Migrating a site

Hello, Jasmin, & welcome. My first question is–did they give you the database file also, or, barring that, exported content files in .xml format?

You’ll need to install files to the web root folder of whatever you’re using for your local server. In many all-in-1 solutions, ie, Xampp, etc, that is the htdocs folder. I usually install to a separate folder underneath the web root, ie, wordpress, just so I can have more than 1 CMS on the local server if I want that.

You’ll also need to create a database, likely using PhpMyadmin, & then import your database into the 1 you just created. Make certain the database user you choose or create has all privileges on the database. Don’t forget to change the wp-config.php file to reflect those changes.

I next use a search & replace script to change the domain to the localhost install, ie, search for https://www.sitename.com & replace it w/localhost/wordpress. You may find it necessary to do that a couple times to catch all iterations of urls, ie, https://sitename.com, etc. I personally use a search & replace plugin by Interconnect/it, but there are others out there as well, & Google is your friend. The 1 I mentioned specifically is at:
https://interconnectit.com

You may also find it helpful to use a plugin for this purpose, such as Duplicator, found at:
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/duplicator/
(this is not an endorsement, & there are others, w/which Google can help). It may eliminate the need for the search-&-replace script.

Hopefully this gives you a few ideas, but don’t hesitate to write if you need more help.

Hi, Jason!

First, setup WordPress locally on in your hosting environment. Then you’ll need to unzip the files. In OS X, you can simply double-click on the file. In Windows, you can use an archiving tool to extract the backup file. The unzipped file will contain your database file (ending in .sql) and the WordPress site/theme files.

Next is restoring the site files. The backup site files consist of three folders named wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes plus a number of php files and an .htaccess file. If you’re working in a local environment, just copy the files over to your local server. If you’re setting up a new site on a web host, you will need to upload the site files and overwrite the existing files. This can be done via FTP using the file manager provided by your hosting company panel or via an FTP or SFTP client (such as Filezilla, Transmit or Cyberduck). Make sure you choose to replace the existing files with the new ones.

Now the database. You will then need to import your database. This should automatically overwrite the old tables.

Finally, update the URL. If you are restoring your site to a new domain, you’ll need to update the siteurl and home values in your wp_options table. You can either edit the SQL (.sql) export file, or import the SQL and edit your database using phpMyAdmin or a desktop tool like Sequel Pro.

Check out Moving WordPress’ from the Codex for more information.

Hi both,

thanks so much for your help with this. I thought this would be a simple process as it’s a wordpress site and it’s just a case of moving it to my hosting – but it seems it’s not the case!

So to give you some more info:
I’ve set up WordPress on my computer locally, but this just gives me a completely blank site and I’m not sure how to integrate the previous developers site with this install of wordpress

Here’s an image of the site files the developer has sent me – I’m not sure if the database has been included or not – as you can tell I’m a complete newbie (but really willing to learn and I’m loving it so far!) and wouldn’t know what this file would look like

https://ibb.co/cZaaLf

Once I’ve integrated the previous site with my local install of wordpress, I plan to use Duplicator to move the site to my hosting

Apologies if I’ve got any terminology or concepts wrong please feel free to correct me ??

Jasmin

Hello, again, Jasmin. The database file usually ends in an .sql extention. You’ll need this in order to install the site, either on your local machine or on the eventual hosting site. You’ll need to create a database in PhpMyadmin on your local box, then import the database of the site into that. Lastly, you’ll modify the wp-config.php file to reflect the database name, the username, & the database password. That basically connects the database to the site.

Let us know, please, whether or not that helps, &/or if we can further assist.