Import File Too Large

Problem

The error message "ERROR: File upload failed" typically indicates that you are trying to import a file that is too large. Although the plugin checks the file size against your upload_max_size settings, there are other PHP configuration settings that may also cause issues.

Easy Solutions

The simplest solution is to compress your SQL file and upload it as a ZIP archive. WP Data Access will recognize ZIP files, extract them, and process the contents automatically.

📌 The ZipArchive extension must be installed on your server to import ZIP files.

Bot More Work Solutions

You can resolve this issue by adjusting the following PHP parameters:

• file_uploads
• upload_max_filesize
• post_max_size
• max_execution_time
• max_input_time

Navigate to Manage Plugin > System Info to check your settings.

There are three different ways to change these parameters, all described below. Replace the values with your preferred limits.

1) Add to your theme's functions.php file

@ini_set( 'file_uploads' , 'On' );
@ini_set( 'upload_max_size' , '64M' );
@ini_set( 'post_max_size', '64M');
@ini_set( 'max_execution_time', '300' );
@ini_set( 'max_input_time', '300' );

2) Add to your php.ini file

file_uploads = On 
upload_max_filesize = 64M 
post_max_size = 64M 
max_execution_time = 300 
max_input_time = 300

Don't forget to restart your web server!

3) Add to your .htaccess file

php_value file_uploads On
php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64M
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300

Notes

If you change the parameters to the values mentioned above, your users will be able to upload files up to 64MB. This is most likely not what you want for a production environment. Remember to decrease the parameter values back to their original settings after you have finished your import.