How to Move WordPress from one server to another

Moving WordPress from one server to another

Moving WordPress from one server to another is a pretty easy task ( as long as your domains URL isn't changing ). We'll go ahead and show the steps below on how you should perform this move to another server.

1. The very first step is pretty simple.. you must first create the website on the new server ( Preferrably using the same domain name ).

2. Now on the site on the new server you'll want to install WordPress. This will be a fresh (new) installation.

3. Now on the installation on the new server you'll want to delete the "wp-content" folder, which controls the themes, plugins, and specialized content related to your site. The reason you're deleting this is because you'll be moving over the content stored in the "wp-content" directory on the old server so you have all your plugins, themes, images, etc.. If you don't remove this folder on the new server installation you may see some default themes / plugins that you don't recognize once the move is completed, so that is pretty important.

4. Now on the old ( current ) server you'll want to connect to your site with an FTP client, RDP, or any other method you take to see and make edits to your files. What you'll want to do is copy this folder "wp-content" from the old ( current ) server and place it under the same site on the new server in the exact same location as it was on the old server.

5. The file level part of this process should now be done. The only thing left to do now is the database. So, the next step is to login to your database with software such as phpMyAdmin, MySQL Workbench, HeidiSQL, etc.. The software you use does not matter as long as it is capable of taking a full backup of your database.

• Note: If you are unsure which database your WordPress site is loading from check within your wp-config.php file on the root file level of your website. Within this file you will see something like:

 define('DB_NAME', 'database_name_here'); 

In this case the database name would be 'database_name_here', however this database name will most likely be different from this example.

6. As step 5 mentioned on connecting to a database manager ( such as phpMyAdmin accessible via your control panel ) go ahead and perform a backup of the database ( full database backup ). This should download to your local computer.

7. Now that you have made your database level backup.. go ahead and login to the database on the new server with a database software, again such as phpMyAdmin.

8. Before restoring go ahead and delete everything from the database on the new server since we are wanting to over-write the existing database information with the backup we've just obtained from the old server.

9. Once the database is empty use the 'Import / Restore' functionality that the database software manager your using provides and select the backup file you previously obtained from backing up the database. Make sure the database restores / uploads fully.

You should now succcessfully have migrated your site from the old server to the new server. There shouldn't be any issues with the site loading from the new server unless you're now using a new domain, sub-domain, sub-folder, etc.