[Plugin: WordPress Importer] wordpress importer problem: all posts' author become admin

Edit the wordpress-importer plugin on line 17. Change:

define( ‘IMPORT_DEBUG’, false );

to

define( ‘IMPORT_DEBUG’, true );

After doing that try importing again. This will cause more information to be displayed to help track down the problem.

Also, if you have any other plugins enabled then try disabling them before importing.

Hi Jon Cave,
Thanks for replying me.

However, it still doesn’t work. Some of the posts can be imported correctly, but most of the posts are assigned to admin…

and the user cannot be import/create properly.

• not all of the users imported.
• their roles mis-match, for example, administrator become subscriber.

I would like to know what the problem is. any article or posts that relate to importing posts and users ?

As above. Could you make the change to the IMPORT_DEBUG line in the plugin’s main php file. Then try importing again and paste the exact error message that appears this time. Changing the IMPORT_DEBUG definition will output more information about why the user couldn’t be created so I can help you solve this issue.

Hi Jon Cave,
I made the change on define( ‘IMPORT_DEBUG’, true );. and there are two situation.

uncheck Download and import file attachments, it go to the loading page. This load the posts properly with correct authors, but import users cannot login (password error). and their roles become subscriber.

check Download and import file attachments, first, it hang on blank page while loading.alothugh the users are imported, the posts are not .Then I have to re-import several times to load all post (to reach have fun) .

Secondly, I got the following notice:

Failed to create new user for admin. Their posts will be attributed to the current user. This username is already registered.
Failed to create new user for Fred. Their posts will be attributed to the current user. This username is already registered.
Failed to create new user for Lucy Wire. Their posts will be attributed to the current user. This username is already registered.
Failed to create new user for Tristan Ap. Their posts will be attributed to the current user. This username is already registered.
…

P.S. sometimes I got the following message
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.. I import to my local zend server virtual host

Thirdly, once all posts imported, not all posts assigned to the right authors.

In conclusion, if I uncheck Download and import file attachments, the post import correctly. But the links won’t update to the new site and the media files are not downloaded to my localhost.

If I download and import file attachments, cannot assign the author to their corresponding post.

I am trying to use another method mentioned in the following blog.
https://welcome.totheinter.net/2008/10/04/how-to-migrate-from-wordpress-to-wordpress-mu/

It seems work and I think maybe I can migrate the users with this method.

The problem is for the multisite user roles on different blogs. is wp_usermeta table control the user roles and level while they login ?

uncheck Download and import file attachments, it go to the loading page. This load the posts properly with correct authors, but import users cannot login (password error). and their roles become subscriber.

This is expected. The export files do not contain the users’ passwords or role. The importer warns you of this at the second step: “If a new user is created by WordPress, a new password will be randomly generated and the new user’s role will be set as subscriber. Manually changing the new user’s details will be necessary.”

Failed to create new user for admin. Their posts will be attributed to the current user. This username is already registered.

Well it sounds like you import several times. So when you run the import the 2nd, 3rd, … times you should use the dropdown on the Assign Authors screen, labelled “or assign posts to an existing user:”, to map the authors correctly. E.g. for the admin user choose “admin” from the dropdown.

Hi Jon Cave,
thanks for replying me. Now I understand the problem might be I click submit import several times, due to the page always hang on blank page. Or stop loading and never reach the “have fun” step.

well, seems it is difficult for me because my current sites got more than 100 authors… I feel I cannot do it one by one.

AND I always got blank page or stop load while import (is that caused by php loading timeout ?) . Some posts set it caused by php.ini max_execution_time, max_input_time, memory_limit, and ..etc. However, no matter what value I change, I cannot get rid of this problem.

I know there is another plugin called: Advanced Export for WordPress & WordPress MU https://wpmututorials.com/plugins/advanced-export/

It can import posts with correct author, but it may not check whether the media files existing or not. I feel it will keep adding media files in background processing, even you close the browser. (ex: the uploads directory 5XX MB, after import I got more than 1 GB.)

I was thinking: (just assumption)
1) import document and attachemnt. to get all media files.
2) delete database and reset to default wordpress.
3) import without doucment and attachement.
4) modify and update the internal post links. (modify db table)
5) export/import user and usermeta from current sites. then modify db table.

have fixed it.
root cause is username in WXR file (value of <wp:author_login> in WXR) MUST NOT contains non-(alphanumeric character and the underscore),
such as @, -, …, all are invalid, if contain any of them, then will got error of “Failed to create new user for”

for details please goto:
【已解决】使用wordpress importer导入WXR时出错：Failed to create new user for XXX. asign to the current user
https://www.crifan.com/2012/03/26/wordpress_importer_failed_to_create_new_user_for_asign_to_the_current_user/

also seems to found bug for if username contains underscore, then after imported original usename will be omitted, the post’s username will be assigned to admin’s name.
such as mine ‘green_waste’, after import, post’s username will become to crifan(admin name), not the expected ‘green_waste’.
more info can found at:
【记录】发现一个wordpress importer的bug：如果WXR中的用户名包括下划线，则虽然导入的时候，可以正确检测出用户名，但是导入之后，帖子的用户就自动变为默认的管理员的用户名，而不是所期望的用户名
https://www.crifan.com/2012/03/26/wordpress_importer_bug_change_post_username_to_admin_if_username_contain_underscore_in_wxr/