Moving a WordPress Blog to a New Web Host using cpanel

WordPress Website Migration

The process of moving a WordPress website to a new host can be frustrating if done by a basic WordPress user.

Its complexity can be due to the size of database as well as the number of files in the default host.

Here at Fixwebnode, we shall look into how to move WordPress to a new host.

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To begin, you need to take a full backup of the default website to enable you safeguard the files in case something goes wrong.

You can either use FTP programs like FileZilla or the File Manager in cPanel for creating a backup copy of the site.

For cPanel's File Manager, create a backup of the website files by doing the following:

Go to the cPanel dashboard by logging into your webhost area.
Then, click the "File Manager" tool in the Files section in cPanel.
Now, locate the "public_html" directory.
Next, Click the "Select All" function from the toolbar.
Next, Click the "Compress" function in the top right corner. This will create a ZIP backup copy of the entire website using File Manager.
You can click the "Zip Archive" option on the top when the compress window opens.
Next, Scroll down to the bottom of the Compress window and Change the name of the Zip file to "newwordpressbackup". Note that this is just a given name. In this case you can use any name you like as this will be the file you'll need to move your website.
Next, Click the "Compress File(s)" button to create the Zip file. In a few minutes time, you'll see a results screen displaying what files and folders were compressed.
Now, Click the "Close" button to exit the compressor.
Finally, Select the newwordpressbackup.zip file and click "download". Save this file somewhere you can easily find it.

To export the database of the WordPress website you want to migrate, simply follow the below steps:

Click on "phpMyAdmin" located in the Databases section from cPanel.
Next, locate in the left panel the database associated with the website and click it. If you don't know your database, you can find it in the wp-config.php file of your website. This file can be found via the File Manager. So once found, you can edit it to find the database.
After you access the database you want in phpMyAdmin, click the "Export" option in the toolbar.
Leave the default options as they are and click the "Go" button to begin exporting the database. Do not forget to save it to a location you can easily remember.

Now to create a create a database on the new website server, follow the steps below:

On the new Website host's cPanel, click on the "MySQL Database Wizard" under the "Databases" Section.
Now, follow the instructions to create a new database for your website. Take note of the database name, username and password you are going to use. This is important as you won't be able to access your website's content without it.
Next, click the "Create User" button to continue.
In the next screen, ensure that you check the box for "All Privileges".
Next, Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Next Step" when you're ready to build the database.
Now, you can access your database through phpMyAdmin.
In phpMyAdmin, click on the new database, and click the "Import" option.
Now, Choose the SQL file you saved before which has a .sql extension.
Next, Click the "Go" button to upload your database.

To upload website files in the new host via cPanel, follow the below steps:

From the File manager, go to the website's directory by clicking "public_html".
Next, Click the "Upload" option from the toolbar.
Now, select the "newwordpressbackup.zip" file to upload it to the new server.
Next, Go back to your website's directory, and you’ll see your .zip file uploaded. Select the file and click "Extract".
Finally, Click the "Extract File(s)" button to unpack your website.

To enable your newly migrated website to function, you need to setup the wp-config.php File.

So follow the steps below to configure the wp-config.php File:

Start by selecting the wp-config.php file and click, "Edit".
In this file, you'll replace the old database information with the new name, user and password you created.
Next, click the "Save Changes" button on the top right.

You can simply access your website using the https://www.fixwebnode.com/wp-admin.php address (replace "fixwebnode.com" with your domain).

Conclusion

This article covers the best way to move a WordPress site to a new host without any issues.

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