Title: Importing old database
Last modified: February 13, 2018

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# Importing old database

 *  [tsheridan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tsheridan/)
 * (@tsheridan)
 * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/)
 * Long story short, I have a client who was managing his own website and it disappeared
   last July but he didn’t discover that until a couple of weeks ago. The hosting
   company doesn’t have a backup now of course, and the only backup he has is a 
   database export done in 2013.
    I’ve tried importing it into a new WordPress site
   and it gets stuck at step 2. It asks Are you sure you want to do this? but it
   doesn’t give any button to select yes. Do I have any options here for how to 
   do this?
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fimporting-old-database-3%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  [Kit Singleton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lace/)
 * (@lace)
 * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9972119)
 * Hey!
 * When you said you tried importing it, can you give me a little more info about
   the steps or technique you used?
 * Thanks.
 *  Thread Starter [tsheridan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tsheridan/)
 * (@tsheridan)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9973623)
 * Hi Kit,
 * I just used the WordPress importer tool.
 *  [Kit Singleton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lace/)
 * (@lace)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9974798)
 * Thanks. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. 😉
 * Do you know what WP version that import was associated with?
 *  Thread Starter [tsheridan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tsheridan/)
 * (@tsheridan)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9974931)
 * No clue, all I know is the file was exported in 2013.
 *  [Kit Singleton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lace/)
 * (@lace)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9974960)
 * Let’s see if we can troubleshoot this thing together. Do you have any plugins
   installed and activated? If so, you may want to try deactivating them and trying
   the import again. In my experience, the imports can take what seems like forever,
   depending on how much stuff was included in the backup/export file.
 *  Thread Starter [tsheridan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tsheridan/)
 * (@tsheridan)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9974980)
 * No, it’s a brand new WP install, no plugins installed yet, other than activating
   the importer.
 * It lets me select the file and upload it, then gets stuck on the 2nd step where
   it asks if you are sure you want to do this. There is no button there to click
   yes, so all I can think of is that it’s a conflict between WP versions or database
   versions.
 *  [Kit Singleton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lace/)
 * (@lace)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9975252)
 * That is what I was wondering too. (Great minds and all that stuff) Could your
   browser be blocking the button?
 *  Thread Starter [tsheridan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tsheridan/)
 * (@tsheridan)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9979116)
 * I tried running the importer in another browser, with exactly the same result.
   Any other thoughts?
 *  [Kit Singleton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lace/)
 * (@lace)
 * [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9979744)
 * The only things I can think of are:
 * 1. It’s just a bad/corrupt/partial export.
    2. The host has something locked 
   down for “security.” (missing button) 3. Database/software incompatibility. (
   Shouldn’t be this.)
 * If the stinkin’ thing wasn’t 5 years old, I’d say to try another WP version BUT
   I don’t think that would help because you would have to try several. Plus, the
   host probably wouldn’t want you to do that because of the major security issues
   that could affect others, if this is on shared hosting.
 * Any chance that he has another export file squirreled away in an old folder? 
   I’m really wondering if this one is damaged.
 * Just for your future reference, you may want to talk to hosting support to find
   out if they have any sort of restrictions to upload/install dates and if they
   have battened down the hatches too tight in this instance.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

The topic ‘Importing old database’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 9 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Kit Singleton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lace/)
 * Last activity: [8 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-old-database-3/#post-9979744)
 * Status: not resolved

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