Moving a WordPress site from one Add-on domain to another Add-on domain

If you’ve ever had to move a WordPress site, you already know how it’s a bit of a crap shoot on whether it will go smoothly or not. There are many different factors that play a part in moving these sites. With the Add-on domains being moved from one hosting to another, this would seem as easy as moving a top-level domain, however, this is not the case, entirely, as the URLs do change, in SOME URL instances, but not in all of them.

If you are moving a top level WordPress on the same domain, and just switching servers(hosting), you are likely to have the greatest ease. Just load your backups, set your SQL properly, and change the wp-config.php file to reflect the new acct info. After the easy migration of my clients site (InNewLightVideoMagazine.com) I was looking forward to moving one of my own (rollingreenproject.org) just as easily.

If you use the WordPress instructions for moving a site, following the steps will usually (hopefully) create the desired result and have your site up and running again in no time. However, I’ve found that working with the add-on domain transfers between hosting is slightly different, though not any more difficult. Because it is not a top level domain, the URLs DO change, though that does not SEEM to be the case. I decided to write about this issue in the hopes that it can be found by others having the same problems, and can help them avoid the 3 days of trauma that it took to find the very simple solution for fixing my site within minutes. Let me add to the many who have given some advice on this before me… BACK UP EVERYTHING!! Having a full backup of your site and database will allow you a lot of room to poke, prod, and test your issues. Do not attempt to do anything to your site without a backup. Even adding plugin’s can cause some unexpected results, so ALWAYS have a fresh backup when making changes. I didn’t find ANY of the free backup plug-ins to be very helpful once I got to this point either, so be sure you also take a back-up from your cPanel in your hosting and don’t rely solely on the WP plugins, free or paid.

Before I take you through my process of HOW I came to this conclusion that sorted out all my difficulties, I will just start with giving you the solution. In the wp-config.php file, near the bottom, there is a line:

define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);

just before:

/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

found at the bottom of the php script. Change that line to:

define(‘WP_DEBUG’, true);

But only after you have followed the instructions in the WordPress guide and are still having an issue with your site. This does not need to be done if the site transfers and propagates easily! If you are having issues with your pages showing correctly, or the site being blank even though your database connection is good, then this one little trick can get you well on your way to recovery with ease.

By the time I found this nifty solution, I had a permanent dent in my keyboard from headbanging it and a couple bald spots from hair pulling. You see, I had done everything perfectly during the migration process. I even went through many very good tutorials on how to migrate and move a WP-site. All of them leaving me with the same result. A blank white page where my site should be, after I fixed the error for connecting with the database. I had checked all the file locations, I messed with the SQL database until I no longer knew for sure what all had been done, I deleted the database and site and reinstalled a fresh WP platform to rebuild on, importing the original database and then copying over the files.. and again a blank site. After 2 days of trying EVERYTHING I could find on the internet, and understanding that the issue HAD TO have something to do with the URLs and the migration of the add-on domains, I was at my wits end. I had the database, everything in there was good. I had the files, all that should be working too. I ran the database connection test to be sure it was connecting properly.. it was. So again, I was left with the URL issue, but no way to really know WHY it wasn’t working properly, or just which URLs needed to be changed, and in what way, for it all to communicate properly.

So..I wiped it all out again.. one more time… and started fresh… again. I was determined this would be the last time, even if it meant scrapping the site and starting over. We would have lost over a years worth of posts made while traveling and accounting our adventures on the road, so that was far from my desired solution.

I did find that doing the WP installation via my cPanel script installer and then importing my original DB was a good way to be sure your SQL info will migrate easily with the new account. The wp-config.php file is easy to update with your new DB and user info. So, with everything fully reloaded fresh, and the config file changed to connect with my DB, it happened again.. a blank site. I was not really expecting anything different at this point, but had still hoped maybe it was just some settings I’d changed while doing all this messing around. At this point, I had to just push back and let it sit for a day while I moved on to more pressing tasks that had been neglected while wrestling with this site.

The next day, I pulled up my blank site and stared at it a while and chanted to the “tech gods” that I WILL find the solution… and I did. That little debug bugger was the key all along. I could have saved myself DAYS of frustration had I found that in the WordPress support system sooner. I found it somewhere in the sea of other people having issues with migration and read it in a suggestion from a WPguru trying to help someone with a different, but related, issue.

After changing that code from “false” to “true” something NEW and interesting happened! I got these lines that showed me a couple of errors in plugins that use specific URLs. I went into my FTP and removed those plugins from the file. (Yes, just delete them!) I refreshed my site and again, something new! The site was there, though looking a little wonky. I was able to get into my admin panel for the WP finally too, which gave me the ability to fix everything else from there. At this point, I decided to just manually update image URLs and a few other things, but using a tool to replace the image URLs is a good way to fix it also. This got my site up and running smoothly again, YEA!

I have noticed that something is still odd in a few functions related to the URLs, so I would defiantly use a replacement tool if you are not tech savvy. My last issue seems to be in the meta login, so I just opted to remove the meta widget and use the admin URL to sign into my site. At this point, I could have reloaded the plugins that broke during the move, but decided they were not really important. I would suggest making a backup of your site with the plugins disabled, but installed, as a possible solution to stop this problem from happening. However, that may not be an optimal choice for some sites.

All in all, using that debug setting had my site up and running within about an hour, after 3+days of frustration. So, I’m hoping the next person having URL issues can find this before they completely lose their minds and scrap an important site. It’s usually something simple.. once you finally get to the root of the problem. Getting to that point, however, can be quite the journey.

HAPPY HOSTING and MERRY MIGRATING to all!
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