I can’t import demo content

Table of Contents

If you see that demo import process is taking forever or it’s not completed correctly this means your hosting PHP.ini limits are too low for working with WordPress Importer and demo data can’t be imported on your server without the right configuration.

Enable debug mode #

To enable debug mode edit your wp-config.php file and set

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );

Your PHP values are too low #

Change your PHP.ini settings according to the following minimum values. If you don’t have access contact your web host and ask to have the limits increased.

  • memory_limit = 256M
  • max_input_vars = 3000
  • max_execution_time = 300 (600 recommended)
  • post_max_size = 12M
  • upload_max_filesize = 12M
  • allow_url_fopen ON
  • asp_tags OFF

PHP version must be 7.3 or newer

Those settings are required to successfully import all demo content and images.

Check this official WordPress article how to increase memory limits for your WP:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php#Increasing_memory_allocated_to_PHP

After changing PHP values reset your WordPress using WP Reset plugin to avoid content duplicates. Then run the demo importer again.

Cheap or bad shared hosting may not allow you to use this values (in this case you won’t be able to import demo data on to your server). You need to switch to another hosting.

Missing PHP modules #

that your hosting server is missing one of a very common PHP modules and it has to be enabled before any import functionality will work on your site.

The missing PHP modules could be php-xml, php-dom or php-xmlreader.

Please contact your hosting company and ask them to install that for you. These are very common modules and they should be installed by default.

If you are managing your own server you can install it yourself. The following is just an example for Ubuntu/Debian, the command depends on your server and your PHP version:

sudo apt-get install php7.4-dom php7.4-simplexml php7.4-xml php7.4-xmlreader
Then, restart your server
sudo service apache2 restart

ModSecurity is blocking remote requests #

ModSecurity is a firewall application but on some servers it could block legitimate requests to the CDN server where the demo content is hosted.

In this case you should login to your Cpanel > ModSecurity > Deactivate. Or contact the hosting support to do it.

 

Other causes for the failed import #

On a VPN the installation wizard won’t process the remote XML. Use a direct connection instead.

Otherwise, proceed with a manual import of the xml files using the default WordPress importer. The xml files are included in the full theme package.

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