Works just fine if you don’t have a huge backup file

I’ve tried several ways to automate porting wordpress installs. This is the one still working (except doig it all manually ofc) with minimal manual fiddling.

Just export on the base install and import on the destination install. A few clicks and it’s done. Especially useful for empty “template” wordpress installs (see below why).

Beware: it seems the backup file shouldn’t get too close to the maximum size of the free limit or it just freezes. Maximum size is 256MB. My original backup was 226MB (real disk size). I tried several times by letting it unpack overnight and it never worked. I had to reduce the size (to <100MB) and it worked flawlessly.

My tip : backup separately the plugin and media folders (and any heavy folders you might have). It will require you to use an FTP client (or your cPanel at worst) so it’s not really streamlined but hey…it works.