This article covers the issues one may be experiencing when importing the demo content.
How to increase the Server Memory Limit?
There's a certain amount of memory that the server will attribute to each site which it hosts. The default memory limit for WordPress is usually 32MB but processes such as importing the demo content and many other processes themes and plugins go through may require more memory. Increasing it will help you avoid some of the most common site errors.
(Beginner) Ask your hosting company to increase the memory limit
The easiest way is to reach out to your hosting company and ask theme to increase the PHP memory allocated to your WordPress site to 256M.
(Advanced) Update the values manually in the wp-config.php file
Connect to your server via FTP Find and edit the wp-config.php file in WordPress and add the following line:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
Read more about increasing the PHP memory in the WordPress Codex.
How to increase the PHP Time Limit?
The PHP Time Limit refers to the amount of time (in seconds) that your site will spend on a single operation before timing out (to avoid server lockups). To prevent the importing process from timing out, the value needs to be increased. 300 (seconds) should be enough for processing the import file.
(Beginner) Ask your hosting company to increase it
The easiest way is to reach out to your hosting company and ask them to increase the max_execution_time to 300.
(Advanced) Increase the Max Execution Time via php.ini
Connect to your server via FTP and find or create the php.ini file. The following line must be added to it:
max_execution_time = 300;
(Advanced) Increase the Max Execution Time via .htaccess
Connect to your server via FTP and find the .htaccess file and add the following line:
php_value max_execution_time 300
How to increase the Max Upload Size?
The max upload size refers to the largest file size that can be uploaded to your WordPress installation. If the limit is set to a low value you'll need to increase it to allow the importing process to go though.
(Beginner) Ask your hosting company to increase it
The easiest way is to reach out to your hosting company and ask them to increase it to 128M.
(Advanced) Increase it manually via php.ini
Connect to your server via FTP and find or create the php.ini file. The following line must be added to it:
upload_max_filesize = 128M
How to Enable Gzip compression for your site?
GZip is a file format and a software application used for compressing/decompressing the importable file in this case but it is used by other themes and plugins as well for different processes so it’s best to have it enabled.
The easiest way to get there is to reach out to your hosting company and ask them to do it.
How to enable cURL extension in PHP?
cURL is used by plugins and themes to communicate with remote servers/services for processes such as checking for updates.
The easiest way to have it enabled is to reach out to your hosting company and ask them to have it enabled for your site.
How to enable Remote Get?
Remote Get is used by plugins and themes to communicate with remote servers/services for processes such as checking for updates.
The easiest way to have it enabled is to reach out to your hosting company and ask them to have enable fsockopen/cURL for your site.