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Hey, I’m mega confused and could really do with some help.
I’m trying to migrate an old WordPress website from files over to a new domain.
The site hasn’t been live for a while as I lost access to the hosting. I’ve installed wordpress, bought the domain etc and have all the files containing the website and trying to figure out my next steps. Do I set it up using the old domain and then change the URL? or set it up with my new domain?
This is also the first time I’ve done this so any help/advice would be amazing.
Thanks!!
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is it new hosting or a new domain,
your post doesnt make it clear
< I lost access to the hosting
sounds like you need to point your domain to your new hosting provider
Here’s the general overview if you’re moving to a new web server but the domain is the same.
You can research more in depth if needed, because there’s a wealth of information out there that is very easy to find if you have a few prompts to work from.
This assumes you’ve already pointed the A records to the new server or updated Name servers as necessary.
Alright, so first things first.
You need more than just “files”. You also need the database. It’s possible you do have both components are just grouping them all together as files, because the database is also technically a file with an extension. That said, if you only have the core files and don’t have an export of the database, you’ve lost your site.
Next, we need to upload all the files into the directory on your server that is referenced by the domain. It’s often public_html or it could be a folder named as the same as domain. You can do that by connecting using an FTP application and then just uploading the files to the correct location.
Now, we need to create a new database and database user. Note the password.
Access the database by phpMyAdmin and import your database backup.
Make sure you note the prefix that’s used. It probably hasn’t changed, though.
Now, head back to your directory and find a file called wp-config.php. Edit that file and look for the lines requesting the database name, database user, password, and WordPress prefix. Make sure those all match the prior step.