WordPress Auto Update enfold-child theme settings lost.

child theme settings lost after WordPress auto update.

Enfolds 4.0.2
Wordpress 4.7.3
PHP 5.6.29

OK I’ll try and explain

6th of March 2017
The site was running fine the last time I worked on the site for my client.

10th of March 2017
On the 10th March 2017 I sent our developers a backup of a site.
I did not login to the site or even load the homepage. So I can’t account for the status of the website at this point.
I exported the mySQL Database via phpMyAdmin and a zipped all the site files via SSH.
No changes were made to the site at all.

13th of March 2017
3 days later I visited the front end of the site to see that Enfold-Child theme had reset and looked as a default install.
I logged in and enfold-child had lost all the theme settings – a complete wipe.

I immediately went to backup and restored the most recent version of the website that looked like it should.
6th of March 2017 database backup was restored.

Client site was visually fixed, however recent updates were lost.

I created a DEV staging development site on the same server a direct clone of the LIVE production site which include the 6th March database.
I then replaced the DEV database with the MYSQL export from 10th of March 2017

And viewed the DEV site. Confirmed. Enfold-child theme had no theme settings.

Other than the client making some minor page content edits, the only activity on the site between 6th March and 10th of March was a WordPress auto update.

auto updates to 4.7.3 live on 7/03/2017 11:00AM

I’ve never heard of an auto update killing a child-theme before.

14th of March 2017

today I spent better half of the day trying to restore the DEV to an acceptable level.
1. All theme settings were empty.
I exported theme file from LIVE and imported to DEV – theme settings and styles were restored.

2. All sidebar widgets content missing.
On phpMyAdmin I exported LIVE wp_options table .
On DEV dropped and imported wp_options table via phpMyAdmin. No effect.
Content in wp_options table “sidebars_widgets” and “theme_mods_enfold” were identical in both DEV and LIVE.
Sidebars still had no content.

Remember above I had completely replaced the DEV wp_options table with a export of LIVE wp_options table
However on DEV when I edited wp_options table “widget_text” – the only content was…
a:1:{s:12:"_multiwidget";i:1;}
In a last ditch effort I copied the serialised data content from wp_options table “widget_text” edit screen on LIVE to DEV and updated the DEV database.
All Widget Content was restored.

I’m still trying to work out …

A) how a WordPress Auto Update managed to completely wipe any child-theme settings from the wp_options table.
B) And why an import of the wp_options table did not bring across “widget_text”

If anyone else has had a similar issue, I would love to hear from you, to get an explanation of what happened for you and how you resolved the issue.