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FOR USERS LOOKING FOR A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO MOVING A WEBSITE FROM ONE SERVER TO A NEW SERVER, PLEASE USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

1. Download (by FTP or cPanel download) a copy of ALL of the wordpress files from your OLD server to your hard drive.

2. Login to your old server, go to phpMyAdmin. Select the database that your WordPress website works from. In the top menu of your page, choose EXPORT. Export to an SQL file and save this to your hard drive.

Please note: Compress it to a .sql.zip file and save this to your hard drive (reason: on some servers, only a zipped file is accepted when uploading, in Step #4, below).

3a. IF YOUR URL WILL NOT CHANGE, skip Step 3b.
3b. IF YOUR URL WILL CHANGE, go into the dashboard of the WP website. Go to Administration > Settings > General and change the URL (both of them) to that of your new URL.

4. Login to your NEW server and create your new database. Steps to follow:
• Go to mySQL
• Create/name new database (make a note of the exact db name used)
• Create/name new user account (make a note of the exact user name used)
• Add the user to the database you just created (make a note of the exact name used) and give that user “All Privileges”
• Go to myPHPadmin, select the newly created database and, from the menu on the page, choose IMPORT. Import the SQL (or .sql.zip) database export from your OLD server to the NEW server and ensure all your content is there.

5. Find the wp-config.php file in your WordPress download (from Step 1). In a text editing software, update this wp-config.php with the new database, user and password names you created in Step 4. Save the file.

6. By FTP, access your new server. Now, FTP all WordPress files (everything, along with the updated wp-config.php file.

7. Go to your website (www.yoursite.com) and make sure your website appears online. If you copied everything, as it was on your old server, all should appear exactly as it did. If you did not copy/FTP everything (like images), then correct the new site where necessary.

8. If all is in working order, delete the website and database from your OLD server, if you wish.

That’s it!

Transfer timing is confirmed for Friday morning, Toronto time. Will post of success or a desperate plea for help.

😉

Phew!! Okay – got it.

I feel confident about this now.

Thank you, Daniel – thank you. And have a magnificent day.

The client just request we do the transfer before the weekend. I proposed transferring the website tonight. Stay tuned!

SD 🙂

…just if things go wrong. I won’t email otherwise, except maybe to thank you. 🙂

Hi Daniel – you’re amazing. Thank you.

Everything is backed up fully, and I have plenty of backup redunancy. It’s one thing I am doing right. 🙂

Okay, so it’s best to FTP the core files then. Core files being everything BUT the content and wp-config.php file. So here is what Steps 4-5 would look like:

4. Follow these steps in this exact order:
a. create a new DB at the new server
b. then import the .sql.zip export to the newly created DB
c. then add an SQL user and password to that new database
d. then update and FTP wp-config.php to be certain it matches the new database name, SQL username and password.

5. Now, FTP the copy of the wordpress core files (everything BUT wp-content folder and wp-config.php) to your new server. That’s it!

Can you pls confirm this is the exact order I need to follow?

Thanks a million, Daniel.
sd

Hi again leejosepho,

Thinking about these instructions more thoroughly and there is one thing I wanted to clarify. When do I complete a fresh WP/THEME install?

Can you pls let me know? Here are the revised/cleaner instructions we worked out. Please let me know.

1. Download a copy of the main wordpress files from your OLD site to your hard drive and edit wp-config.php to suit the new server.
• these include:
/wp-content/ folder and its contents
wp-config.php file
.htaccess (typically optional)
SQL export of database tables
All other WordPress folders and files can be obtained from a fresh download of WordPress.

You mention here that I should do a fresh WP/Theme install. Is this when I do it?

2. Go back to your OLD site and go to Administration > Settings > General and change the URL (both of them) to that of your new site.
• I won’t need to do this because the url doesn’t change. Only the DB (wp-config.php) info changes.

3. Login on your old server, go to phpMyAdmin, export your WP database as SQL file, and save to your system. Compress it to a .sql.zip file (I have to do this – only a zipped file is accepted by the server).

4. Follow these steps in this exact order:
a. create a new DB at the new server
b. then import the .sql.zip export to the newly created DB
c. then add an SQL user and password to that new database
d. then update and FTP wp-config.php to be certain it matches the new database name, SQL username and password.

5. Now, upload this new database and the copy of the wordpress core files with the edited wp-config.php to your new server. That’s it!

This ww.wp.xz.cn instruction leads me to believe that if I ftp the backup files to the new server, all will appear. But we know that isn’t necessarily the case.

Your instruction (above, under 1) says just capture the content folder, wp-config.php file and database export, and do a fresh WP and theme install at some point.

Can you clarify when, in this process, I should do a fresh install?

Many thanks,
sd

Wow – thank you very much, leejosepho.

I understand the logic of the process a lot better now.

Another two questions:
1. The website will have the same url at the new server location, but I can change the DB name/user/pw. Will WordPress still adjust to that?

2. Once the transfer is complete, do I just delete all files from the old server or is there an “uninstall” process that I have to follow?

Please let me know.
Thanks again (very much),
sd