Common Error Messages

– Archive not found!
– Installer and archive mismatch detected

Solution 1LOCATE ARCHIVE NAME
Double check the name of the archive file name. Goto the package that you downloaded and get the full name which will be in the format [full-unique-name]_archive.zip.

• Duplicator Pro > Packages > Expand Package Overview > Click “View Details” button > Expand General Section > Copy Full Name of “Archive” link
• Duplicator Lite > Packages > Package Details Button > Expand General Section > Copy Full Name of “Archive” link

Solution 2EXTRACT BACKUP
To quickly fix, exact the installer-backup.php from the archive.zip file; which is an exact copy of the installer file. Be sure to look for a file labeled {HASH}_installer-backup.php.Once extracted you can browse to the installer-backup.php file.
Note: You can rename this file to whatever you want but be sure to delete it after the install process is completed.Instructions on how to manually extract a DAF file can be found here.

Solution 3VALIDATE DOWNLOADS
Make sure that when you download the installer, that you download the archive that goes with the installer. Also, make sure the archive has been fully downloaded and then uploaded.The size of the archive on your local machine needs to match the size of the archive shown on the packages screen – if it doesn’t try to re-download.

Solution 4SECONDARY BROWSER
In more rare cases you might try the install on a different browser without any extensions enabled. If you are running your sites behind a proxy consider temporarily turning off the proxythen flush your dns cache. If you are running a VPN or firewall software, consider turning off those features temporarily to see if that resolves the issue.

Option 1On some web servers the server auto-inserts an .htaccess file in the dup-installer directory or even one of its sub-folders. Go into /dup-installer directory and remove the.htaccess file if it is present (you may need to enable viewing of hidden files in your FTP client or File Manager). After doing that browse to the installer.php again and see if it works.In some cases you may need to clear your web browsers cache.

Solution 1In Mac OS systems running Safari files may be set to automatically unzip upon download. This will cause issues with the Duplicator because the installerlooks for a .zip or .daf archive file. To turn this feature please follow these steps:

1. Open Safari Browser
2. Go to: Preferences > General > Open Safe files after downloading — leave this box unchecked.
3. Attempt to download the plugin again – it should come down as a single file.

RE-ARCHIVE
To repair an archive that has been reconfigured by your operating system or some other process follow these steps:

1. Extract the archive file onto your local computer and navigate to the installer-backup.php file.
2. Select all the files/folders and re-create the archive.zip so that installer-backup.php is at the root of the archive.
3. In some cases you may need to rename the archive created in step 2 to the same one extracted in step 1
4. Place the newly re-organized archive file in the same location as the installer.php file and try again.

IMPORTANT: Even though a re-archive will work in most cases, the key to solving the issue is to prevent your browser/operating system or external program from changingthe structure of the archive file when its downloaded to your computer.

When opening a web browser and browsing to the installer.php (i.e http://yourserver/installer.php) you are asking the web server to process the PHP file.If you see a bunch of text and code then the web server you placed the installer file on is not setup correctly or the installer file was corrupted when theweb server served it up as part of the download process. Below outlines a few different scenarios you might run into when trying to run the installer.php file.

Solution 1

Plain Text:

For plain text/code on the screen edit the httpd.conf or .htaccessfile and add the following lines:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .htm .html
AddHandler x-httpd-php .php .htm .htmlIt will be different on your setup so Google whatever platform your using XAMPP/MAMP/SUSE etc. along with the term AddType phpand there should be some posts that explain exactly how to set it up. For example a similar question using MAMP wasfound here.

In order to run WordPress you will need a web server such as Apache, PHP and a database like MySQL.For instruction on how to setup your own WordPress server see this article.There may be others issues you run into. Below are various suggestions/fixes for this possible scenarios.

Solution 2

Binary Text:

If you are just seeing binary text/code on the screen such as:
1f8b 0800 0000 0000 0003 ecfd 7b57 1bb9d228 0eff 9dbd d6fe 0e8d 7706 ecd0 363609b9 d8e9 7813 7012 26dc 8221 2401 86a7...

- OR -

Warning: Unexpected character in input: '?' (ASCII=17) state=0Then the web server may have some issues with pushing the file down to your computer. The easiest wayto get a good copy of the installer is to try the following:

• Direct FTP Download:
  1. When transferring the package files from your FTP client be sure it is in binary mode since ASCII mode can/will corrupt the zip file.
  2. In Duplicator Pro FTP to ‘/public_html/wp-content/backups-dup-pro’.
     In Duplicator Lite FTP to:
     • Legacy Path: ‘/public_html/wp-snapshots/’ folder (from your WP root)
     • Content Path: ‘/public_html/wp-content/backups-dup-lite/’
  3. Find the installer file name associated with the correct package and download it.
  4. Open in an text editor such as Notepad++. The file at this point shouldbe a normal PHP file.
• Use backup installer: Another option is to open the archive.zip file and find the installer-backup.php file it will be an exact copyof the original installer.php file.
• Contact Host: Let your host know that the download of files needs to be set in binary mode not ASCII.

Solution 3

Download Prompts:

If you browse to the installer and get a download prompt then you may have a .htaccess file that is corrupt or not configured to work correctly. To validate this simply create a blank file called test.php and place it at the same location as the installer.php file. If you also get download prompt when browsing to it viaa web browser then your web configuration setup is not correct. Here are a few options:

1. Non-Technical Route: If your not technical or just don’t have time to mess around with server setups contact your host and tell them your site is not properly processing PHP files. They should be able to get you going quickly.
2. Technical Route:Try to explicitly set PHP5 in your .htaccess file:AddHandler x-httpd-php5 .phpor with CGI
   AddHandler x-httpd-php5-cgi .phpConsider these handlers for your version of PHP.

Solution 4

Parse Errors:

If you see an error such as:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting T_VARIABLE or T_DOLLAR_OPEN_CURLY_BRACES or T_CURLY_OPEN in … installer.php on line 1300Then the encoding on your file is not being accepted by your web server correctly. Below area few options:

1. In many cases the transfer of the file from one server to another can cause the installer to get corrupted. To solve this issue see the section above titled”BINARY TEXT”. In many cases changing the FTP mode from ASCII to binary can fix this issue.
2. If the first option does not solve the issue then open a program likeNotepad++ and play aroundwith the “Encoding” setting found in the top toolbar.Change from ANSI to UTF-8 try to convert from one format to the other and then save the file and then re-upload the installerfile to the server to see which version works.

Additional Search Links:
Stackoverflow |Google Search

Also see:
Why can’t I download files / get a corrupted installer / see a 404.3 message?