Impex from version 4.2.1 to 4.2.2?

[JSR]

Hello,

I'm not good with technical stuff. I have a vB 4.2.1 but it has a lot of bugs and issues with plugins etc. so I want to import only users, threads and posts to a fresh installation of 4.2.2. I don't want to import plugins, configurations, attachments, themes etc. What I want is a fresh installation of 4.2.2 and the users, threads and posts from the old installation.

I am trying to follow Impex instructions and import users, threads and posts from the old forum installation. Both are hosted on the same server. I have started the process and I think it is working too. I will only know after it is completed I guess.

I didn't run the associated users module as I read that I don't need it for what I am trying to do. The forum is a little large. 75k members, 85k threads and 1 million posts. So I guess it's going to take A LOT of time to complete. I am running Impex on the server and it is importing users for the past 12 hours now. So if it takes 12-13 hours importing 75k members, I wonder how long it will take to import 1 million posts. Any way to make this process faster? I am currently doing it in batches of 500 and I have been advised not to increase that or Impex will crash.

Please take a look at this screenshot and also answers the questions in it.



Please help me out through this import process and I will be very grateful to you.

Thanks!

[Mark.B]

IMPEX isn't designed for this. If you did it, you'd lose all your existing URLs as all the id numbers in the database would change.

You should perform a normal upgrade, then uninstall any third party stuff you don't want,

[JSR]

IMPEX isn't designed for this. If you did it, you'd lose all your existing URLs as all the id numbers in the database would change.

You should perform a normal upgrade, then uninstall any third party stuff you don't want,

I have done this before. I had hired a technician before and he did it this same way. If the ID numbers changed, I think he fixed them somehow because when he was done everything was perfectly smoothly. We only imported users, threads, posts from the old installation to the new one. Then the server hard drive crashed and now I have to do it all over again. I am unable to reach him now so that's why I have to try to do this all by myself.

You say I would lose the existing URLs, what exactly does that mean and do you know how I can fix them?

[Mark.B]

We can't provide support form using ImpEx to upgrade vBulletin. It isn't built to do it.

Every thread, every post in your forum has an ID number. ImpEx will change these, whereas an upgrade will not. You can't fix them, because ImpEx is not supposed to be used this way.

My recommendation would be to restore from backup and upgrade the proper way.

[JSR]

We can't provide support form using ImpEx to upgrade vBulletin. It isn't built to do it.

Every thread, every post in your forum has an ID number. ImpEx will change these, whereas an upgrade will not. You can't fix them, because ImpEx is not supposed to be used this way.

My recommendation would be to restore from backup and upgrade the proper way.

I understand what you mean. It's not just about upgrading to a newer version. The reason why I want to do what I am doing is because there are lot of bugs and issues in the current installation of vB. Plus, there are somethings hardcoded in the files that I don't know how to remove. Easiest way to fix all of this mess is to just use Impex to bring ONLY the users, posts and threads from the previous installation to a new one. I know it works because my technician has done this before. I don't know how he fixed the ID numbers but everything seemed to be working fine after the Impex import.

Is there ANY OTHER way to just extract ONLY posts, threads and users from a vB database and put them into a new installation?

[Mark.B]

If you have stuff hard coded into files, it doesn't matter, since during an upgrade you will overwrite all the files anyway.

As mentioned, the ONLY supported way to upgrade vBulletin, is to use the upgrade script. After that (or before if you prefer), you can uninstall any unwanted products and plugins.
Using ImpEx to upgrade will definitely break all your existing URLs.

[JSR]

If you have stuff hard coded into files, it doesn't matter, since during an upgrade you will overwrite all the files anyway.

As mentioned, the ONLY supported way to upgrade vBulletin, is to use the upgrade script. After that (or before if you prefer), you can uninstall any unwanted products and plugins.
Using ImpEx to upgrade will definitely break all your existing URLs.

So are you saying if I just run the upgrade script normally, all that hard coded stuff will go away?

[Mark.B]

Well if you've modified the php files, as part of the upgrade you have to upload new copies of ALL the standard vBulletin files except config.php. So yes any modified files will be reverted in effect.
This won't remove any completely custom files but that shouldn't normally make any difference.

[JSR]

Well if you've modified the php files, as part of the upgrade you have to upload new copies of ALL the standard vBulletin files except config.php. So yes any modified files will be reverted in effect.
This won't remove any completely custom files but that shouldn't normally make any difference.

Let me try this and see what happens.

Should I just run the upgrade script from the adminCP?

[Mark.B]

Yes you can do it from there.

[JSR]

Yes you can do it from there.

I was just thinking..

If I migrate to another board (lets say MyBB) and then migrate it back to vB using Impex. Will I achieve what I am trying to?

I want ONLY users, posts and threads on a fresh installation of vB from my old vB forum.

[Mark.B]

I was just thinking..

If I migrate to another board (lets say MyBB) and then migrate it back to vB using Impex. Will I achieve what I am trying to?

I want ONLY users, posts and threads on a fresh installation of vB from my old vB forum.

You will still lose the thread URLs, and again, I need to stress that we cannot provide ANY support for upgrading vBulletin other than via the normal upgrade script.

I still don't fully understand why you can't simply uninstall any unwanted products and plugins.

[JSR]

You will still lose the thread URLs, and again, I need to stress that we cannot provide ANY support for upgrading vBulletin other than via the normal upgrade script.

I still don't fully understand why you can't simply uninstall any unwanted products and plugins.

Because the database is very messy (and has a lot of errors) and to clean it all up, I will have to hire an expert and he will charge me for many hours. Its not just about the unwanted products and plugins.