Stupid me tried to 'move' the website to a new domain… Please help

  • Hi,

    Thanks for your attention and help.

    I had a WordPress website up and running for 2 years at a different domain. I just bought a new domain and thought that it should be as simple as downloading all files in the root folder with an FTP client and just uploading all the files to the new domain.

    Guess I was wrong. To make matters worse, I have already discontinued my old domain so the old database is gone.

    So far I have tried uploading all the old website files to the root folder of the new domain and I got a ‘unable to connect with database’ error. I have also tried uploading only the WordPress installation files, setting it up with the new domain / database settings and then upload and replacing the content files. Now I just get blank pages when accessing the website.

    Is there any way I can fix this and get it to work? I have downloaded all original files from the www. folder of the old website so luckily nothing is lost. But how do I get it to work on my new domain?

    Thank yo so much for your help. Really stuck here.

    Domain:
    https://www.cinematicwedding.nl

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

  • Do you have a database backup file from the old site?

    Thread Starter Stabdogg

    (@stabdogg)

    Thanks. No I don’t… I have just downloaded all the files in the www folder with an FTP client. Then stupid me has discontinued the old domain and this includes the old mysql database.

    I do however have a new domain with the same hosting agency and created a new mysql database. Maybe things are pretty similar, but of course name and password have changed.

    Hi,

    Sorry to hear about this. Did you download a backup of the Database? If yes, you can recover data to your new location.

    In my experience, here is what I usually do when I move to a new domain. On my new domain, do a fresh install of WordPress. This will setup the DB and configuration. Upload the wp-content folder from my old domain to the new one. This will retain the plugins, themes and all my images/media.

    Finally, using the old database backup, upload to the new database after correcting the posts table. It is not as simple as find & replace of the domain names in the sql query. Here is the link from the codex. Pls. check the section “When Your Domain Name or URLs Change”

    Thanks,
    Ramesh

    Edit: Just noticed that you don’t have a DB backup. Pls. check with the host to get a backup. It is most important.

    Thread Starter Stabdogg

    (@stabdogg)

    Thanks Ramesh.

    Unfortunately, I did not download the backup of the database. I thought that all necesarry files would be placed in the www. folder and downloaded them with Filezilla.

    What exactly is stored in the database?

    Without a copy of the old database, I’m afraid all of your site’s content has been lost. ??

    What exactly is stored in the database?

    All of your site’s content.

    Thread Starter Stabdogg

    (@stabdogg)

    So my content, texts and everything are not stored on the website’s server in the www. folder?

    That is strange to me. I do have most images left there and thousands of files…

    The files are all part of WordPress core, your theme & your plugins. The vast majority of your site’s content is stored in your database. Even your saved images will not be displayed unless they are re-uploaded via WordPress which registers them in the database.

    Try to contact your previous hosting provider, maybe they can help you retrieving your dbase. I hope.

    Thread Starter Stabdogg

    (@stabdogg)

    Thanks guys. I did. In the meanwhile I started building it once again…

    Hello i need someone to tell me what to do on my website because am really confused and don’t know what actually to build on it [site link removed – please post your own topic] thank you

    @sagaya: It is considered impolite to interrupt another poster’s ongoing thread unless you are posting a solution or suggestion. As per the Forum Welcome, please post your own topic.

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
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