress files and not the database. Without the database backup you can not restore your site. If you have access to your host, then please create your database backup.
Admin
Kyle
Hi,
Thanks for all your tutorials, I find myself here often. I had a question, is there any way to retrieve the subscribers from a backed up .sql file? The plugin used to collect subscriptions was Subscriber 2.
Bruno
Your site is great. Can you write a guide how to restore a backup created with BackWPup? That would be great.
WPBeginner Support
Sure we will try to do that. Meanwhile, here is how to restore your backup created with BackWPUp plugin. Download your backup file and extract it. Inside it your will find a .sql file along with other files. .SQL file is your database backup and you can import it using phpMyAdmin. Upload rest of the files using FTP.
Admin
tuyen ran
how to show my password on file database backup from backupbuddy? It is encryption!. thanks you!
Raji
This post is extremely helpful as it has helped me (a newbie) to restore my site….or almost. When i try to login, it takes me to a page that says i should install wordpress again…. the famous 5minutes install. please help.
WPBeginner Support
It seems WordPress is unable to connect to the database. Or it connected to the database which is currently empty. You have restored your WordPress files but you probably didn’t restore your WordPress database backup successfully.
Admin
Md Jafrul Islam
Thank you very very much. By this info post detail. I can make my site again restore. Thanks Man. Just awesome update more amazing info.
Chris
When doing a backup, which backup do I need most frequently? I am offered three choices on the cPanel (full cPanel backup, home directory, database). Would you say it is more important to backup the database file, as long as I have a fairly recent backup of the home directory?
Thanks for your time!
WPBeginner Support
Depends on how often your site gets updates like comments, posts, media uploads, we would say that you should always set a high priority for database backups
Admin