Softaculous allows you to manage installations for common CMS platforms. It can be used to quickly create copies or clones of websites, such as if a staging site is needed or to keep a working backup of the site accessible.
Related Articles
Create Staging Site with Softaculous
Install WordPress with Softaculous
Copy Files Using File Manager
Cloning a Site
- Log into cPanel
- Locate and click on the Softaculous Apps Installer icon, located under Software
- Once in the Softaculous tool, select the All Installations icon located in the upper right corner
NOTE: This will list all the different program instances currently installed in Softaculous. - Locate the site to clone and click on the Clone icon
- Once clicked, a Clone Installation page will be brought up
- From here fill out the details of where the clone will go:
- Choose Protocol: If the site has SSL, please choose the HTTPS protocol. Otherwise, use the default http://
- Choose Domain: If you are transferring to a subdomain or another main domain, select it here.
- In Directory: If you are moving to a subfolder, enter that here. Otherwise, leave this empty.
EXAMPLE: If your cloned site is going to be at domain.com/dir, then dir would be the Directory. - Database Name: You can either name your database or leave it at the default
- From here fill out the details of where the clone will go:
- Once all the destination information has been entered for the clone, click the Clone Installation button
- After clicking on the button, Softaculous will install the clone to the new folder/domain/subdomain selected
NOTE: Softaculous will also clone the database as well so that each copy has its own database.
IMPORTANT: If the database on the site has ever been changed manually, Softaculous may clone the original database for the site rather than the current database. To ensure this isn't the case, make a small change on the cloned website and confirm that the original site remains unchanged. If you find the change you made is appearing on both the original site and the cloned site, please reach out to our Technical Support for assistance.