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WXD Backup Lite

Documentation

Reliable WordPress backup, restore, and migration workflows for agencies, freelancers, and serious site owners.

Installation

Install the plugin

From the WordPress.org directory (recommended)

  1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New.
  2. Search for WXD Backup Lite.
  3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

A new top-level Backups menu appears in your WordPress sidebar.

Manual install (.zip)

  1. Download the latest version from the WordPress.org plugin page.
  2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the .zip, then click Install Now and Activate.

Requirements

  • WordPress 6.0 or newer
  • PHP 7.4+
  • Write access to wp-content/
  • At least 256MB PHP memory limit (512MB recommended for large sites)

Creating your first backup

Run a one-click backup

  1. Go to Backups → Dashboard.
  2. Click Run Backup Now.
  3. Choose Full site (default) or pick a selective scope.
  4. Wait for the backup to complete — progress is shown in real time.

The resulting .zip archive is stored in wp-content/wsbl-backups/ and listed in Backups → History.

Backup scopes

ScopeIncludes
Full siteDatabase, plugins, themes, uploads, MU-plugins, core files
Database onlyAll WordPress tables (no files)
Uploads onlyThe wp-content/uploads/ directory
CustomPick any combination of the above

Restoring a backup

Guided restore flow

Restores are intentionally a multi-step flow to prevent accidents.

  1. Go to Backups → History and click Restore next to the archive you want.
  2. Choose the scope to restore (full or selective).
  3. Confirm — an automatic restore-point of the current site is created first.
  4. Watch the live progress and event log.

Safety guarantees

  • A restore-point is created before every restore so you can roll back instantly.
  • Concurrent restores are blocked at the database level.
  • A post-restore validation step checks that core files, the database, and key plugin tables are intact.

Tip: Lock important archives via Backups → History → Lock to prevent retention rules from auto-deleting them.

Migrating to a new host

Move a site between hosts

  1. On the source site, run a Full site backup.
  2. Download the archive from Backups → History.
  3. Install WordPress and WXD Backup Lite on the destination host.
  4. Go to Backups → Migration and upload the archive.
  5. Enter the destination URL when prompted — Backup Lite handles URL rewriting in the database.
  6. Confirm the migration. wp-config.php is normalized automatically (table prefix, secret keys, environment hints).

What gets rewritten

  • All occurrences of the source URL in wp_options, post content, postmeta, and serialized data
  • siteurl and home options
  • wp-config.php constants where safe to update

What you should verify after

  • Permalinks (Settings → Permalinks → Save)
  • Any plugins with their own URL/path settings (CDN plugins, page builders with cached URLs)
  • Cron schedules — re-trigger via WP-CLI or wait for the next natural run