Magento 2 Install / Uninstall Sample Data via Command Line

In this tutorial, we will talk about Install / Uninstall Sample Data via Command Line in Command Line Series. As you know, from Magento 2, they add many commands in bin/magento. If you find it quite hard to understand this, I will try to make it easier for you to understand by the instructions to install and uninstall sample data via command lines.

Let’s start!

What is Magento 2 sample data?

For store owners, Magento 2 sample data is like a ready-made store out of the box. It includes sample products across categories, pre-populated customers, and even some sample orders. This lets you see how your store might look with the Luma theme and experiment with features like order processing and customer accounts. It’s essentially a training ground to get comfortable with managing your Magento 2 store before going live.

On the developer side, sample data becomes a valuable testing environment. Developers can use it to mimic a real store, testing their code changes and extensions without affecting a live site with real customer data. It also provides a foundation to explore core functionalities of Magento 2, like product data management and order workflows. By interacting with the sample data, developers gain a deeper understanding of how Magento 2 works and how their custom code might integrate with the platform.

Why do we need Magento 2 sample data?

Before selecting an eCommerce platform, online store owners must carefully assess three key factors: performance, user experience, and scalability. Having sample data is particularly vital for easily conducting performance and scalability tests on the store.

For instance, Magento 2 provides sample data that enables administrators to include approximately 250 sample products and organize them into different categories. This ample stock of sample products allows administrators to effectively test website performance. Consequently, rather than relying solely on integrating modules to enhance the shopping experience, administrators can proactively modify their websites based on these tests.

Install / Uninstall Sample Data via command line

Go to Magento admin root folder and show usages:

php bin/magento maintenance:enable

Result:

Usage:
  sampledata:deploy [options]

Options:
      --no-update       Update composer.json without executing composer update
  -h, --help            Display this help message
  -q, --quiet           Do not output any message
  -V, --version         Display this application version
      --ansi            Force ANSI output
      --no-ansi         Disable ANSI output
  -n, --no-interaction  Do not ask any interactive question
  -v|vv|vvv, --verbose  Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug

Help:
  Deploy sample data modules

Install Sample Data Syntax

php bin/magento sampledata:deploy [options]

By default, it will update latest version of sample data via composer, then install it. You can disable it with parameter: --no-update

php bin/magento sampledata:deploy --no-update

Magento asks me enter Username and password like this:

Don’t worry, Go to Access Keys page and Create A New Access Key

Output:

Uninstall Sample Data Syntax

Go to Magento admin root folder and show usages:

php bin/magento sampledata:remove -h

Output:

Usage:                                                                                                                     
  sampledata:remove [options]                                                                                              
                                                                                                                           
Options:                                                                                                                   
      --no-update       Update composer.json without executing composer update                                             
  -h, --help            Display this help message                                                                          
  -q, --quiet           Do not output any message                                                                          
  -V, --version         Display this application version                                                                   
      --ansi            Force ANSI output                                                                                  
      --no-ansi         Disable ANSI output                                                                                
  -n, --no-interaction  Do not ask any interactive question                                                                
  -v|vv|vvv, --verbose  Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug 
                                                                                                                           
Help:                                                                                                                      
  Remove all sample data packages from composer.json                                                                       

Syntax:

php bin/magento sampledata:remove [options]   

How to update sample data?

To prepare the sample data for updating, include the subsequent command:

bin/magento sampledata: reset

After that, update the Magento application via composer.

That concludes the process of installing Magento 2 sample data. Once the sample data is installed on your Magento 2 website, you are free to test its functionality extensively using the test data. We trust that you will be able to complete this tutorial without encountering any difficulties.

Wrap up

That’s how you can easily install and uninstall sample data via command lines in Magento 2. I hope this tutorial is helpful for you. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks for reading!

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