Title: PHP Update Causing Website Clone Issues Last modified: July 25, 2025 --- # PHP Update Causing Website Clone Issues * [sm5987](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sm5987/) * (@sm5987) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/) * Hello, * I’m wanting to update a website’s PHP, so I created a clone using UpdraftClone to test this out. When I log into the clone site, WP still tells me the PHP is out of date (7.4–I know, super old), but when I go into the Updraft account, it says the clone’s PHP is 8.4. I notice that on the clone, a few pages of the website are not showing up like they should. I assume this is from the PHP update, but is there any way to fix these pages? I realize there may be a myriad of issues causing this. Or am I just going to have to find a way to re-create them? (Not a pro developer here, so sorry for any dumb questions.) Because the PHP obviously needs to be updated no matter what. 1. How do I know for sure what the PHP is on my clone site? 2. How do I update the PHP on my clone site? (It doesn’t appear on our webhost account.) 3. Is there a way to fix those webpages so they appear as they should, with updated PHP? * Thanks everyone. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * [Onwuteaka David Nwachukwu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nwachukwuonwuteaka/) * (@nwachukwuonwuteaka) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18571392) * Hello there, To confirm the PHP version of your website on wordpress, follow these steps. * Log in to your WordPress admin panel. * Go to Tools and navigate to site health. * Click the** **info tab (top right). * Scroll down to the **“Server”** section. * Look for the **“PHP version”** line. To update your PHP version of your website, this has to be done via Cpanel. you can use the following steps too: Login to your Cpanel Find MultiPHP Manager under softwares and select the domain then the PHP version. For the webpages I will advise you check with different themes. * Thread Starter [sm5987](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sm5987/) * (@sm5987) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18571413) * Hi [@nwachukwuonwuteaka](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nwachukwuonwuteaka/). Thank you. When I log in to the CPanel, though, I don’t see the clone site listed. Is there a way to know that I’m updating the PHP for the clone, not the actual site itself? * Thanks. - This reply was modified 10 months ago by [sm5987](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sm5987/). * Moderator [threadi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/threadi/) * (@threadi) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18571499) * You are using the commercial tool UpdraftClone. As far as I can see from their descriptions, this tool stores these clones in their systems – not yours. I would recommend contacting their support team if you have any questions: [https://teamupdraft.com/support/](https://teamupdraft.com/support/)– questions about commercial products [cannot be answered here in the forum](https://wordpress.org/support/guidelines/#do-not-post-about-commercial-products). * Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/) * (@bcworkz) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18571511) * > this tool stores these clones in their systems – not yours * Well that’s interesting. If you’re OK with that, do as suggested and contact Updraft’s support. * FWIW, I’m personally not too keen about such a scheme for my own work. If you feel similarly, consider using some other plugin to clone your site on your own server. Something like [WP Staging or similar](https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/wp+staging/). * In fact, it’s not really that difficult to manually clone a site. No plugin necessary. Copying all of the files to another directory is straight forward enough if you’re comfortable using FTP. You can then export/import the DB tables into a new DB via the phpMyAdmin tool, usually accessed through your hosting account or cPanel. Edit the new site’s wp-config.php file so that it connects to the new DB. You can use the same DB user, password, and salts, but for better security these ought to be changed as well. * Thread Starter [sm5987](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sm5987/) * (@sm5987) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18571545) * [@threadi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/threadi/) Thank you. I will try that. * [@bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/) Interesting thoughts, thank you. I am not a developer so I am not yet very comfortable with FTP. I’m learning as I go. * That said, I will look into using FTP. I’ve never heard of DB tables, so that’s another thing to research. Thanks for the advice. * Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/) * (@bcworkz) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18572366) * Slightly off topic, but since you appear to be willing to learn new things, I want to encourage it by pointing you in the right direction… * Learning to use FTP is a good thing for anyone managing a website. Most everyone I know [uses Filezilla](https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/upgrade/ftp/filezilla/) for this. Configuring it to connect to your server is the most difficult part. Given access to the right information, it’s not that difficult. Many hosts have documentation for doing this that’s specific to their servers. Some might even have a wizard-like tool to help you do this. * Once connected, usage is very similar to using your computer’s file manager ( like Explorer or Finder). A good first task to perform is to backup your /wp- content/uploads/ directory to your local computer. * Learning about DB tables is not essential, but having an understanding of how WP saves information will make you a better site manager. More than anyone really needs to know can be found [in the old Codex](https://codex.wordpress.org/Database_Description). Reading enough to have a general understanding would be adequate. If you get as far as the Table Details section, there’s no need to go any further. * You can explore your actual DB with the phpMyAdmin app, usually accessed through your hosting account or cPanel. It’s safe enough to just look, but don’t actually alter any of the data. This is the app that would be used to manually export/ import data. It’s at least worth learning to export a database since this is how you’d manually backup your DB. There are plugins that will do this for you, so it’s not an essential skill, but once again the knowledge makes you a better site manager. * This may all seem overwhelming. Don’t be discouraged, you don’t need to know all of this right away. It’s enough to know these tools exist and how to access them. You can learn more about them later on as the inclination or need arises. * Thread Starter [sm5987](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sm5987/) * (@sm5987) * [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18574641) * [@bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/) Thank you so much! This is overwhelming, but I do want to learn. I really appreciate your help. I will look into all of this. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘PHP Update Causing Website Clone Issues’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [clone](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/clone/) * [php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php/) * [php 7.4](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php-7-4/) * [php compatability](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php-compatability/) * [programming](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/programming/) * [test](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/test/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 7 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [sm5987](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sm5987/) * Last activity: [10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-update-causing-website-clone-issues/#post-18574641) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics