Do you want to know how to restore WordPress database manually? It will help you to quickly create a database restore whenever you need it.
In this article, I will show you how to restore WordPress database manually.
To Restore WordPress Database
Restoring WordPress from backups depends on how you created the backup. For example, create a backup using BackupBuddy or UpdraftPlus can be restored by using the same plugin. Similarly, manual backup needs to be manually restored.
Let’s take a look at how to restore the WordPress database of your website.
Methods 1.Restoring using phpMyAdmin
This method will replace your current database with the manually created backup. Here you can create a new database and import your backup into it, or you can empty your existing database and import backup.
Keep in mind, if you are cleaning a hacked website, then it is very important to change your MySQL username and password before creating a new database or importing the existing database.
Create a new database
To create a new database, login to the cPanel dashboard of your WordPress hosting account. Click on the MySQL Database icon under the Databases section.
On this page, you will be asked to provide a name for your database and then click on the Create Database button.
After creating a new database, you need a MySQL user with the new database. Scroll down to the MySQL user section and add a new user. It is the best practice to create a unique user for each database.
Now you need to add this user to the MySQL database. To do this, scroll down to Add user to the database section and select the user from the drop-down menu.
After selecting the user then click on the Add button.
That’s all you have successfully create a new database and a new user, now your new database is ready to use. You can use this to restore your WordPress database backup.
Upload your database
To restore your database navigate to the phpMyAdmin option under the Database section, then click on the phpMyAdmin icon.
Now you need to click on your new database name, which is you created, and then click on the import button.
Click on the ‘Choose file’ button to select your wordpress database backup file.
After selecting the backup file, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Go button.
PhpMyAdmin will upload your backup file and import it into your new database.
After completing the process, you will see a success message.
Finally, you have successfully imported to your WordPress database.
Now you can install WordPress using your new database. If you have installed WordPress, then you need to add your new database and go to the wp-config.php file.
Open your wp-config.php file with your code editor and enter your new database information, which is you created earlier.
Don’t forget to save the change.
Once all is done, visit your website to check that everything is working.
Methods 2.Restoring using cPanel
If you created your WordPress database backup using the cPanel, then you can also restore that database using cPanel.
To restore your database, just log in to the cPanel dashboard of your WordPress hosting account. Navigate to the Files section and click on the Backup option.
On the backup page look for the ‘Restore a MySQL Database Backup‘ option.
Next, click on the choose file button and select the backup file, which is on your computer. Once done, then click on the upload button.
Methods 3.Restoring using FTP
If you want to restore your WordPress site with clean. then you need to delete all existing WordPress files.
You should only do this when your backup is up to date. If you have all your uploads and customizations then you can delete everything using FTP or cPanel.
To delete all files, log in to the cPanel of your hosting account. Click on the File Manager option under the Files section.
Now you can see your public_html root folder. Open this root folder and select all files in your WordPress root directory and delete them.
Now you need to download a fresh copy of WordPress from WordPress.org.
Your downloaded copy will be stored on your computer, which on a zip file and you need to extract this file.
To upload this WordPress file you can use your FTP client and cPanel. Connect your FTP client to your server.
Once connected, you can see your downloaded file on the left side of the FTP client. Now select the file and right-click, you can see the Upload option.
Once your files are uploaded, you can upload the wp-config.php file from your backup.
You can also rename the wp-config-sample.php file. After that, you will need to edit the wp-config.php file with code editor and enter your database information. Don’t forget to save the file.
Next, you need to upload your images in /wp-content/uploads/directory.
Once you have uploaded these, then go to Settings, click on Permalinks. Adjust your settings and then update permalinks.
That’s all is done, now visit your WordPress website to check that everything is working.
Methods 4.Restoring using Plugin
UpdraftPlus is the most popular WordPress backup plugin. It allows you to easily backup and restores your WordPress website.
At first, you need to make sure that you have a complete backup of your WordPress website created by the UpdraftPlus backup plugin. Now you need to download the backup file to your computer.
If your backup is stored by UpdraftPlus on a remote storage location like Google Drive, Dropbox, and other cloud storage, then you can download your backup file from that location to your computer.
Next, you need to contact an FTP client and delete all previous WordPress files. After that, you need to install WordPress again and log in to your website.
After login into your WordPress dashboard, you will need to install and activate the UpdraftPlus backup plugin.
To restore your site go to Settings and click on the UpdrafPlus Backups link.
It will take you to the UpdrafPlus Backup/Restore page. Now you can restore the WordPress database by clicking by Restore button.
You can also restore your site by clicking the Upload backup files link. Then you need to click on the Select Files and navigate to the downloaded file. This file is those which is downloaded from cloud storage (like Google Drive or Dropbox) on your computer.
Once your backup files are uploaded, then you need to click on the Restore button to proceed.
This will bring up a popup window where you need to click on the restore button again to continue. Make sure that all files such as plugins, theme, database, and others are selected.
UpdrafPlus will start extracting and restoring data from those files. After finishing this process, you will be redirected to the success page.
That’s all you have successfully restored your WordPress site from a UpdrafPlus backup.
Troubleshooting WordPress Restore Issues
There are some common problems that you may see when restoring your WordPress website. Here some issues:
- Error establishing a database connection
- White Screen of Death
- Internal Server Error
After Restore WordPress database
Once you have successfully restored your website, strongly recommend that you should improve your website security.
If you have not used the WordPress backup plugin, please make sure that you have a regular WordPress backup with the WordPress backup plugin.
Conclusion
That’s all, I hope this article helped you learn how to make a restore WordPress database manually. You may want to see the guide on how to backup WordPress database manually.
You may also want to see another guide on How to fix Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress, How to Fix “Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance” Error in WordPress, and How to Fix 500 Internal Server Error in Your WordPress
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