Compatible Zip

Issue Summary

Trying to take a live site down to Local to work on it. Installed the WP Migrate Lite plugin, got the downloaded ZIP. I run the “import” in Local and it gets almost to the end, asks me for my machine credentials, then fails, tells me to use a “Compatible Zip” file. The error message disappears quickly but if I click on it, I go to a support page on how to use import but nothing on the page talks about what my cause a zip file to be incompatible.

Troubleshooting Questions

I can create a new file in Local and view, edit it. I’ve tried to remake the zip multiple times with different settings (with and without WP etc). Same result every time.

Replication

Not sure how to replicate for someone else. Just looking for some detail on a useless error message.

System Details

  • Which version of Local is being used? 6.61+6281 (Mac)

  • What Operating System (OS) and OS version is being used? Mac Monteray 12.6.
    MacBook Pro 14, M1 Max, 32GB Ram.

  • Attach the Local Log. See this Help Doc for instructions on how to do so:
    local-lightning.log (40.6 KB)

Security Reminder

Local does a pretty good job of scrubbing private info from the logs and the errors it produces, however there’s always the possibility that something private can come through. Because these are public forums, always review the screenshots you are sharing to make sure there isn’t private info like passwords being displayed.

Hey @deanbrady!

The issue might be happening if you’re selecting Other Files and including things like extra full site or DB backups. Can you try unzipping your export, and removing everything except the wp-content and SQL? Then zip it back up and see if it imports.

Keep us posted and we’d be happy to help further!

Please note: on Windows, this kind of problem can also happen if you have poor disk space in your C drive, even if your Local installation is on another drive with plenty of space. It seems Local cannot use another disk as a scratch disk while importing sites.

I tried to import a site with an almost full C drive and it blew away my list of sites (again…). I tried to re-import them but it crashed in unpredictable ways until I realized I had less than one GB in my C drive. Now it works.

This thing that the list of Local sites is so easily corrupted is weird to me, I don’t understand why actually.

Hi @swaip! Thank you for your insight. Have you explored using our Cloud Backups feature to help save your sites and work?

If you have any sites that are especially media-heavy with images, video, audio, or other content it might be worth offloading a lot of that bulk as well. In the long run, when the sites are live it will help improve their performance as well. We recommend WP Offload Media!

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