Web Design and Development
How To Move A WordPress Blog or Website
For those of us who host our own blog or website, it is inevitable that it will have to be moved. First, you might need to move your blog if you are switching your web host. And second, you might also need to ‘move’ your website if you are transferring it to a new domain, new directory, or creating an alternate version on a local server.
Use the links below to navigate to the appropriate set of instructions.
⇒ Move WordPress to a New Hosting Package
⇒ Move WordPress to a New Directory
⇒ Move WordPress to a New Domain
Move WordPress to a New Hosting Package
Believe it or not, this is the easiest type of move. And there are two main ways to go about it.
Method 1: Use WordPress’ Built-In Import
WordPress features a built-in import to facilitate the process of moving content from one blog to another. And there are only three steps that you need to follow to get you blog up and running.
- Create an export file. On your own blog, navigate to ‘Export’ and create a WordPress export file. This is a special XML files which will contain your posts, pages,comments, custom fields, categories, and tags.
- Install WordPress on your new host. You will now need to create a working installation of WordPress on your new host. And be sure to upload your entire wp-content directory to the new installation.
- Import the WordPress export files. Now, navigate to ‘Import’ on the new installation and upload the export file that you created in step 1. And that’s it! Your website should be completely functional.
Method 2: Work Directly With The Database
Sometimes, due to web hosting restrictions, or based on the size of your export file, Method 1 will not work so well. So now, you’ll hear about our preferred method. For this, you will need database access, (often phpMyAdmin,) and a little more technical knowledge.
- Create a database dump or database export file. Access your database and download its contents. Sometimes, a web host will have a utility which ‘backs up’ a database without ever having to access the database directly.
- Transfer all files. Using FTP download all files from your ‘old’ web host. And then upload them to your new web host. Be sure to update the settings in your wp-config.php file, which holds your database access information.
- Import your database. You will now need to access the new database. Once it is set up, import the file that you created in step 1.
Move WordPress to a New Domain or Directory
To move WordPress to a new domain requires a few more steps. As with the steps mentioned above, you will probably need to physically change the location of your WordPress installation. In addition, you will also need to update your WordPress settings and permalinks.
New Directory
The move to a new directory is likely easier than moving to a new domain. Here are the options that we suggest:
Option 1: Move Files
- Transfer all files. As in the steps above, transfer all files from the old directory to the new directory. Do not delete any files yet!
- Update your WordPress settings. In the WordPress admin area for the ‘old’ directory, go to Settings->General. Update the ‘WordPress address’ and ‘Blog address’ to reflect the change. When you hit save, the blog will no longer be accessible in your old directory.
- Update permalinks. Now, navigate to the new directory. You should see the blog up and running. Upload and activate the Update URLs plugin. Go to Settings->Update URLs and enter the appropriate settings to update all of your links. And presto, your website is ready to go.
- Clean up. Once you verify that the transfer was successful, you can delete the files in your old WordPress directory.
Option 2: WordPress Import/Export
You can also opt for the WordPress Import/Export file method given above as Method 1. If you choose this method, you will also have to update your permalinks using the Update URLs plugin.
Option 3: Only Change URL
Sometimes, it is not possible to change the physical WordPress directory. In these cases, you can change the url by simply updating WordPress settings. To do this, go to Settings -> General. Here you will find two settings: WordPress Address and Blog Address. By updating only the Blog Address, WordPress will ‘map’ to the new directory. Note: You will need to move the index.php file to the blog address directory.
New Domain
Likewise, there are multiple ways to move to a new domain.
Method 1 – revised (WordPress Import)
To move to a new domain, we suggest Method 1 above. If you have a lot of posts, this may be tricky as the export tool has been known to ‘timeout’. However, you might be able to create multiple export files by creating one file per author. The only modification to method 1 is the step below.
4. Update permalinks. Upload and activate the Update URLs plugin. Go to Settings->Update URLs and enter the appropriate settings to update all of your links.
Method 2 – revised (Database)
Similarly, you can also opt to work directly with the database, as in Method 1. If working with the database, you will have a bit more technical work on your hands. See step 4 below.
4. Update settings with SQL. One you have successfully imported the database, you will need to update some settings to make the website functional. SQL sample queries are listed below.
Sample Query To Update WordPress Settings
UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'http://www.old-url.com', 'http://www.new-url.com') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';
Sample Query To Update Permalinks
UPDATE wp_posts SET guid = replace(guid, 'http://www.old-url.com','http://www.new-url.com');
Sample Query to Update Any Links Embedded In Content
UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = replace(post_content, 'http://www.old-url.com', 'http://www.new-url.com');
Sometimes, you might have omitted the www from your domain when cross-linking posts or referencing images, so you should also run the above query without the ‘www’ for your old domain.
For more information on changing the website url, see http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress and http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_The_Site_URL.
Tags: blogs, content management system, WordPress98 Responses to “How To Move A WordPress Blog or Website”
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Hrmm, I didn’t know you need the “update urls’ plugin to transfer a wordpress blog.
Only if you want all links and image urls to be updated. It will work fine without, but will often necessitate a lot of extra work.
I tried your plugin to move my WordPress blog to a new domain and now its just forwarding to the new domain with no content.
Is there a way to undo the changes I did to the permalinks through ftp? I cannot get back into the wordpress admin…
This plugin doesn’t update any core settings. So this change that you are experiencing is because you’ve updated the WordPress urls under Settings->General.
To move a website to a new domain, you cannot just update settings. You also, generally, have to move files. Can you move the files to the appropriate locations via Ftp (Do not delete anything.)
(This plugin fixes one small problem, that of content and image links not updating after a move. But does not affect core settings.)
So, here’s what I’d do if I was in your situation:
1. Copy/Transfer all files to new destination.
2. If it doesn’t work, go into the database to reverse the settings…
Well first of all, I’m not trying to move any files. I’m leaving it on the same hosting and only changing the domain name. How do I reverse the settings in the database? Thanks in advance!
Scroll up and look directly under the subheading:
“Sample Query To Update WordPress Settings”
Except in your case, the new and old urls would be reverse. ie. Old Url would be the one that you set up in ‘Settings’.
To get into the database, your host probably has some utility such as PHPMyAdmin. And then once you’ve edited the query with your urls, then run it on the database.
Good luck.
(As for the domain name issue, if the new domain name is pointed to your root folder, then your ‘move’ should have theoretically worked. So I’m guessing that the new domain is not completely active or perhaps it isn’t pointed to the same folder as the current website? Is it an addon domain in another folder?)
Oh, this is probably whats wrong. I forgot to change the domain on the hosting. Hopefully that’s it. Thanks again!
No prob! I know how frustrating it can be to move a blog.
Well your original solution (Method 1) for moving to a new domain seems to have worked flawlessly. The wordpress plugin made things a lot easier. I just forgot to change the hosting-domain link. Cheers!
I would like to change the URL of my blog from example.com/a to example.com/b. In other words, I just want to change the URL of the blog while staying at the same domain. I have not yet made any location changes, and I am just exploring my options at this point. I have the ability to change the physical WordPress directory if I wish to do so. But “Option 3: Only Change URL” sounds so easy that it makes me wonder why anybody would want to use “Option 1: Move Files” or “Option 2: WordPress Import/Export”. But maybe I don’t comletely understand this whole matter. Is there any disadvantage at all in using Option 3? If there is no disadvantage, why would anybody want to use Option 1 or Option 2, which sound much more difficult than Option 3? By the way, I am using WordPress version 2.6.3.
If you want to change the directory of your blog, you can simply update the settings and then rename its folder. (No moving of files required.) And then our plugin would update all urls in permalinks (for images) and in content links.
For more information on Giving WordPress its Own Directory, take a look at this article in the WP Codex: http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory
Thank you very much for your prompt reply.
It would be perfectly OK if I lose all of my content when doing the migration. That’s because it is a new blog that has not yet gone live, and it only contains a few test posts that I will delete anyway before it goes live. However, I have spent a few hours customizing the blog’s templates, and I do not want to lose those customized templates. By the way, I have not added any images to the blog.
Please answer the following questions from my original post:
Is there any disadvantage at all in using Option 3? If there is no disadvantage, why would anybody want to use Option 1 or Option 2, which sound much more difficult than Option 3?
By the way, I was kind of surprised to see you talk about a plugin in your reply. I had the impression (from reading your main article) that Option 3 does not require a plugin (which is one of the reasons that Option 3 sounds much easier than Option 1 or Option 2).
If you don’t mind losing your test posts, then you don’t need to worry about a ‘real’ move. All you need to do is copy your current themes directory. And then after you create a new install in some other location, then upload the themes directory, overwriting the default directory. (And Option 1 & 2 accomplish the same end result. Option 3 means that your blog location is a different location than the files… However you will need to move the index.php file to the new directory.)
hi,
I updated the ‘WordPress address’ and ‘Blog address’ to a unexisting url. So, now i can´t open the wp-admin… anybody knows how to update to the old settings????? really thanks…
The only way that I’ve used to get out of this situation is to go into the database and update the settings. This can be done manually in phpmyadmin or by running an SQL query… Are you familiar with working with your database?
Here is an easy solution: http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_The_Site_URL
not at all… i think i can update it… but i don´t know the file that i have to update. i don´t a backup of this database… can i do anything?
The file that they are referring to in the above documentation that I linked to is the ‘functions.php’ file. It is located in your theme directory… Do you have access to FTP? If so, navigate to:
wp-content -> themes -> your theme name -> functions.php should be in this folder.
yes, i have acces to ftp and I updated this file, and all is the same…
The problem is that when I do the login it redirect towards to the url that I putted in “WordPress Address and Blog Address”.
Hmm. That’s strange. That should work… Well then, the only last option that I can suggest is that you update your database. Perhaps you have access to ‘PHPMyAdmin’ or some other database editing utility?
You can manually search and edit values in the table, or you can run an SQL statement:
UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, ‘http://www.old-domain.com’, ‘http://www.new-domain.com’) WHERE option_name = ‘home’ OR option_name = ‘siteurl’;
This site shows the process of working with PHPMyAdmin. (It’s probably an older version that you have, but the process is still the same.)
I am trying the second option of http: //codex.wordpress.org/Changing_The_Site_URL but it says:
update_option(‘siteurl’,'http://skibar.gpscerdanya.info/blog’); update_option(‘home’,'skibar.gpscerdanya.info/blog’);
Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /nfs/c03/h02/mnt/52232/domains/skibar.gpscerdanya.info/html/wp-content/themes/design_showcase/functions.php:2) in /nfs/c03/h02/mnt/52232/domains/skibar.gpscerdanya.info/html/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 850
I keep trying with option 3….
i´m working with 2.7 in a new blog, i going to try to manually search and edit values in the table. maybe… it´s not the best place to writte it?
It’s PHP Code…. Did you put it within the php tags?
It looks like it outputted it directly, so you might not have…
It should be after the <?php tag… on the next line.
blog is not working… but i will fixed it. Now i´m sure. A lot of Thanks!
Great! And no problem.
thank you very much for your immediate response, I’m desperate!
As someone who has just started ‘flipping/selling’ blogs and wishing to offer to transfer a blog from my Reseller account to a buyer’s own hosting account as part of the sale this is great info.
But, as I hope to be doing this a lot, can you recommend where I might go to find somebody to do this for me for cash – or do you know someone? i.e. Outsource, as while I love blog design etc. I am embarrassed to admit to being phobic about all of the above
Thanks for stopping by. I don’t know anyone out there that does this, but we do offer this service starting at $50. ($50 for small/normal sized blogs, and up to $100, depending on number of images, and amount of data.)
Otherwise, you can always try Craigslist.
Thanks for a nice plugin, that i am sure i will be using a lot in the future! I have just tried it for the first time, but i am unsure of what excactly to put in the fields. I am moving a site from http://www.digitaludskrab.eu/actionplay to http://actionplay.dk
Can you tell me excactly what i need to put in when filling out the two fields of the plugin in this specific case?
Thanks in advance
Sure.
In the ‘Old Url’, put the first url.
In the ‘New Url’, put the second.
Enter the urls exactly as you’ve entered them here.
Perfect, thanks for a quick response!
Hi there. Just to confirm, for Method 1: Use WordPress’ Built-In Import, this needs to be done once the propagating is complete, right?
Thanks!
Hilary
I’ve been trying and trying to move my word press blog to a new domain and host. All I keep getting is creat a configuration file, but should I do that since I’m not creating a new word press, just moving an old one?
My existing blog is running WP 2.1. I am trying to move it to a new domain. I installed WP 2.7 on the new domain and it is running fine unpopulated. I then followed method 2 above. New blog stopped working. Do I need to upgrade existing blog to 2.7 first and then move to new domain.
I’m hoping you can help me, or point me in the right direction to get help. I’m new to all this and very confused. Tried finding help on the net but not finding anything that has helped so far.
Without going into a book on the details, this is a brief outline of my situation.
2 domains. abc.com and xyz.com. I want wp to be xyz.com/blog
abc.com is main domain and xyz.com is inside a folder of abc.com i.e. abc.com/xyz.com. xyz.com is classed as a pointer domain.
There was a problem trying to install wp so the web host support staff got involved. Only one person was able to help, up to a certain point, and then I was left with what they did.
What left with:
In abc.com web directory
folder for xyzwp
folder for xyz
plus all the web “stuff” for abc.com
In xyz folder
folder for xyzwp
plus all the web “stuff” for xyz.com
The xyzwp folder inside abc is the one the web host support person was able to generate a password for me, and is the wp which should be used.
I should mention that trying to delete the xyzwp folder within xyz folder can’t be done by me. Don’t know if the support staff tried to delete it or not.
When logged into wp under General the WordPress address URL shows as abc/xyzwp and the Blog address is identical. I haven’t changed anything yet.
Question: will this setup be able to show the blog address as xyz.com/blog or if not how do I fix it?
Sorry for the long outline, but that is as brief an outline as I can give.
Your plugin rocks… I searched for info on how to move to a different directory.. your step by step was the best and your plugin made it even easier.. thanks!
although wordpress notified me that the plug in was not tested with 2.7.1 – it worked great!
my wordpress folder got deleted by accident. My host, Godaddy, had me build a new mysql file and they restored the old database into that new file. I did the restore of the wordpress folder so my uploaded files are present, but when I reconfigured the wp-config.php to the new identity so they see each other the blog comes back essentially empty, none of my old posts, pages, comments etc. are present.
I see that none of my widgets are in place, it’s as if the theme was reset to default. Also, all my plug ins are in the plug ins folder but none are activated nor applied.Wouldn’t my customized theme have come back with the restore of the WordPress folder? Or is there some pointer to the mysql that WP is not seeing right? The new mysql has a different user name and database name than the old, but I updated wp-config.php to see the new mysql.
Is there some other file that needs to be updated with those new names so the theme i customized comes back?
Google has them cached for now, can I get the code from Google and plug the pages back in somehow? If so how?
Thanks in advance.
Sam
I am moving form one host to another.
I wonder what to write in the blog address url at the General settings of the new host.
I mean before chnaging the dns.
thanks
If you are simply moving from one host to another host and NOT changing domain names, then you would just put in the url that you are using for your blog. Otherwise, if you are using a new domain name, then you’d enter in the new url.
Thanks,
Well it doesn’t work, i have just tried this.
If you write the same blog/url name (www.xxx.com) in the setting/general at the new host, you are actually pointing to your blog at the old host (the blog is active at the old host) and while trying to log in you are prompted to enter the password of the active blog (old host).
Now, I cannot enter to the admin area.
I hope you catched my point.
Any suggestion?
In my previous reply, I mentioned if you are using the same domain name, then YES, you’d enter it at the new location. This assumes that you will be actually moving your blog.
What you did is enter the domain settings and now you have two WordPress installations setup to use the same domain. This doesn’t work. Your domain points to the old host, so whenever you try to admin the site, you will go to the old host. Until you point your domain to your new host, you won’t have access to the new admin area.
Note: DO NOT POINT YOUR DOMAIN TO YOUR NEW HOST UNLESS YOU’VE CREATED AN EXPORT FILE AND HAVE DOWNLOADED YOUR WP-CONTENT DIRECTORY or you’ll find that you have a bit more work on your hands.
Thanks, now it is clear.
I have to wait until domain/dns will point to the new host.
meanwhile, I managed to overcome this problem by revising the blog name url at the wp-option database.
and now i can log to the admin area and continue testing.
Great. Sorry for the trouble.
I have successfully used Fantastico to generate a WP blog on domain A (I also have CPanel and MySQL admin access on domain A – if needed). Now I want to move that blog to a different ISP (on domain B) but I ONLY have FTP access on domain B. Is that move doable?
We were moving our wordpress blog and your tutorial just rocks…keep them coming….
Thanks for sharing good information, i learn how to move wordpress here.
Keep posting.
David
I have a “move” problem that does not fit nicely in any of the listed options. Unfortunately my WordPress install and my blog are not in the same domain/directory, (an installation error).
My blog is at http://blog.kitchentherapy.us and my WordPress installation is at http://kitchentherapy.us/blog/
After 2 months of blogging I find I have problem because of this discrepency.
Now how do I change the WordPress installation location to be at http”//blog.kitchentherapy.us without moving the blog location?
This is a complete guide I have seen so far. I’m going to use only a specific part, though. Thanks for the compiling such a wonderful guide.
Hi there – I tried your preferred method as it is the only one I’m able to use. The old WP-installation is not online, I only have acces to the old database.
“Method 2: Work Directly With The Database”
I downloaded all tables and content to harddisk, then uploaded to the new database. Then I made a new install of WordPress – and got a quite new installment of WP, but without any of the old files.
The files are on the right place in the new database, so what went wrong?
best, Lars
Hi VB,
I am trying to move an entire site out of a folder to the main root and hitting errors so I reverted it back by changing the database. So I am back at step 2 under changing to ta new directory. I Transfer all files. Then when I Updated your WordPress settings to the new url (site root) clicked save, I got an error. So then I tried to login to the new admin under the root and can not get in. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.
Nevermind my question, I am not sure how but the second time around worked like a charm! Thanks!
You guys rock! Thanks so much. I’ve been working on this for hours. I went to the WordPress site and they gave me the wrong instructions! They said to change the url first and then upload the files but they had it backwards. I did it your way and it worked immediately. Thanks again. You saved me a LOT of work.
Thank you for the information !
Been trying to do this now for a few days… Your blog helped me LOTS !
CHEERS
I have moved our wordpress site to a new domain and it is mostly successful using your plugin. All the images appear correctly in the posts and pages however when I’m using the admin pages, nothing appears in the “Media Library”.
All of the jpg files were moved to wp-content/uploads folder with year and month directory structure.
Why don’t these files show up in the Media Library?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you so much! I almost paid someone to do what it took me 5 minutes to do with your method!
I am bookmarking your site!
I think this will be better if you’d include screen shots so It would be much easier to understand but I’d say its a great tutorial and really helped me a lot Thanks again ^^,
Hello, First I know this post is old but still, maybe someone is watching it.
I’m trying to prepare myself for a future host from host migration, so I want to do the testing locally, so I’ve done all that is listed here.
Done the wp-content backup
Done the DB backup
Create a New DB
Create a New user
Set permissions to new user
Restore the downloaded DB into the new database
Installed wordpress
configure wordpress
update via commands the new domain and all stuff
The connection all went just fine, but no one post appear, no information in the blog.
I know I can do an export/import via wordpress but I want to do it via the SQL DB (hard) way.
BUT i know I’m doing something difference which I do not know if should be done in this process :
First I installed wordpress on IIS (just for the sake of learn how to)
Second I’m using a different version of wordpress from the actual blog. I have wordpress 2.9.2 in the production site and wordpress 3.0 RC1 in the development site.
As I said before, my problem is that after I did everything as told me by every guide that I could find, I can not see the information even as the site is working.
I found my problem, as the time have passed by, I have multiple tables, so my Table_Prefix should be set to the correct table set.
THANKS! The best solution I found. You made it so easy!
Thank you. The export/import worked.
Just a quick thanks for answering all my questions about moving a WordPress blog and website. I’ve used the above instructions a number of times and it has saved myself many hours of work.
Many Thanks!, John V
i have changed website address and blog address to a wrong url , now i cant login my admin where can i change the url???please help
Moving a Website when you change your web host is very difficult process.Many a times it can cause disaster if not done properly.Thanks for the nice outline you gave.
Thank you very much,
It made my site work
Hi there. I really need your help. I did whatever you explained in the section “Move WordPress to a New Hosting Package”. I uploaded wp-content to my new host. I exported the xml file and imported from the new wordpress admin. Plugins seem to be working fine. But I couldn’t reach the website. the wp-config file is the new one (the one when I install wordpress brand new).
The website doesn’t work. The page is shown empty. Please help
Thanks in advance
CD
Did the new installation work when you first installed it? What happens when you enable the default theme?
Thanks for the reply. The new installation worked on the admin side. I couldn’t reach the webpage. It was blank as I told you. I had to get back to my old installation and old hosting.
One suggestion though. You have a marvelous blog here. You are explaining things really good. Nevertheless you have to keep in mind that you know what you’re talking, I don’t. so maybe a little bit more explanation would be really handy, like a video recording shows that you’re actually moving one to a new hosting.
Changing DNS addresses (before or after) editing config.php file etc.
And put that in youtube also
I would really appreciate if you can edit or write a new one which elimiates all the questions from your humble visitors and the people in need.
Thanks again
Forgive me for being dense… I am moving my WordPress site from a directory under one domain to the root of another domain. I am not sure if I should be following Method 1 under “Move WordPress to a New Hosting Package”
or Option 1 under “Move WordPress to a New Domain or Directory” or a combination of both? Thanks in advance for your help.
I originally installed my wordpress years ago as an add on to my static pages, to add a blog. At that time I thought I was being smart by installing it in www.mydomain.com/blog/
Now, I have all my static pages inside wordpress but still at www.mydomain.com/blog/ with a simple index.html entry page at mydomain.com that leads into the wordpress installation.
I’m kind of scared now to make the move from /blog/ to root installation. I have 500+ posts / pages and photos and comments and I’m not sure how to do it anyway.
I see under General Settings some options for naming blog url etc. but am afraid to touch that (both point to mydomain.com/blog) and the link from there to the codex suggests how to do it the opposite way, that is from root to a subfolder.
What would be the safest, easiest and best way to make this type of move? What are some of the cautions one need to take? How about redirects? I have redirect installed, it should take care of all that… right?
I have read in other places that you should disable your plugins before making a backup of the database that will be imported at the new host. Is this necessary?
Disabling plugins might be a good idea. After all, some plugins will need to be disabled/enabled to work on a new host. But for my moves, I rarely do that as some plugins delete information when disabled.
Thanks for replying. I decided not to disable the plugins and just deal with any problems I might find once I get the site to the new host.
Gracias por la informacion me ayudo bastante saludos desde Bolivia.
My question is just like Bob’s on 3/11/2010, but I didn’t see an answer here about why uploaded items still don’t show up in the Media Library even though everything is on the new server in the right month/year folders and I’ve used the plug-in to update the links. Would love to know about it. Thanks
Aysh,
There’s a good chance you’ll need to use “Method 2: Work Directly With The Database”.
I’ve moved many WP sites just using the “Update URLs” plugin method. But my last WP site move wasn’t working using the plug-in method. So I opted for working with the database. It worked flawlessly but it’s not for the faint of heart as you have to upload the sql file to your new database and update a wp php file. Sorry I didn’t take notes how I did it and I’m sure I’d be starting all over again if I have to do it again.
Best,
John V.
Hi, Thanks for the simple instructions. Before I attempt a move, I just want to confirm a couple things.
I am simply moving my blog to a different host. Same URL, same location, at root.
Can I just FTP my entire root and all files and folders to the new server – not just the wp-content folder?
If not, will your method 1 get all the theme related stuff?
Alos, I have seen some complaints on the internet about WP export import not working well, dropping some posts and comments. Can the export/import function be trusted?
Thanks!
If I move the WP contents from a folder to the root directory does this plugin update the links in all of the page, php, and css files?
Example:
Current website URLs:
http://www.landscape.com/home
http://www.landscape.com/home/soil
Desired new website URLs:
http://www.landscape.com
http://www.landscape.com/soil
*NOTE: these URLs are just examples
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/velvet-blues-update-urls/
Great SQL scripts thanks. The scripts are very simple to run and amend and it is definitely worth running the SQL scripts twice; once with ‘www’ for the ‘old’ domain and once without ‘www.
Hi there. I really need your help. I did whatever you explained in the section “Move WordPress to a New Hosting Package”. I uploaded wp-content to my new host. I exported the xml file and imported from the new wordpress admin. Plugins seem to be working fine. But I couldn’t reach the website. the wp-config file is the new one (the one when I install wordpress brand new).
The website doesn’t work. The page is shown empty. Please help
Thanks in advance
CD
Useful set of instructions, but this process hasn’t always worked for me.
With my latest move I had to actually copy all the files in the wordpress folder + all the database files directly. Seems to have worked though.
Amazing! Honestly I ran through 100′s of websites searching for a solution why my images werent displayed and your step by step process gave me the solution! Plugin – Update URLs plugin really worked wonders for me!!! thank you
Between your clear ‘how-to’ description, and your nifty plug-in, the move from my testing directory to ‘live’ was astonishingly easy! Thank you…. but then I screwed it up!
In the process, I discovered two things that others might want to be aware of (:
Good: if you have CPanel, it’s a faster and easier way to dupe your files than the ‘two window’ FTP routine.
Bad: if you do move the entire WordPress installation successfully, and use Fantasico, don’t remove the installation from the old directory! Even though you copied the files, the server is still looking there (as I understand it)
So you’ll lose all access, and have a lot of juggling to do to get it back. I haven’t succeeded yet, in fact…. but all my files are there, so it in theory it’s a matter of figuring out how to link them – I hope!
Hi guys,
i have exactly the same issue as posted by bob on march 10 2010
Help!!
tx
didier
On March 11th, 2010 at 6:39 pm, Bob wrote:
I have moved our wordpress site to a new domain and it is mostly successful using your plugin. All the images appear correctly in the posts and pages however when I’m using the admin pages, nothing appears in the “Media Library”.
All of the jpg files were moved to wp-content/uploads folder with year and month directory structure.
Why don’t these files show up in the Media Library?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the tips. We just moved the deal zippy blog from blog.dealzippy.co.uk to http://www.dealzippy.co.uk/blog. Had resisted doing it for ages as I thought it would a lot of hassle but actually the process is pretty simple, lots of good plugins about to help with migration these days.
Great guide. I also put up a guide, and recently moved a few installations when changing webhost. Perhaps your guide is a little easier to read
Thank you! Seriously, I have spent two days and a lot of eye-strain reading a multitude of articles, none of which helped me switch servers or correct some of the glitches…. then I found your article! Bam! It’s the complete necessity guide. If only I had found it first! Then again, then I would potentially think everyone was great at explaining things, and instead, I know that true experts are few and far. Thank you again.
Hi,
i just purchased this blog and am transferring to my FTP.
I have tried both methods mentioned in :-
Move WordPress to a New Hosting Package
but i get errors in both.
My XML import file is 26 MB so in one go it doesnt let me import.
ive tried breaking it down into smaller files but then it cant create and import all authors so all posts go under admin.
if i try importing SQL DB in phpmyadmin i get this error :-
error 1054 – Unknown column ‘link_category’ in ‘field list’
Please help
Hey guys, thanks for this, I used a bunch of your database stuff in a presentation the other day. It kicked ass. Thanks again!!
Tim
Hello Velvet,
I’ve been reading through your posts and comments on people’s blog. I think I have an understanding of what to do, but I’m not completely confident that I wont screw something up. Any help is really appreciated. Here’s my situation:
I have a current website with a recent, but older version of WordPress. My hosting company has created a new Theme and placed it into an updqated version of WordPress. The problem is that the hosting company will not transfer anything from the old website into the new one. Things that need to be transferred are custom Plug-ins, pages and many PDF files (my catalog).
I can do the XML import/export function very easily, but it doesn’t sound like that will transfer the PDFs and plug-ins. For this I guess I have to go into my ftp site. The hosting company claims they provide this to me, but the only link provided is to my WordPress page. Are these URLs one in the same?
What do you suggest? Will import/export xml cover evrything or just pages. Do I need to find the FTP page and is that page a separate link from my WordPress URL? Please help. Thanks, -Ted
Thanks a bunch Friend! This post helped me in moving my wordpress site.
What is the best way to move a wordpress installation from localhost to a new domain on an external server?
Have you ever tried or seen this? halty.net/website_mover_0.2.zip
claims to be compatible with wordpress but I am reluctant to try this on my live blog (my goal is to switch from godaddy to dreamhost and I have a new domain at dreamhost)
Dan
No, I haven’t tried that tool.
Thanks so much for this plugin! What would happen if I didn’t renew the contract on my “old” domain?
I’m glad our plugin helped you. If you decided not to renew your old domain and your site is now on a new domain, then it shouldn’t have any effect. Of course, I’d need to know more details of how your sites are set up before I could give you a definite recommendation.