I believe I found a potential fix for this. So, after going through the process to create the installer and the archive I was having issues with the db.
I noticed that the server I was attempting to run the installer on was pretty much full after uploading the archive file. The site was large that I was duplicating. So, I moved the same installer and archive file to a server with loads of room. Once I did that and ran the installer again, it all worked including the db. So, I’m wondering if the server didn’t have the room to temporarily unpack the zip files of the archive or to create the db.
Another issue I found which was largely undocumented after getting it installed on the other server, was the 500 error. What I found with that was, not only were there permission issues with the folders and files being incorrect, but the biggest problem was the site and word URL’s in the general setup.
The problem with those was I had my domain pointing to the subfolder which contains all the site files. I also had the site and WordPress install URL’s configured in the duplicator to point to the domain name/subfolder. That is wrong, since the domain is already configured to point at the subfolder, that means my site and WordPress URL’s have to point to the domain only. Otherwise, 500 errors and 404 error’s everywhere.
All good now, but those few things cause huge issues which I found by trial and error.