Back to Community
Home / Community / Plugin → Duplicator

Why Your Duplicator Package Build Gets Stuck and How to Fix It

33 threads Sep 10, 2025 Plugin → Duplicator

Content

If you've ever tried to create a backup or migration package with the Duplicator plugin only to have it freeze at a specific percentage—like 20%, 30%, or 65%—you're not alone. This is a common frustration reported by many users. This guide will walk you through the most likely causes and the steps you can take to resolve the issue.

What Does "Stuck" Mean?

The "Building Package" process involves two main tasks: creating a database dump and archiving your site's files. When the process gets "stuck," it means the server has stopped processing one of these tasks. This often manifests as the progress bar freezing at a specific point for an extended period, eventually leading to a timeout, a "build interrupted" error, or a white screen. In some cases, the process may even appear to complete but produce a package that is much smaller than expected.

Common Causes and Their Solutions

1. Server Timeouts and Resource Limits

This is the most frequent culprit. Web servers and PHP are configured with default time and resource limits to maintain stability. For larger sites, the Duplicator build process can exceed these limits.

  • PHP Limits: Increase the max_execution_time, memory_limit, and post_max_size values in your php.ini file. Try setting the execution time to 500 or more and memory to 512MB or higher.
  • Web Server Limits: Servers like Apache or Nginx may have their own timeout settings (e.g., mod_reqtimeout for Apache). You may need to contact your hosting provider to adjust these.

2. Database Engine and Large Databases

The process can hang during the database dump phase, especially with large databases (e.g., 1GB+).

  • Switch Database Engines: In Duplicator > Settings > Packages, try changing the "Database Engine" from the default "PHP code" to "MySQLDump" if your host supports it. This is often much faster and more reliable for large databases.
  • If MySQLDump is Not Available: On some shared hosts, shell access is disabled. If you cannot use mysqldump, try adjusting the "Query Size Limit" and "Chunk Size" settings in the database options to use smaller chunks of data.

3. File Permissions and Server Security Modules

The plugin may be unable to read or write certain files or directories due to permission restrictions.

  • Check File Permissions: Ensure the plugin has read access to all WordPress files and write access to the wp-snapshots directory.
  • Open-Basedir Restrictions: The PHP open_basedir directive can restrict which files PHP can access. If enabled, it may need to be configured to include all necessary paths or disabled.
  • ModSecurity: Some server security modules can incorrectly flag the build process as malicious. Checking your server's error logs or temporarily disabling ModSecurity (if possible) can help identify if this is the cause.

4. Check the Package Build Log

The most important step for diagnosis is to check the detailed log file Duplicator generates for each package.

  • Go to Duplicator > Packages.
  • Click the details button for the failed package.
  • Review the log for any warnings, errors, or notices that occur near the end of the file. This log often contains the exact reason the build failed, such as a permission denied error or a timeout.

5. Try the DupArchive Engine (For Sites Under 500MB)

For sites under 500MB, the DupArchive engine can be more efficient and less prone to timeouts than the standard ZIP engine.

  • In Duplicator > Settings > Packages, change the "Archive Engine" to DupArchive.

6. For Extremely Large Sites: Filter and Split

If your site is very large (e.g., 10GB+), the build process may be too heavy for your server environment.

  • Use Filters: Exclude unnecessary large files from the package, such as video files, old backups, or cache directories (e.g., wp-content/cache).
  • Database-Only or Files-Only: Consider creating a database-only package and manually migrating the files via FTP, or vice-versa.

What to Do If Nothing Works

If you have tried all the steps above and are still encountering issues, the problem may be a specific server configuration that is difficult to diagnose publicly. Your next step should be to seek help from your web hosting provider's support team. They can check the server's error logs (e.g., Apache, Nginx, or PHP-FPM logs) for any underlying issues that are interrupting the process.

Remember, a package build getting stuck is almost always a server resource or configuration issue, not necessarily a flaw in the Duplicator plugin itself. Methodically working through these common solutions will most often lead to a successful build.

Related Support Threads Support