Complicated re-installation problem

  • Resolved yellow13

    (@yellow13)


    11 years, 5 months ago

    Hello,

    I had wp running on my site, but then I took it down (for complicated reasons) and I also deleted most of the files within my domain folder, which included nuts and bolts stuff to make wordpress work, for example.

    About a week later I began to try to restore the site. Fortunately the mysql database was intact–I have about 100 posts on that thing, and it was such a relief not to lose them. After consulting with my hosting provider (dreamhost), it was recommended that I put a clean version of wordpress on the domain.

    So I did that–I renamed my old domain folder so there would be an empty folder for the install. When I installed it, I noticed that I could select which mysql database the new install would use. This was very exciting to me because I’d been told I would have to modify the wp.config file to point to the old database, and that sounded potentially complicated. So I picked my old database and crossed my fingers!

    Well, here we are! I have a new install of wordpress, and it seems to be using the old database, BUT…. it sort of looks like it isn’t, because the wp dashboard has no access to my old posts, comments, etc.

    I asked for help again from my hoster, but they were recommending I export/import from the mysql database–that just sounds like wrong information to me.

    Can anyone advise how I can make my new wordpress installation see and use the old posts, plugins, comments, etc.?

    Is it really necessary to export then import into the same database? That just seems crazy to me, personally.

    Many thanks for your help.

    yellow13

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  • So I picked my old database and crossed my fingers!

    I don’t know how the auto installation works, but there are 2 possibiliies:

    1. Drops and creates new tables: in this case, you will lose all the data. Hope you have another backup.

    2. Creates new tables using a new table prefix: in this case, you will have 2 copies of the tables in the same database.

    What your hosting suggests by export/import using phpMyAdmin is correct, that’s what you do when migrating from one database to another.

    Thread Starter yellow13

    (@yellow13)

    Sorry, I should have updated this. I’ve got it working now.

    There were indeed 2 copies in my database, and the trick was to update the table prefix (something that looked like wp_cjifods_) from the NEW prefix (the clean install of wp with nothing in it) to the OLD prefix (with all my old posts and informations) in the wordpress config file.

    Once I did that, it worked, for the most part (I also had to reset the permalinks by turning them to something other than the original setting then turning them back… no idea why but this worked.)

    Thank you for your help.

    Glad it’s solved, have a nice day!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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