Duplicator and Wordfence Fails

  • Resolved jonburr

    (@jonburr)


    6 years ago

    Wordfence causes Duplicator to fail, at least in creating a local dev site.
    While creating your Duplicator package on the site to be exported, using the File Filter in the Archive tab is really helpful, as is doing a manual install (starting with Database Only in the Archive tab).
    I posted an article with a procedure to minimize problems from plugins, cache folders, and oversized media folders, including Wordfence.
    Topics:

    • Using the Archive File Filter
    • Manual Installation

    https://jbq.net/migrating-a-wordpress-site-if-wordfence-is-installed-using-duplicator-and-mamp/

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Cory Lamle

    (@corylamleorg)

    Hey @jonburr,

    Thanks for posting that we will add that to our FAQ. You might also check out the beta version, it has support for the .htaccess to be skipped on step 1 if needed. You can get a copy here:
    https://snapcreek.com/duplicator/duplicator-lite-1-3-beta/

    Thanks~

    Thread Starter jonburr

    (@jonburr)

    Thank you, Cory ! Glad it can be useful.
    I’d love to see a checklist in the FAQ… given that so many users will have security or caching plugins installed, it would be good to include a checklist of things that really should be done manually – and Captcha, login renaming – I’m sure there are a ton of others you run into all the time.

    I understand it’s impossible to anticipate the infinite variety of user configs in your FAQ – but there are routine villains that come up all the time that deserve a mention, early on in the manual – and how to avoid them.

    I learned today that filtering the Wordfence plugin folder isn’t enough – Wordfence puts wordfence-waf.php out at the top level, and that’s the one that causes the Error 500 fail. If Wordfence has been in there at any point, it’s Manual time… ??

    Cory Lamle

    (@corylamleorg)

    Hey Jon,

    I sourced your article here:
    https://snapcreek.com/duplicator/docs/faqs-tech/?181119165838#faq-trouble-075-q

    See: WordFence/Duplicator and MAMP link

    Thanks for the write-up.

    Thread Starter jonburr

    (@jonburr)

    Thank you for the boost, Cory! ??

    Cory Lamle

    (@corylamleorg)

    Sure no problem!

    Just got alerted to this post and wanted to offer some insight.

    I think the problem is that the wordfence-waf.php file has a very specific path which is required by the auto_prepend_file value in PHP. Since your file path will change when you move the site to another environment (like your laptop or another folder in the hosting account) that file will prevent the site from coming up. The workaround is to skip some files in the directory that WordPress is installed in.

    wordfence-waf.php (the Firewall)
    .user.ini (configuration for PHP and will have the auto prepend file value in it)
    php.ini (configuration for PHP and will have the auto prepend file value in it)
    *note : the last two may or may not be there. It depends on your server as to which file gets created.

    Hope this helps.

    Tim

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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