This is a step-by-step article that will help you clone your WordPress website with the Duplicator plugin. This will be especially helpful if you want to move the content of your website to a new domain name.
Step 1. Download and install the Duplicator on your website.
To add Duplicator to your existing WordPress site, navigate from your WordPress Dashboard to Plugins(1) > Add New(2). Search for the “WordPress Duplicator plugin“(3) in the top-right search bar.
Next, click the Install Now button(4). After a successful installation, click the Activate button.
Step 2. Create Package.
Once activated, you’ll see a new Duplicator option in your dashboard panel.
Go to Duplicator (1) > Packages (2) and click the Create New (3) button to build a new package.
This will create a backup of your website that can be restored to a new domain name using the Duplicator plugin.
On the next page, you will see the settings under the Storage, Archive, and the Installer icons, you don’t have to touch any of them.
Just leave them as default and click Next.
The Duplicator plugin will then scan your website’s files and database and check if they exceed the 500 Mb threshold of the free version.
Please keep in mind that, if your website is bigger than 500 Mbs (including files and database), the plugin will not allow you to continue further. That means you will need to either reduce the size of the website or upgrade to the paid version.
Once the scan is finished, there will also likely be some notices and warnings from the plugin, but none of the described issues will prevent the plugin from properly working.
Click on the tick box and then on the Build button:
Once the backup file is built, download the installer.php (1) and the Archive (2) file to your device.
Step 3. Upload the Duplicator package (Archive and Installer).
Now you have to upload both the Installer and the Archive file into the directory of your new domain.
The files can be uploaded via the WPX File Manager or via FTP with FileZilla this example, we will use the WPX File Manager.
Simply drag and drop BOTH the Installer and the Archive files into the empty /public_html folder of your new domain name.
Step 4. Start the installation of the new website.
Once you upload the files, you have to open the installer.php file from the browser. Type in domain.com/installer.php in the browser that you use, where “domain.com” is your new domain name.
You’ll see the duplicator installation wizard. If everything up to this point has been done correctly, this is what your screen should look like:
Next, tick the “I have read and accept all terms & notices (required to continue)” and click the Next button.
Step 5. Connect the database.
Now, you need to add the database details. The Duplicator plugin will ask you for Host/Database/User/Password.
The “Host” needed to be localhost, as it’s set by default.
The “Database” name can be found in the “Databases” menu in your WPX Client Panel. Navigate to WordPress Hosting (1) → Database (2) and copy the database name (3) that is connected with your new website.
Keep in mind that, for this article, we will use the database name newebsite2, but you need to use the database name for your new website.
Next, you need to create a database user for your website. If you don’t know how to do it, you can check this article.
Once the database user is created, you need to go back into your Duplicator installation and add the User and Password, which you’ve just created.
Now, leave the rest of the settings with their default settings and click the Test Database (1) button.
If everything is set correctly and validation is done, you will see the Next button. Click on the Next button to proceed with the installation.
Step 6. Data Replacement.
In the next step, the Duplicator plugin screen shows you your new URL and the new path to your files which the plugin will use to automatically search and replace in the database.
We recommend you to leave everything as it is set by default.
Click the Next button.
Step 7. Test your website.
Once you’re done, the final essential step is to test your website. For that, click the Admin Login button to log in to the new website.
You need to use the same WP admin login credentials from the original website.
If you get stuck with anything discussed on this page, please get in touch with the WPX Support Team via live chat (use the bottom right-hand widget) and they will respond and help within 30 seconds or less.