WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL)

According to the WordPress site, it says, “Site Address (URL) – Enter the address you want people to type in their browser to reach your WordPress site. This is the directory where WordPress’s main index.php file is installed. The Site address (URL) is identical to the WordPress address (URL) (above) unless you are giving WordPress its own directory. WordPress will trim a slash (/) from the end. If you defined the WP_HOME constant in your wp-config.php file, that value will appear in this field and you will not be able to make changes to it from the WordPress administration screen. “

My website was installed at originaldomain.com/site/ but the newdomain.com’s nameservers are pointed into the /site/ folder.

Would I change the Site Address URL to newdomain.com to change all of the URL’s within the site to reflect the new domain?

From what I can see online, I would want to change BOTH of the items then follow this https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Changing_The_Site_URL#Changing_the_URL_directly_in_the_database instructions on editing the database site URL.

Is that correct? I REALLY don’t want to “break” the website and spend forever trying to get it back up and running. I really need to know exactly what I’m doing before I make changes so that the transition is as smoothe as possible.

Also look at https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Moving_WordPress#When_Your_Domain_Name_or_URLs_Change

When moving a site to different domain I prefer to use the serialized search & replace tool on the db ( https://interconnectit.com/124/search-and-replace-for-wordpress-databases/ ) rather than a plain text search & replace.

Wow cube, that looks much more complex than the method I was looking at in the above links I provided. Is it safe to say there is no easy quick fix to my dilemma?

You only have to change the URL settings and do a search and replace on all the internal links.

It might seem scary at first but it’s not very difficult. And you already have experience in changing the settings with phpmyadmin so you can always fix it if you make a mistake.

As usual, backup the database first.

Scary isn’t the word for it. LOL. I’m pretty new to designing using WordPress. This is probably my 5th WordPress site but my first domain migration.

Right now, I’m reading and re-reading to make sure I fully understand the process before I jump in and mess everything up.

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Have a look here: https://halty.net/
This script will handle all that automatically. Let me know if you need any help. You will NOT mess up your “source” installation as the script does not modify it at all.

I’ve read so many articles, my head is swimming. ?? I know I’m probably making it a bigger deal than it actually is…I’m one of those guys who will analyze a situation to death before making a decision to actually do it. It’s that “Measure twice, cut once” mentality.

Fong, I’m trying to figure out if I should leave the “old domain website” intact for now, and setup the “new domain website”. That way I at least have the site fully working that I can refer back to, copy/paste etc in case something goes wrong.

So far, I have backed up my Database using PHPMyAdmin, Downloaded the entire website files to my hard drive via Filezilla FTP and backed up WordPress using Tools>Export within WordPress.

….that’s it.

Alright, I’m ready to try and do this…just still need some hand holding.

Would it be better to create a new database, upload the “old wordpress files” to the new host, import the wordpress files and then do a search/replace on that database?

To me, that would be the safest approach since my “old wordpress site” would still be intact in case the move to the new website has any glitches. Then once everything is worked out, I can delete the old website.

Any thoughts?

Any reason you do not want to try my script? It will do exactly what you want. You would only need to create a new database.

I really appreciate the offer to use your script halty. With all due respect, I’m not against using your script, I’m just being cautious, especially since you are a new member and only a few posts.

Just way too many virus, malware etc on the net….just trying to protect myself. As a precaution, I did scan the website mover file for virus and malware and none were found. ??

Anyone see any issues in using halty’s script?

I just noticed on your page that it says that it will work with any webhost that uses Cpanel. My webhost is 1and1 and they do not use Cpanel.

To be more exact, it will ALSO work on any webhost that uses cPanel. I did not have a chance to test it with 1and1, but, unless they run a very different setup, it should work just fine. And if it fails, I am here to help.

But I certainly understand your concerns. If you want, you can leave a commend in the feedback section of the halty.net website with your email, and I will reply to you from my company’s e-mail address so that you can make sure I am real ??

Thanks halty.

I have created a new folder on my server and pointed the nameservers of the new domain to it. Will your script move all of my existing wordpress files from the one folder on my server to the new folder on the server?

I uploaded the source file to the current root directory of my wordpress website and uploaded the target file to the folder where the new website will reside. When I run the source script in my browser, it says…(note: I’ve replaced the actual URL with “/mywebswite/”

Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /mywebsite/halty_source.php on line 108

Warning: file_get_contents(https://halty.net/mover_version) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /mywebsite/halty_source.php on line 108
Fatal error: Unable to communicate to a remote server. This script absolutely requires remote access, otherwise it cannot transfer any data outside of the server