Title: Backup Does Nothing, WP_Cron.php Does Nothing
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Backup Does Nothing, WP_Cron.php Does Nothing

 *  Resolved [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/)
 * I have tried to get the backup working via Dropbox and Also FTP, and cannot get
   it to do anything, any pointers as to where I should look???
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/updraftplus/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/updraftplus/)

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502220)
 * If you use the expert options and then do a debug backup, then does that work?
 *  Thread Starter [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502249)
 * That seems to be doing something as in there are files appearing in the updraft
   directory on the server, will post more info when it has finished
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502250)
 * If that does something, but the scheduler and ‘Backup Now’ button do nothing,
   then your WordPress install’s scheduler is broken.
 * De-activate every other plugin, then see if ‘Backup Now’ works.
 * If it does, then re-activate the plugins one-by-one to identify the culprit –
   then report to the author.
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502253)
 * Ok, was working but has now stopped, log file has not changed for ages, will 
   try without uploads selected.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502254)
 * The ‘debug backup’ button isn’t really expected to work – it normally runs out
   of time. It’s just a way of seeing if the thing can really kick off. The purpose
   is to work out if your scheduler is broken or not.
 *  Thread Starter [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502255)
 * OK, stopped again, plus I asked it to remove the old logs before backing up and
   it left them? will take website offline and shut down all plugins and see if 
   the scheduler works.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502257)
 * How did you ask it to remove old logs? I don’t think there’s a button for that
   anywhere!
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502258)
 * OK, with all plugins deactivated the scheduler does not activate, nothing appears
   on the local directory on the web server and nothing appears in the dropbox.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502259)
 * If, as it sounds, the scheduler is broken and it’s not any plugin breaking it,
   then the next step is to consult with your web hosting provider. I’ve heard of
   cases where the hosting company crippled the WP scheduler.
 * But basically, this is not an UpdraftPlus issue… UpdraftPlus only uses the scheduler;
   if the scheduler is broken, UpdraftPlus isn’t the culprit; it’s somewhere else.
 *  Thread Starter [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502260)
 * OK, will ask them
 *  Thread Starter [jamessawle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jamessawle/)
 * (@jamessawle)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502283)
 * I got a reply from HeartInternet:
 * Hi James,
 * Thank you for contacting us.
 * Ask the providers of the plugin if their scripts try to do a ‘loopback connection’–
   ie trying to open a URL via http (or port 80) on the same server – if so then
   this is disallowed and firewalled out. It’s quite common with some WordPress 
   plugins to do this which is poor, instead they should use the full server path
   to open a URL on the site – eg “/home/sites/md0mdi.com/public_html/file.ext” 
   instead of “[http://md0mdi.com/file.ext&#8221](http://md0mdi.com/file.ext&#8221);
 * Does this help ????
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502284)
 * UpdraftPlus does not do loopback connections. Possibly WordPress core itself 
   does for its scheduling engine; but I do not know (look for an appropriate forum
   to ask it). Though, as an aside, there’s nothing conceptually wrong with loopback
   connections and if Heart said that then in my opinion they’re making an excuse
   for failing to provide full functionality on their hosting packages.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502343)
 * Hi,
 * Just to confirm that WordPress does require loopback connections for all scheduled
   tasks. See here for more information:
 * [http://updraftplus.com/faqs/my-scheduled-backups-and-pressing-backup-now-does-nothing-however-pressing-debug-backup-does-produce-a-backup/](http://updraftplus.com/faqs/my-scheduled-backups-and-pressing-backup-now-does-nothing-however-pressing-debug-backup-does-produce-a-backup/)

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

The topic ‘Backup Does Nothing, WP_Cron.php Does Nothing’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 13 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * Last activity: [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/backup-does-nothing-wp_cronphp-does-nothing/#post-3502343)
 * Status: resolved