Go to cPanel (via one-click login from Services → your hosting → cPanel) and open Backup or Backup Wizard under the Files section. Backup Wizard walks you through generating a full account archive (home directory, databases, email forwarders and filters, and configuration) and downloading it to your computer. This is a manual, on-demand snapshot, separate from the automatic daily backups already running on your account.
A manual full-account download is for a different job than undoing a recent mistake: taking a portable copy offsite, before a major migration, or when you want a snapshot you control.
Generating the backup
In cPanel:
- Open Backup Wizard (or Backup for the simpler view).
- Click Backup, then choose Full Backup.
- Follow the prompts to generate the archive on the server.
- Confirm, and cPanel starts building the archive. Full backups run as a background job in the background; larger accounts take longer.
Downloading it
Once the archive exists, go back to Backup to download it. For large sites, download over a stable connection.
What's actually in a full backup
A full account backup bundles:
- Your entire home directory: all files under
public_html, plus everything else in the account. - All MySQL databases on the account.
- Email configuration: forwarders, filters, and autoresponders.
- Account-level configuration settings.
This is everything needed to reconstruct the account from scratch on another server, which is why it's the right tool for migrations, not for a quick single-file recovery.
Partial backups vs full backups
If you don't need the whole account, JetBackup 5's Restore & Download tools cover narrower pieces like Home Directory or Databases on their own, and are handy when you only need to move or archive one piece, for example grabbing just a database before running a risky migration.
If you're only working with WordPress and want something more targeted than a full cPanel archive, see backing up your WordPress site for how backups are scoped per install. If the account runs several independent WordPress installs, multiple WordPress sites on one hosting account explains how each site's files and database stay separate, which matters when you're deciding whether you need a full account backup or just one site's data.
When to contact support
If a full backup job fails, gets stuck, or the generated archive won't download, open a ticket from Support in the portal. A real person can check server-side logs for the job and confirm whether it's a disk space issue, a timeout on a very large account, or something else. This is also the right path if you need a restore from a point your automated backups no longer cover.