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When I tried kickstart.php on Network Solutions it said there was security and I need to upload a kickstart.json.php file, which I did.

It actually said that using the default name is insecure. You can either rename the file or upload a kickstart.json.php file to set a password. See https://www.akeeba.com/documentation/akeeba-kickstart-documentation/security.html 

Then when unpacking the site I continually got "Suboptimal PHP OPcache settings detected" and to have the NS host add "opcache.revalidate_path=1" to the PHP.

It actually says that Kickstart may not work unless these settings are changed. It is not a necessity. It depends on other server configuration factors.

The idea here is that many people had a failure because of these settings. Instead of having to answer the same ticket two times a week, every week, I just preemptively notify you that if Kickstart fails to run once you see this page, change these settings.

After they added it, and I tried to install the site, I continually get the error "An unexpected error occurred".

Do you still see the notification at the top of the page? It only displays if any of the four OPcache settings that matter are not already set to their recommended values. The message only displays the settings which are not set to their recommended values. Which is to say, if you still see it, the problem is those settings – and that's why I am asking this question.

Essentially, the vast majority of "unexpected error" is the server failing to run the PHAR archive correctly. The reason, if you've reached that point, is the OPcache settings.

If all else fails you can try bypassing PHAR as per the documentation.

I am afraid this post made things even less clear than before :(

Let's start with some simple facts.

Kickstart is the file which allows you to extract the backup archive contents. That is all it does.

The actual restoration is done by the Akeeba Backup Restoration Script (BRS). The BRS is included in the backup archive. It is extracted in the installation directory.

The "An unexpected error occurred" message appears ONLY in Kickstart. There is no such thing in BRS. That's why I was asking about more information about Kickstart in my previous reply. However, you replied that Kickstart has run and extracted your backup archive. I do not believe it has, at least not in full.

Here's what I want you to do.

Take screenshots –NOT a video– in PNG format for each step of what you are doing. If there's an error message make sure to include one or more separate screenshots where the entirety of the message is captured clearly and legibly. Do not resize the screenshots.

Put all the screenshots in a ZIP file.

Upload the ZIP file with your next reply.

This will let me understand what is going on.

Important: The reason I am asking for screenshots instead of a video is that in my experience people trying to take a screen recording (video) just wave their cursor about as they are talking, the video is compressed so much that I cannot read their screen due to compression artefacts and resolution, and by the time they are on a page I actually want to read the contents of they have already clicked away before the compression algorithm had enough time to give me a somewhat clearer picture of what the heck is displayed on the page. There's no such problem with screenshots. They are clear and full resolution.

I am pretty sure your problem has to do with JavaScript not executing on the site. There are two common reasons for that.

One is that you have a .htaccess file in a parent directory. These files cascade across the filesystem, not the logical "site" they belong to. Try renaming any such files to htaccess.bak.

The other common issue is that you are trying to access your site over HTTPS but it's not set up correctly with a valid, commercially signed certificate, or that your server is not reporting the site as being accessed over HTTPS. This will cause mixed content warnings in the browser's developer console, the browser will refuse to load and execute the JavaScript code, and you're stuck. Try accessing your site over plain HTTP instead.

Delete the files inside the installation/tmp folder. What happens when you go back to installation/index.php?

Sorry it took so long. Your question was quite simple, but it took me a while to understand what you were actually asking me to help you with because there was a lot of conflicting information in the first couple of posts. I believe it all comes from the fact that you conflate Kickstart with the the Akeeba Backup Restoration Script (BRS). The former is the .php file you run first to extract the backup archive. The latter is extracted into the installation directory and its job is to restore the database content and reconfigure your site. Since you were asking me about Kickstart and giving me an error message that matched Kickstart but not BRS I was very confused as to what you were trying to do.

Your problem was that you had already gone through the restoration script (the script extracted in the installation folder) once, unsuccessfully. Then, without having removed the installation script, you retried the restoration but were taken to the very last page of the restoration script. You needed a way to reset BRS so it goes all the way from the start.

When that happens, yes, you need to delete the files inside the installation/tmp directory.

Every time you use BRS it needs to "remember" things between successive pages. It does that by creating a PHP session and save it into a file under installation/tmp. The name of that file depends on your site, so I can't tell you in advance what it will be.

Part of it is the current restoration step you are in. This is intentional. If you accidentally close the tab and then reopen it (or open a new tab/window and visit the installation/index.php URL) it will take you directly to the step you were in, without forcing you to go through the entire restoration process up to this point. Convenient, but can get you stumped as it happened to you.

One way to go all the way back is to use the Previous button in the toolbar until you are back to the very first page, then click on Start Over in BRS' toolbar to reset the session which –guess what?– deleted the session file from the installation/tmp directory. The other way is to do away with the middleman and remove the installation/tmp contents yourself.

Now you know the what and the why. If you have any follow-up or clarification questions feel free to ask me. I'm here to help!