- Article
- Intermediate
- 2 minutes read
- Reviewed August 4, 2026
- WordPress maintenance and troubleshooting
Restoring WordPress means rebuilding a working website from a known backup set.
Files and database should represent a compatible point in time.
Choose the Restore Point
Consider:
- Incident start.
- Last known good state.
- recent orders or submissions.
- available backup frequency.
- malware persistence.
- schema and plugin versions.
- legal retention.
- acceptable data loss.
The newest backup is not always clean.
Prepare the Environment
Restrict public traffic if users could create new data during restoration.
Confirm storage, database, PHP, credentials, DNS and recovery access.
Preserve the failed state when investigation may be required.
Restore Order
A typical full restore uses:
- WordPress files.
- database import.
wp-config.phpand environment configuration.- permissions.
- caches and object-cache state.
- scheduled jobs and integrations.
Exact order can vary with the platform.
Verify Compatibility
Check that core, plugin and theme files match the database schema and stored settings.
Run required database upgrade routines after confirming the intended version.
Post-Restore Checks
Test:
- Frontend.
- login and roles.
- forms and email.
- uploads.
- search.
- cron and queues.
- APIs.
- payments.
- redirects.
- logs.
- backups.
- security monitoring.
Reconcile Lost Data
A point-in-time restore can remove legitimate data created after the backup.
Plan how to recover orders, users, form entries or content from logs and preserved copies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should files or database be restored first?
WordPress documentation recommends restoring files first and then the database as a typical order, while keeping the set consistent.
Can I restore only one plugin directory?
Yes when the failure is isolated and database compatibility is known, but verify the complete site afterward.
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