WP Local Site Import removes user privileges

What issue or error are you experiencing?

Import an existing site into wp-local and lose admin access - cant access dashboard.
Clearly an ongoing issue as have found:

  1. List item
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What steps can be taken to replicate the issue? Feel free to include screenshots, videos, etc

Import a file using zip as described in docs: Import/Export a WordPress Site - Local

System Details

  • Local Version: 7.2.1+6433

  • Operating System (OS) and OS version: Windows 10 Pro


Local Logs

Attach your Local Logs here (Help Doc - Retrieving Local’s Log)

Local.zip (113.4 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.

Hi @sjw9999

You can try creating a new admin user or editing a current users credentials via CLI. Instructions on the link below:

I did that. It doesnt fix the problem though, it’s just a workaround.

Does it happen when you import any site? Or just a specific site? If it’s happening with multiple sites is there a commonality in a plugin for example that could be contributing to the issue? Like a security, user management, or similar type plugin?

Often when this happens it’s due to a setting or some other type of plugin, theme, or database conflict outside of Local’s control.

For example, if you create a new, blank site in Local can you access that okay?

Glad the work around is getting you in for now!

It happened the first time I used the import but I thought it was just an anomaly or that I did something wrong. When it happened a second time, I thought - this is not a coincidence any more. That’s two from two imports. I have previously just used blank site for new ones or Duplicator for existing to copy sites in but I thought I would try your import feature and the 2 sites I’ve done have both had this issue.

The plugin list in the most recent site is very limited - only: Classic Editor, Contact Form 7, Easy Twitter Feed Widget, Soliloquy Slider, Wordfence.

Creating a blank site is no problem.

The site I just imported is an old, barely used site so I am happy to give you the import file for testing: https://www.dropbox.com/t/4K5ooyeRIJnh5aMD

Maybe you can see what the issue is…

Wordfence could potentially be the issue on there. You also mentioned that it’s an older site. How old are we talking? Compatibility issues could also be a factor if it was last live on older versions of WP/PHP/plugins/themes and so on.

We do see this issue from time to time, as you noted in your original post, but not widespread, and again it’s generally down to some site-level conflict Local can’t account for which is why we provide that help doc with a workaround to get users in. In testing other sites I’m able to import and pull without any issue on the latest versions of Local.

Deleted wordfence before importing - issue persists

Hi @sjw9999

How did you delete Wordfence? Sometimes if you don’t go through their uninstall steps they will still leave files, folders or DB tables behind. In either case, as I mentioned above it could be other culprits on the site as well.

Where are these sites coming from? Are they live and hosted somewhere currently?

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