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What You’ll Learn

  • Understanding Quick Clone vs Clone from Backup
  • Preparing destination sites for cloning
  • Cloning sites up to 256MB with Quick Clone
  • Cloning larger sites using backup files
  • Managing Clone enablement and site participation
  • Reading and changing Clone policy through the Abilities API
  • Troubleshooting common cloning issues
Extension Add-on - This add-on provides standalone functionality within MainWP Dashboard. No third-party plugins required.
The MainWP Clone Extension provides the ability to clone your WordPress sites. With the MainWP Clone Extension, you will create an exact copy of the site configuration, themes, theme settings, plugins, plugin settings, posts, pages, images, videos, and almost everything else on your site.

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How it Works

The Clone extension requires a preinstalled WordPress site connected to your MainWP Dashboard (Destination Site). Once you install a fresh WordPress website and connect it to your MainWP Dashboard, you will be able to use the clone feature and clone your template site (Source Site). The Extension allows you to clone websites in two ways:
  1. Quick Clone
  2. Clone from Backup

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Quick Clone

The quick clone feature allows you to clone one child site to another child site. This method allows you to quickly clone your website simply by selecting a Source Site and following the process in a few quick, easy steps. This method is recommended for WordPress sites up to 256MB.

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Clone from Backup

This method allows you to clone one child site to another, simply by uploading a backup file (created by the MainWP native backup feature) of the source site to your destination site server. This method is recommended for larger WordPress sites over 256MB.

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Important Notes

To clone a site, the connection between two child sites (Source and Destination) needs to be established without issues. If the Quick Clone feature fails for you, it is more than likely due to insufficient server resources. Be sure to review MainWP System Requirements and resolve any of the potential issues.

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Plugin and Theme Settings Compatibility

Starting with MainWP Child 6.2.2, Clone/Restore leaves a database value unchanged during URL replacement if its serialized data contains PHP objects, cannot be safely decoded, or exceeds processing limits. Source-site URLs inside those values are not replaced with destination-site URLs. This applies to both Quick Clone and Clone from Backup. After cloning, check plugin and theme settings on the destination site for references to the source site. If a setting still uses the source URL, update it through the plugin or theme’s settings, or follow its developer’s migration instructions.

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Manage Clone Settings

Open MainWP Dashboard > Sites > Clone to manage the Clone policy.
1

Enable the Clone feature.

Turn on Enable the Clone feature. This toggle saves separately from the site selection. Check the page’s save message before continuing.
2

Choose which sites can participate.

Use each site’s toggle, or Allow All and Disallow All, to prepare the selection. Click Save Selection to save it.
3

Sync the affected sites.

Policy changes take effect on a Child site after its next successful individual sync. Sync affected destination sites again when their available source choices change.
Version 5.1 validates the complete submitted site selection before saving. An invalid site ID, a site that is no longer available in the selection, or an unreadable entry causes the save to fail instead of saving a partial selection. Site exclusions outside your visible site list are preserved. The selection save also checks whether the saved policy or visible site list changed after the page loaded. If another edit conflicts with your selection, reload the page, review the current settings, and submit the selection again. The page reports Clone site selection could not be saved. Please try again. for a failed selection save; a failed global toggle reports Clone setting could not be saved. Please try again. If the page reports that the policy or visible-site list could not be read completely, selection controls are disabled until that data is available. Reload the page and resolve the reported data issue before saving. A success message confirms the Dashboard settings were saved; it does not confirm that every Child site has received them.

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Abilities API

Version 5.1 adds three WordPress abilities to read one site’s stored Clone policy, enable or disable Clone globally, and allow or disallow one site’s participation. These operations manage Dashboard settings. They do not sync sites, start a clone, create backups, or restore data. See Clone Abilities for requirements, permissions, request examples, and save-result handling.

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Clone WordPress Site (Quick Clone)

Quick Clone feature enables you to clone one child site to another child site. This means that both child sites need to be connected to your MainWP Dashboard.

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1. Destination site preparation

1

Install a new WordPress site

Install a new WordPress site
2

Install the MainWP Child plugin to a newly created WordPress site

Install the MainWP Child plugin to a newly created WordPress site
3

Connect the newly created site to your MainWP Dashboard

Connect the newly created site to your MainWP Dashboard

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2. Enable the Clone Feature

Enable MainWP Clone Feature
1

Log in to your MainWP Dashboard

2

Go to the MainWP Dashboard > Sites > Clone page

3

Enable the Clone feature

4

Sync your sites

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3. Clone a Child Site

1

Log in to your newly created Child Site (Destination)

2

Go to the WordPress admin > Settings > MainWP Child > Restore / Clone page

3

Locate the Select Source for clone box

Locate the Select Source for clone boxSelect Source for clone
4

Select the Child Site that you want to clone (Source)

5

Click the Clone website button

Once the Clone process is successfully completed, you will be asked to re-login to your child site. Use your source site login credentials to log in. After that, you need to resave your Permalinks Settings to complete the process.

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Important Notes

If, after the cloning process, your destination site is redirecting you back to the source site, it is more than likely that the process failed to update the siteurl and the home values in the wp_options table inside the database. In this case, please check this help document to see how to update it manually. If your Source child site is larger than 256MB, it is more than likely that the cloning process will fail. In this case, try to clone your child site by using the Clone from the Backup method.

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Clone WordPress Site (Clone from Backup)

Clone from Backup enables you to restore a full MainWP legacy backup on the destination child site.

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1. Destination site preparation

1

Install a new WordPress site

Install a new WordPress site
2

Install the MainWP Child plugin to the newly created WordPress site

Install the MainWP Child plugin to the newly created WordPress site
3

Connect the newly created site to your MainWP Dashboard

Connect the newly created site to your MainWP Dashboard

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2. Enable the Clone Feature

1

Log in to your MainWP Dashboard

2

Go to the MainWP Dashboard > Sites > Clone page

3

Enable the Clone feature

4

Sync your sites

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3. Create a Backup of the Source Site

This step requires the MainWP Legacy Backups feature enabled. If you have it disabled, enable it on the top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings) page and set it as the primary backup solution. Once you are done with the cloning process, revert your settings to the previous state.
1

Log in to your MainWP Dashboard

2

Go to the MainWP Dashboard > Sites > Manage Sites page

3

Locate the Site you want to clone

4

Click the Backup Now button

5

Create the Full Backup of the Child site

6

Download the backup file

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4. Clone a Child Site

1

Use your favorite FTP Client to upload the downloaded backup file to your Destination site server

Use your favorite FTP Client to upload the downloaded backup file to your Destination site server
2

Log in to your Destination site

3

Go to the WordPress admin > Settings > MainWP Child > Restore / Clone page

4

Locate the Option 2: Restore/Clone From Server box

Locate the Option 2: Restore/Clone From Server boxClone From Backup
5

Select the previously uploaded backup file

6

Click the Clone/Restore Website button

Once the Clone process is successfully completed, you will be asked to re-login to your child site. Use your source site login credentials to log in. After that, you need to resave your Permalinks Settings in order to complete the process.

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Important Notes

If after the cloning process, your destination site is redirecting you back to the source site, it is more than likely that the process failed to update the siteurl and the home values in the wp_options table inside the database. In this case, please check this help document to see how to update it manually. Before trying to clone a website, make sure that the backup file is not corrupted by trying to open it on your local computer. Also, verify that there are no files missing.