WordPress Database Reset

December 1, 2023

How to Reset Your WordPress Database to Default Settings

Do you want to reset your WordPress database to its original settings?

If you are working on a local server or a test site, then you might need to restore your database back to how it was when you first started.

In this article, we will show you how to reset your WordPress database to default settings with just a few clicks.

Reset WordPress database to fresh install

Here is a quick overview of the steps we will cover in this tutorial:

Step 1: Prepare a WordPress Backup Before Reset
Step 2: Reset Your WordPress Database to Default Settings
Step 3: Restore WordPress Database From Backup (Optional)

Ready? Let’s begin.

Step 1: Prepare a WordPress Backup Before Reset

WordPress stores all your website content in a database. This includes your posts, pages, media file data, plugin and theme settings, and more.

If you have been working on a test site on a local server or a staging site, then you sometimes may wish to reset to a fresh install to start over.

Resetting your WordPress database is the fastest way to do this. It deletes all your WordPress data without deleting any files stored on your web hosting server.

However, If you reset your WordPress database, then all the data will be gone forever. It cannot be undone.

We recommend making a complete WordPress backup before you go any further. You can also back up your WordPress database alone if you don’t want to back up your entire website.

Now, we will show you two methods to quickly back up your WordPress database before the reset. You can choose the one that works best for you.

Method 1: Make WordPress Database Backup Using Duplicator

Duplicator is the best WordPress backup plugin on the market. It allows you to easily back up your WordPress website and quickly restore it from the backup.

First, you need to install and activate the Duplicator plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is also a free version of Duplicator that you can use. However, we recommend upgrading to the paid plan to unlock the full potential of the plugin.

Upon activation, go to the Duplicator » Packages page and click the ‘Create New’ button.

Next, you need to provide a name for your backup.

Click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

Duplicator will now scan your WordPress website and show the scan results.

It may show some notices, like if you don’t have a WordPress security plugin installed or are using an outdated version of WordPress.

You can ignore these notices. If everything else looks good, then click on the ‘Build’ button to continue.

The plugin will back up your WordPress database and show you the download options.

Simply click on the ‘Download’ and ‘Both Files’ buttons to continue.

Duplicator will now send both the Archive and the Installer files as downloads to your computer.

Method 2: Create a Database Backup Using Advanced WP Reset

For this method, you will be using the Advanced WP Reset plugin. It is the same plugin that you will use in the next step to reset your WordPress database.

However, the downside of this backup approach is that you will have to restore your WordPress database using phpMyAdmin.

First, you need to install and activate the Advanced WP Reset plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the Tools » Advanced WP Reset page and switch to the ‘Snapshots’ tab.

Make database backup with Snapshots tool

Provide a name for your backup, and then click the ‘Take Snapshot’ button.

The plugin will now prepare a copy of your database and store it as a backup. You will see it listed under the Available Snapshots section.

However, when you reset your WordPress database, the plugin will also delete this snapshot. You need to save it on your computer to use it later.

Click on the plus [+] icon to expand the snapshot options, and then click on the ‘Download’ button.

Your database backup will now download as an SQL file to your computer.

Step 2: Reset Your WordPress Database to Default Settings

Now, you need to install and activate the Advanced WP Reset plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Next, go to the Tools » Advanced WP Reset page and switch to the ‘Reset’ tab.

Under the Site Reset section, the plugin will show you all the data it will reset. This includes the following:

Pages, posts, and comments
Custom database tables (created by you or a WordPress plugin installed on your site)
Users except for the current admin user
Advanced WP Reset plugin data (including snapshots and settings)

Below that, it will show you which data will not be deleted. This includes the following items:

The admin user account
Files, uploads in the media library, themes, plugins, and more. However, any plugin or theme data stored in the database will be deleted.
Basic WordPress settings, including site title, WordPress address, site address, timezone, and language options
Non-WordPress database tables. These tables don’t share the table prefix set in your WordPress database settings.

If everything looks good, just type ‘Reset’ under the Warning label and then click the ‘Reset’ button.

This will bring up another popup warning.

Simply click the ‘Reset Now’ button to continue.

The plugin will now reset your WordPress database to its default settings.

Once finished, you will see a success message.

You can now continue using your website with the default database settings.

Note: Upon reset, the plugin will recreate the default WordPress content that comes with a fresh install of WordPress. It includes a blog post titled ‘Hello World’, ‘A Sample Page’ under Pages, and a sample comment under Comments. Feel free to delete those manually.

Step 3: Restore WordPress Database From Backup (Optional)

If, for some reason, resetting your WordPress database to default settings didn’t work, then you can restore your database from the backup created in the first step.

Method 1: Restore Duplicator Database Backup

If you created your WordPress database backup using the Duplicator plugin, then here is how you will restore your website.

During the database reset, the Advanced WP Reset plugin will deactivate all other WordPress plugins installed on your site.

Go to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin area to activate the Duplicator plugin.

Once the plugin is activated, you need to visit the Duplicator » Import page.

Here, you need to upload the Archive file you downloaded in the first step.

Next, the plugin will scan your archive file and show you the package details.

If everything looks good, just click the ‘Continue’ button to begin the import.

On the next screen, you may be asked to confirm that you want to continue without a recovery point.

Since you already have the latest backup, it is safe to continue without creating a recovery point.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

You will see the number of posts, pages, comments, and media under the system overview. Click on the ‘Launch Installer’ button to continue.

This will launch the Duplicator installer.

Upon launch, the installer will automatically choose ‘Restore single site’ as your restoration type.

Scroll down to the Validation section.

Here, you will again see the warning about the recovery point. You need to check the box next to the ‘I have read and accept all terms and notices’ option.

Click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

Duplicator will now show you a popup with your installer settings. Go ahead and click on the ‘OK’ button.

Duplicator will now start importing your website from the backup and restore your WordPress database.

Once finished, you will see a success message with a button to log in to the WordPress admin area.

Method 2: Restore Database Backup from SQL File

If you saved your WordPress database method using the Advanced WP Reset plugin’s Snapshots tool, then here is how you will restore the database.

First, you need to open up phpMyAdmin. It is a web-based tool that allows you to easily perform database operations using a friendly interface.

If the website you are trying to store is hosted on your web server, then log in to your WordPress hosting account control panel (cPanel).

From here, you need to find the Database section and click on the ‘phpMyAdmin’ button.

This will open phpMyAdmin in a new browser tab.

On the other hand, if you were working on a local website on your computer, then you can open phpMyAdmin or a similar tool from the software that you are using for local sites.

We recommend using Local, which does not come with phpMyAdmin. Instead, it uses Open Adminer to manage databases.

Once you are in phpMyAdmin, make sure that you have selected the database for your website.

Select all database tables in phpMyAdmin by clicking on the ‘Check all’ box at the bottom of the table list. After that, select ‘Drop’ from the ‘With selected’ dropdown menu.

This will empty your WordPress database.

You can now switch to the ‘Import’ tab at the top and click on the ‘Choose File’ button to select the SQL file you downloaded earlier.

After choosing the file, feel free to review the on-screen options. The default settings will work for most websites.

Scroll down toward the bottom of the page and click on the ‘Import’ button.

phpMyAdmin will now upload your SQL file and run it.

After that, you will see a success message.

You can now visit your website and log in to see your database restored to its previous settings.

We hope this article helped you learn how to reset your WordPress database to default settings. You may also want to check out our beginner’s guide to WordPress database management and our expert picks for the best WordPress database plugins.

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The post How to Reset Your WordPress Database to Default Settings first appeared on WPBeginner.

September 3, 2019

How to Reset WordPress Websites Quickly (Including Multisite)

Life has no CTRL+Z, but thankfully, your WordPress site does. Whether you want to test various themes and plugins quickly, or you just want to wipe the slate clean and start over, resetting your WordPress site is the way to go.

Deleting WordPress and re-installing it is such a hassle. Why not hit the reset button instead and return it to how it was when you first installed it?

In this post, I’ll show you how to reset your WordPress site in a few simple steps.

The second half of the tutorial will cover how easy it is to reset your WordPress site with a single-click on our Hosting, even if it’s a Multisite. This solution is particularly helpful for everyone, since the free reset plugins don’t work with WordPress Multisite installations perfectly.

Ready…Steady…Let’s go.

Still having trouble resetting your WordPress site after reading this post? Let our experts help! Big or small, our awesome support team can help you with any WordPress issue — and for FREE! Whether it’s Monday lunchtime or peak party hours on the weekend, our team is available 24/7.

Prefer a video instead? We have you covered.

How WordPress Works

Before we discuss the solution, let’s understand how WordPress works. You can, of course, skip this section and head to the solution right away, but I suggest you stay a bit.

WordPress is a series of files on your server working in tandem with a database (MySQL or MariaDB) to store and retrieve information.

An inforgraphic showing a quick overview of how WordPress works — The left side serves the right. The right side makes requests to the left.

By default, WordPress ties every installation to a single database on your web host. This database stores all the information of your WordPress site: settings, blog posts, pages, comments, usernames, passwords, links to files, where to find them, etc.

It stores all this information as values under distinct tables in the database.

Think of a database as a huge box with multiple books inside it, aka tables. And each book stores particular information, like comments or settings. And each entry in the book is a value, like your username, email, etc.

If you could reset all the tables in the database to their initial values, aka erase all the pages of all your books, you’d be resetting your WordPress installation.

But this won’t delete the files you’ve uploaded or downloaded to your WordPress site, such as media, themes, plugins, etc. However, most WordPress reset plugins provide an option to delete these files, either selectively or all of them.

Now that you’ve understood the theory, let’s move ahead with the practicals!

How to Reset a WordPress Site
(Standalone Installations)

Step 1: Install and Activate the WP Reset Plugin

The first step is to go to your WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > Add New, search for WP Reset plugin by WebFactory Ltd., and then click Install Now and Activate it.

WP Reset Plugin Download Page Screenshot — You can also download and install the plugin manually.

Screenshot showing How to Install and Activate the WP Reset Plugin — Search for “WP Reset” in WordPress.org’s plugin repo.

If you’re wondering why I chose this plugin over others, it’s the highest-rated WordPress reset plugin with the most installs. It’s well-supported by its developer with regular updates, and it’s totally free!

Step 2: Go to WP Reset Dashboard

Next, go to Tools > WP Reset to open the WP Reset dashboard.

You’ll see a warning here saying that resetting will delete all your site’s posts, pages, custom post types, comments, media entries, users, and all the default WP database tables.

However, your media files, plugins, themes, any other uploads, your site’s settings, the logged-in user’s account, they will all remain as is.

You should keep in mind that the media files will not show in your media library even after the reset, though they’ll still be present on your server. We’ll cover how to delete them quickly later.

Step 3: Hit the Reset Button

Scroll down to the last section in the WP Reset dashboard called Reset.

Now, before you type in “reset” and hit the Reset WordPress button, in the section above Reset, you’ll find the Post-reset actions section.

Here, you can instruct WP Reset to Reactivate the current theme (off by default), Reactivate the WP Reset plugin (on by default), and Reactivate all currently active plugins (off by default).

I’ll go with the default options, but if you plan to install the same theme and plugins later, and just want to reset all the other content, checking these options here will save you time later.

Warning: You need to take note that this is 100% destructive. It will wipe out your current WordPress site completely, and there’s nothing you can do to get it back. THERE is NO UNDO! Unless, you’ve taken a backup of your site. If you haven’t, I recommend it highly. You can use UpdraftPlus or Snapshot Pro to do the same.

3...2...1... Reset. And we’re done. It’s that simple!

Cleaning Your Old WordPress Files

The Reset WordPress button is great to restore your site’s database to its initial condition. This ensures that your WordPress installation is back to its shiny new self. But it doesn’t clear out all your site’s old files.

To help you with performing a clean wipe, WP Reset comes with additional Tools in a separate tab.

Warning (Again): WP Reset is not a backup plugin. There is no CTRL+Z. Proceed with extreme caution if you have taken no backups.

Delete Transients

Transients are WordPress options with an expiration time. They help with speeding up your site and/or reducing stress on your server’s resources. It perfectly suits transients to act as a cache for the right data. This option deletes all transient-related database entries, including expired, non-expired, and orphaned transient entries.

Clean Uploads Folder

This will delete all the files in your /wp-content/uploads folder, including any sub-folders and files inside them. It’ll also delete all your media files.

Reset Theme Options

If you’re looking for how to reset WordPress themes, this is it. This option will reset settings for not just your active theme, but all your installed themes. However, for this option to work, the theme should use the official WordPress theme modification API. If the theme developer is using some custom methods to save the theme options, this won’t work.

Delete Themes

Clicking this will delete all your themes, including the active one.

Delete Plugins

This option with delete all plugins except for WP Reset, which will remain active after it deletes all the other plugins.

Empty or Delete Custom Tables

If you have any custom tables in your database with wp_ prefix, this option will either empty or delete them. Emptying (truncating) removes all content from the tables, but keeps their structure intact. Deleting (dropping) removes the tables completely from the database.

Delete .htaccess File

This action deletes the .htaccess file in your WordPress installation’s root folder (not recommended unless you know what you’re doing). If you just want to edit the .htaccess file from your dashboard, you can use the free WP Htaccess Editor plugin from the same authors. Plus, it automatically creates backups of your .htaccess file as you edit it.

Advanced WordPress Reset with WP-CLI

You can execute all the tools available in the WP Reset plugin interface with WP-CLI. Run wp help reset to get a list of the commands available.

Additional help for every command is available via the default WP-CLI help interface. Do note that you need to confirm all your actions for the sake of security.

If you want to skip confirmation for the commands, use the --yes option. remember though, as with GUI, there’s no going back here too!

How to Reset WordPress Multisite

There’s no free plugin, including both the highly rated WP Reset and Advanced WordPress Reset, which reset WordPress Multisite installations perfectly.

In a Multisite setup, WP Reset plugin disables itself in the Network Admin dashboard. This is to prevent unnecessary harm to the entire Multisite network, since it’s not tested to work with it.

WP Reset is not totally compatible with Multisite — WP Reset team warns users against using it in Multisite setups.

WPMU DEV Hosting to the Rescue

When you use WPMU DEV Hosting to convert your standard WordPress installation to a Multisite network (WP-MU), he automatically takes a backup of your complete site.

A very smart and time-saving feature!

You can identify this backup by its Type value “Pre-Convert to Multisite.”

The WPMU DEV Hosting Dashboard — Easy, automatic backup pre-Multisite setup.

Thanks to this backup, you can reset your WordPress Multisite to how it was before. I recommend you to take a New Backup before you restore the old backup, just in case you change your mind and want to go back.

To reset the WordPress Multisite, click on the three dots icon on the far right end of the backup listing, and then select Restore from the drop-down menu.

Restoring backups at the click of a button in WPMU DEV Hosting — ‘1-Click Restore’ will change your development life forever.

And………tadaaaa!!! WP Reset has revived your WordPress Multisite as a single entity. As long as you have a backup, you have unlimited lives to play out this game!

Subsite Resets in a WordPress Multisite

What if you don’t want to reset the entire WordPress Multisite network, but just reset one subsite on it? You have two options here:

1. Complete Reset: Delete the subsite and re-create it with the same name. Not only will your subsite be as good as new, you’ll also delete all its media, themes, plugins, and any other uploads. A total reset of your subsite.

Resetting a Single Subsite on WordPress Multisite network by deleting and recreating it — Deleting subsites is a breeze in the latest WordPress version.

2. Database Reset: Use a plugin such as WP Reset to restore the subsite to its initial state. You must follow the same instructions as you would with a standalone WordPress installation. With this method, you won’t lose the subsite’s files. However, just like resetting non-WP-MU sites, the media won’t be visible in your subsite’s media library after the reset.

Fret not! You’ll still have the option to delete them all, under WP Reset > Tools tab. Note that the WP Reset team suggests, “We don’t recommend to resetting the main site.” It’s up to you though. As long as you have a reliable backup and the will to take a risk, it’s worth it!

WP Reset says that "we don't recommend to resetting the main site. Sub-sites should be OK." — Don’t use WP reset on the main site of your Multisite network.

Warning (Yet Again): Take backups before you try to reset anything. I can’t stress this enough.

Live. Die. Reset.

Debugging WordPress is hard, time-consuming, and often frustrating. It can take hours to find, test, and fix even the smallest bugs. Resetting your WordPress installation with just a single click makes your life easier, so that you can test and debug various themes and plugins quickly and efficiently.

WPMU DEV’s Fully Managed WordPress Hosting is made by developers for developers. No bloat or fluff added. Just the tools you need to get your job done without pulling your hair out.

Also, it’s the closest you’ll come to feeling as badass as Tom Cruise, unless you’re actually Tom Cruise. In that case, we can definitely fulfill your need for speed, should you accept this mission.