A Complete Guide to Transferring Wordpress From One Server or Host to Another

How to Transfer a WordPress Blog From One Server or Host to Another

Tags: bigdump, blog, cpanel, database, import, mysql, phpmyadmin, wordpress
Posted in How To Guides on February 11th, 2009 by Ryan Kazinec | 57 Comments

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Introduction:

There are numerous articles that cover the process of transferring a WordPress blog from one server or host to another but I’ve found that most of them left me asking questions after reading them. I am a very visual person and hope the following article and images help you get your WordPress blog transferred successfully. The following article was compiled from firsthand experience of transferring two WordPress blogs from a Godaddy hosting account to my own dedicated linux server.

Step #1 -Backup Your WordPress Database:

Most hosting accounts include PhpMyAdmin which is what you will use to backup the WordPress database. The process really isn’t that difficult. The first thing you’ll need to do is find PhpMyAdmin within your hosts control panel. After you’ve logged into PhpMyAdmin you’ll need to do the following.

Click on the database you need to back up. It will be located on the top left region of the screen.

Click on “Export” on the top tool bar of PhpMyAdmin.

Complete the following steps.

In the Export box make sure all of the tables are highlighted and if they’re not click on “Select All”
In the Options box make sure to select the following options in addition to the default settings. 1.) Add DROP TABLE/VIEW/PROCEDURE/FUNCTION 2.) Add AUTO_INCREMENT value 3.) Enclose table and field names with backquotes 4.) Complete inserts 5.) Use Hexadecimal for BLOB
Lastly, towards the bottom of the screen make sure you select “Save as file” and then type a file name that correlates to your website and click “Go”. That’s it, your Database should now be backed up on your local drive.

Step #2 Transfer all of your WordPress files to the new server:

For the time being I’m not going to cover this step in extreme detail because there are so many different ways this can be done. I chose to use the FTP client FileZilla to complete this task which is free. If any of you would like me to add additional information on this step of the process please let me know and I’ll add it to this post.

Step #3 Create a new Database on your new server/host.

If you’re using Cpanel this task is extremely simple but should be a very similar process on other control panels.

Click on “MySQL database wizard”
Enter a Database name. This could be wordpress or anything else you’d like. Then click “next step”.
Enter a Username and Password. Note: The Password must be entered twice and make sure it’s secure. (variation of numbers,letters, and cases) Then click “next step”.
Select “All Privileges” and click “next step”. That’s It!
Important Note: Make sure you write down the Database Name, Username, and Password or you’ll have to go back and find that information later.

Step #4 Edit the WPCONFIG.php

At this point you should have already copied all of your WordPress files to the new server and we now need to modify the WPCONFIG.php file with the new Database information. Once in Cpanel you need to complete the following steps.

Click on “File Manager”.
Select “Web Root” and make sure “show hidden files” is selected(May not be necessary but better safe than sorry).
Find WPCONFIG.php within the file manager. Depending on where you copied the WordPress files on the server this file should be located in WordPress’s root directory. (Meaning it’s not located in wpcontent or wpadmin, it’s located in the same directory as all of the wordpress folders)
Once you locate WPCONFIG you’ll need to click on the mouses right button and select “Edit”.
You now need to alter three (possibly four) different items in the file.

Database Name
Username
Database Password
Database Host (If you’re hosting WordPress on your own server this should be localhost but may vary depending your hosting situation. If you’re unsure you’ll need to contact your administrator)

Note on Charset Value: This value must match the value of your old Database. I left it at the default setting and everything worked correctly but I have read that having an incorrect charset can cause compatibility issues within the Database.
Charset Resource: The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)
Save Changes to the file and you’re done.

Step #5 Import your old Database tables into your newly added Database. (Important! See note on Option #1)

This is a step that caused some serious issues for me when I first tried transfering a WordPress blog. Whithout completing this step your new database will not function because it doesn’t contain any of the tables or information from your WordPress powered website. There are a couple of options to complete this task and your choice should very based on the size of your database backup. If you’re database is larger than 10mb in size you’ll likely need to use third party software to complete the task. If you’re Database backup is smaller than 10mb in size you can use PhpMyAdmin to complete the import.

Option #1 Using PhpMyAdmin (Databases under 10mb in size) (IMPORTANT! I have been informed that the size limit has been increased in recent versions of PhpMyAdmin. The new limit is 100mb in size.)

Follow these steps when using PhpMyAdmin to complete the import.

Click on PhpMyAdmin within Cpanel and login.
Click on the Database you created earlier. This database should have a zero next to it representing that it doesn’t contain and tables. It should in the upper left hand side of the screen.
Click on the “Import” tab located on the upper navigation toolbar.
Click on “Browse” and find the Database backup that you earlier saved to your local drive.
Click “Go” and let PhpMyAdmin handle the rest.

Presuming you’re database backup was less than 10mb in size you should now be ready to roll.

Option #2 Using BigDump (Databases over 10mb in size)

One of the WordPress blogs I transferred required the use of BigDump which is an amazingly useful tool. Don’t be scared to use it, it’s extremely easy to use. Follow these steps if you’re using BigDump to complete the import.

Create a temporary folder on your server using “File Manager” in Cpanel. The reccommended name for the folder is “Dump” but it doesn’t really matter.
Upload bigdump.php and your database backup(example – wordpress.sql) into the “Dump” temporary” folder.
You now need to edit bigdump.php with the same process you used to edit WPCONFIG.php earlier. Use file manager within cpanel, right click on bigdump.php, click “edit”, and then proceed to modify DB host, DB name, Username, and Password. Save changes!
You now need to load bigdump.php in your browser. Open your favorite browser and enter the location of bigdump.php (example: http://www.yourdomain.com/dump/bigdump.php) Once loaded you’ll see the BigDump menu and you should see your database backup listed.
Click “Start Import” and let BigDump go to work.
You will see an activity page and will see a prompt below the activity page informing you when BigDump has completed the task.

Note: Make sure the encoding within the bigdump.php file matches that of the original database or you’ll likely have strange characters show up all over your website!

Final Step: Don’t forget about your Nameservers!

Depending on your situation you will likely need to alter your Nameservers with your domain registrar. In some situations you can continue to use the Nameservers provided by the domain registrar as long as you make the necessary modifications on your new server/host. It should be noted that a lot of other people suggest changing nameservers earlier in the process but I refrain from doing that because of some issues I had with DNS on my server the first time I attempted the transfer.

In Closing

I hope you found this article helpful and if anyone would like me to add more details on any of steps in the process please let me know. If you found this article helpful I would greatly appreciate you sharing it with others. You can use the sociable links above or share it on other networks that aren’t listed. Thank You! Also, make sure to sign up on Jealousbrother.com and get involved in the rivalries!

I would just ask the new hosting provider do this for me. It will save me time and prevent major error.

Posted on February 11th, 2009 at 3:35 pm by: Hamdani

Hamdani,
Your approach is definitely the easiest and should result in your website getting safely transferred. However, I’m not sure that this is a service that most hosts provide. At least not free of charge. There is also a lot of people like myself who run their own dedicated machines so it’s up to us to accomplish this task on our own. Thanks for stopping by.

Posted on February 11th, 2009 at 4:50 pm by: bigkazzyry

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Posted on February 13th, 2009 at 7:35 am by: Looking For The Best WordPress Host?

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Yeah well, I came across yours and had to write to tell you I enjoyed it very much. I gave it the thumbs up, so more people can come across it and enjoy it also.

Posted on February 15th, 2009 at 11:16 am by: Georgia Stath

This is a very good information. Thank You very much for doing this. Actually I saw this post by searching the way to find the transfer of my site bollygossips.com from one server to another server.
So this method will help me to change the database from one server to another.
Thank You again.

Posted on February 20th, 2009 at 4:20 am by: Ajit

Thank you very much for your article. I find it very scary to move your beloved website from one place to another. I’m currently working on it now (as I write this), and almost p***ing my pants, because I don’t want to lose anything…. anyhoo – thanks again for writing this how-to…

Posted on April 18th, 2009 at 5:59 pm by: Parnuuna

You are very welcome and I hope the article helps make the process less stressful. If you come across any questions I might be able to answer please don’t hesitate. Best of luck on the transfer.

Posted on April 18th, 2009 at 6:11 pm by: bigkazzyry

Success! Thanks so much for posting this. I transferred a wordpress site flawlessly!

Posted on April 19th, 2009 at 10:38 am by: MapleWebsites

You are very welcome. I’m glad the article helped you out.

Posted on April 19th, 2009 at 10:54 am by: bigkazzyry

Okay probably the most pathetic question ever…

In step 2, do I upload all the WP files such as the WP Version, Theme, Plugins?

Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 12:05 am by: mimo

@ Mimo
That’s a totally legitimate question and yes you’ll want to transfer all of your files and directories. Just make sure you edit the wpconfig (Step #4)(The one copied from your old server/host) to match the settings of your newly added database. (Step #3)

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 7:19 am by: bigkazzyry

Jealous Brother!!

I love you guys! I’m glad I found your site. Before JealousBrother.com, I looked through other websites and it was confusing. I’m glad you had pictures and all.

I finally did it (I tried it last night but it didn’t work due to the change in Name Servers.. no changes in Name Servers was in effect until this morning). Then I decided to give it another try today and it worked! Woo hoo!

Just out of curiousity… in step 2, do I have to “install” wordpress again? For myself, I set up WordPress after I transferred the files on Filezilla. So I had a new password.

Then when I was finished step 5… I couldn’t log in from Step 2 (new password). I decided to give a try by using my old password (from old database) and it worked. So my question is, is it unnecessary to go through the installation process in step 2? Since once I’m done with step 5, I can automatically log in as usual (from old database)?

Thanks Jealous Brothers!

Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm by: mimo

@ Mimo

Thank You and you’re very welcome. I wrote this article after having the same problem you did in finding confusing sources of information. I’m very glad it helped you. There are so many steps I’ve even bookmarked the article myself as a quick reminder when the time comes for me to transfer one of my many WordPress blogs again.

In regards to your question: I may be a bit confused at what you’re referring to. You shouldn’t have to setup a new WordPress account, that is done only one time (when you set your blog up originally).

Answer me this, are you referring to step 2 of the “Famous Five Minute” WordPress installation or the directions in the above blog post? Step 2 on this blog post is to transfer all of your files to your new server/host. (This is why I’m confused)

Here’s what I think you’re looking for: My answer would be no, you do not need to install WordPress again that was done the first time you installed the blog and by completing step 5 you have successfully imported all of your database tables into your newly created database on your new server/host. Once the nameservers are changed everything should be fine and exactly how you remember it.

Here’s a bit of advice one of the tech guys gave me from my server company (In regards to your nameservers not changing immediately. Chances are it was cached on YOUR ISP, meaning your blog was visible to everyone else but you. Sometimes your local dns server(for your ISP) can cache (store information)data. If you’re on a windows based machine you can always try the following. Open “Command Prompt” on your pc and type: ipconfig/flushdns (Have to open the command prompt as administrator).

Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 3:30 pm by: bigkazzyry

Hi Jealous Brother,

Yes, I was referring to the Famous Five Min. Installation. Thanks! Now I know not to go through the installation process again. Haha. Thanks for the tip and advice!!! You made my day!

Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 4:17 pm by: mimo

You are very welcome Mimo.

Posted on July 19th, 2009 at 4:28 pm by: bigkazzyry

Hey, can you email me back about this? I have done everything you said but the only that doesn’t work are images. Individual images work but nextgen and wordpress galleries wont display. They show up in the media folder and in the nextgen gallery. Any ideas?

Posted on October 19th, 2009 at 9:36 pm by: Spewf

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Posted on January 17th, 2010 at 11:25 am by: How to Transfer Wordpress From One Server Or Host to Another :: What is a Blog

Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 2:00 pm by: G4b1Dev » How to Transfer Wordpress From One Server Or Host to Another

Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 3:53 am by: How to Transfer Wordpress From One Server Or Host to Another | Best info.

Hi, I have done all you said but the images like the top comments do not work. kind of stuck any help would be grateful. thanks

Posted on February 26th, 2010 at 3:28 am by: art

Art,
Another individual had a similar problem. The following is the email message I received from them once the issue had been fixed. I hope this helps, let me know if it doesn’t and I’ll try and help you find a solution.

————————————————————————————

Hey, I figured it out. For some reason the new server didn’t like the paths to the images. I went in and had to change the path to wp-content/uploads/5/3/22.jpg instead of having the http://

I appreciate you emailing me back though!

Posted on February 26th, 2010 at 6:08 am by: bigkazzyry

Post transfer tip. I found I needed to goto Settings>>Miscellaneous Settings in wordpress and put in the correct upload path for the images. Otherwise i got an error message “Unable to create directory ….. Is its parent directory writable by the server?” when uploading new pictures.

Posted on March 12th, 2010 at 10:46 pm by: Jeff

Jeff,
Thank you for the information. I’m sure other visitors will find it very useful.

Posted on March 12th, 2010 at 10:54 pm by: bigkazzyry

Wow,it’s wonderful tutorial..but I haven’t still convince yet to do this now,maybe someday!

Thanks for this post.

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Posted on July 1st, 2010 at 1:12 am by: Ultimate Social Bookmark « Share Social Bookmarking

My phpMyadmin client stated the limit at one hundred megabytes, and successfully uploaded an eighteen megabyte file. So I guess they’ve improved since you tried it? Anyway you should update with this information.

Posted on October 7th, 2010 at 6:40 pm by: Z.N. Singer

Thank you for informing me of the changes made to PhpMyAdmin (It has been a long while since I’ve needed to transfer a blog so it is likely that improvements have been made). I’ll edit the post to note this change.

Posted on October 7th, 2010 at 6:59 pm by: bigkazzyry

I’ve been reading a number of these tutorials for transferring wordpress from Local Host to Server. I’m trying to decide on the bet one to use: One thing that some of them suggest that your tutorial does not, is editing the database created in step #1. They have you change the paths listed in the database such as “C:\\Program Files\\xampp\\htdocs\\yoursite/wp-content/uploads” to reflect the path on the new server. Is this not necessary?

Posted on October 28th, 2010 at 11:22 am by: Karl

@Karl,
I’m not sure at what you’re getting at with your question. I didn’t have to change any paths within the database. Unless something has changed or you have a unique situation you should only have to create a new database on the new server or host, alter the setting (username, password, etc…) in wp-config.php, and import the the old database tables into the new database as detailed above.

Posted on October 29th, 2010 at 6:07 pm by: admin

Posted on November 3rd, 2010 at 9:50 pm by: How to Transfer WordPress From One Server Or Host to Another | WordPress Secrets

Can you explain to me how to Transfer all of your WordPress files to the new server with filezilla?

Posted on November 4th, 2010 at 12:48 am by: Ruby

Thanks for a very informative article!

I was dreading transferring it over from one cpanel account to another for one of my sites and it looks like it has worked!!! )

Your article saved me lots of stress! I have an article website (http://teoonline.com), if you wouldn’t mind registering/submitting this article there, it might come in handy to other people too.

Thanks again!

Posted on November 6th, 2010 at 5:52 am by: TEO Article Arena

website: http://www.medicolegalreports.com.au/

I made a website for a friend and have just moved it to his host following this guide

Now I’m getting this Internal Server Error message when I navigate to any page EXCEPT for home. Please help.

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@medicolegalreports.com.au and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/2.2.13 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.13 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.8.8 Server at http://www.medicolegalreports.com.au Port 80

Posted on November 12th, 2010 at 11:00 pm by: Ruby

@Ruby,
Please look at your server error log and let me know what it states. I don’t have a lot to go on to help you without further information. The way that website responds reminds me of .htaccess errors I’ve seen in the past but without knowing the detailed information of what you did in the process of transferring the site it’s hard to say.

1.) Check server error log.
2.) Verify files were transferred to the new server.
3.) Check the database to make sure it was imported correctly.
4.) Get back to me with what the server log says.

Posted on November 13th, 2010 at 12:06 am by: bigkazzyry

Fixed by following this:

I would delete my .htaccess and create a new one in Notepad.
Open Notepad – hit space bar once – save file.
Upload it to your WP root and rename it .htaccess. CHMOD 666.
Update your permalinks – this writes to your .htaccess.
Change CHMOD to 644 on .htaccess for security.

Posted on November 16th, 2010 at 12:04 am by: Ruby

Posted on February 27th, 2011 at 2:05 pm by: WordPress Bloggers dot Net | Blog | How to Transfer WordPress From One Server Or Host to Another

I am not able to understand wht you are trying to say in step2…do i have to copy all the files of my wordpress blog from old host or just the wp-content folder……
other thing is that…do i have to install the wordpress again on new server?….plz help
my website is http://www.freekaamaal.com
i am planning to change my host from a long time bt after reading ur article i really want to do it now….

Posted on March 2nd, 2011 at 11:16 am by: Ravi

Thanks You Very Much !!! Finally after struggling for nearly past 10 hrs , i completely transferred my wordpress site(http://www.freekaamaal.com) to new host and i want to give the whole credit to this awesome post….I followed each n every step and finally i have my website running smoothly , even though there was some plugin error ..bt now its fine…
Thanks again JealousBrother…U guyz Rock!!!!

Posted on March 3rd, 2011 at 8:12 am by: Ravi

Ravi,
I’m very happy to hear our guide helped you get your site up and running with your new host. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday in regards to your first comment. I know this process is a nervewracking thing to work through and again I’m very happy our guide helped you with the process.
Sincerely,
Ryan Kazinec

Posted on March 3rd, 2011 at 8:59 am by: admin

Hey, Thanks for this article, I was searching to migrate wordpress blog from 1 server to another server and I found your article and used the tips as you have mentioned. Initially, I had a bit problem but after reading again and used your steps I did.
Thanks so much

Posted on March 29th, 2011 at 12:33 am by: Upni Duniya

You are very welcome Upni. I’m glad the article helped you out.

Posted on March 29th, 2011 at 5:28 am by: admin

Hi there,

Just want to say a big thank you for putting this is plain english – WordPress help was useless, and i’ve just followed everything and it worked!

The only issue I had was, images i’d uploaded previously had my old hosting server path and consequently new server couldn’t find them, but resetting it within wordpress to “wp-content/uploads” sorted it and all working fine thanks!

Adam

Posted on April 6th, 2011 at 11:57 am by: Adam

You’re very welcome and I’m sure your comment will be of use to other visitors who have the same issue. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Posted on April 6th, 2011 at 2:31 pm by: admin

Very good directions! Thanks so much for making this such an easy process! I couldnt find directions this plain anywhere else!

Posted on June 14th, 2011 at 1:33 am by: mark

[...] Another Server How to Move a WordPress Site from one Server to another How To Move A WordPress Site How to Transfer a WordPress Blog From One Server or Host to Another How to Move WordPress Blog to New Domain or Location Move your WordPress blog to a new domain in 10 [...]

Posted on August 6th, 2011 at 12:00 am by: How to Move a WordPress Site from one Server to another - Wordpress Arena

Hi Hamdani, warm greetings from India. Many thanks for your tips and instruction s. You’ve provided the only best ever extensive and most easy as well as clear complete instructions to transfer a whole WordPress blog (contents, db etc.) to a new server. Your effort is really appreciable. I’ll surely share your link with my friends. Thanks again for your effort. All the best. Happy blogging.

Posted on October 4th, 2011 at 8:49 am by: R. Agarwal

would you PLEASE show how to #2 using filezilla? pleasee!!!

Posted on October 11th, 2011 at 8:21 pm by: Melissa

I’ll look into adding to this tutorial tomorrow explaining this in more detail but it basically works in a similar fashion as Windows explorer.

A couple of key notes:

First, install filezilla client.

Second, acquire the ftp information needed for your server from your new host. This will include the ip address, port, and password.

This will give you access to your new hosts file structure and then it’s as simple as copying the file over. However, copying files in this fashion will take a great deal of time, so be patient. I’ll look into providing more detail tomorrow. Hope this helps.

Posted on October 11th, 2011 at 9:18 pm by: admin

Great, that was the only tutorial that helped transfer my wordpress site without a single glitch – Thanks a lot

Posted on November 1st, 2011 at 2:49 pm by: Marian

Thanks.. this really helped me to transfer my wp files from old host to new host. Thanks for sharing nice tips.

Posted on November 5th, 2011 at 9:41 pm by: Rishi

Thanks for this infomation. But please tell me what if we have blogger blog and want to shift in wordpress. Without effecting seo

Posted on January 3rd, 2012 at 3:21 pm by: J. Doe

I have a very important question.

What is a PhpMyAdmin?

Your efforts are commendable, but I tried everything to move my site from one to another. As a very very non-techie guy, I was totally unable to. So had to stick with the old provider (The hosting companies don’t care about helping). Everyone throws around terms like phpmyadmin, htaccess, ftp upload/download as if people know what they all are by default. Sad that you never find help when you need it.

Nice writeup though. I like your style of writing.

Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 1:58 am by: vadakkus

Vadakkus,
I’m sorry you’re having issues with the transfer. To answer your question, PhpMyAdmin is a piece of software that adds a graphic user interface (GUI) to the management of a websites database. It’s a very common program that is included with a lot of hosting packages. PhpMyAdmin’s Website However, even if your host doesn’t have PhpMyAdmin there is usually if not always some other type of database management utility although they are not commonly anywhere as powerful and well designed as PhpMyAdmin. Hope this helps.

To answer a couple of your other indirect questions.

.htaccess is s file that can be used with Apache based web servers and is VERY powerful but is equally as complicated. Even the smallest error in this file can render your website useless until corrected.

ftp upload / download is a file transfer protocol which is a fancy way of saying you can connect to a remote server (the server or host where your websites files are located) from your home computer or personal device and add, delete, download, or edit the content from the remote server. FileZilla is a very popular and free ftp program.

Transferring WordPress while not too difficult when you are a tech person can be a bit daunting for non-techies. I wish you the best and let me know if I can help with anything else.

Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 4:38 am by: Ryan Kazinec

thank you for the guide,i am moving my website to a new server and i am following the steps in the guide !!

Posted on January 27th, 2012 at 12:48 pm by: pradeepf

You are very welcome! I hope the transfer goes smoothly.

Posted on January 27th, 2012 at 1:06 pm by: admin

This is utterlyinformational, very indepth, thank you.

Posted on January 29th, 2012 at 6:08 pm by: john bulera

You are very welcome.

Posted on January 29th, 2012 at 7:16 pm by: Ryan Kazinec