Moving WordPress the easy way

Moving WordPress installations can often be a daunting task, especially if you have never done it before. The WordPress codex doesn’t really explain it all that well and often leaves people confused. There will be three main times when you will want to move WordPress installations:

•  From a local machine onto a web server
• From one server to  a different server
• From one location on a server to another location on the same server.

moving WordPress need not be a difficult or time consuming task and that’s where the Duplicator plugin comes in.

Moving WordPress with the Duplicator Plugin

First you’ll need to install the duplicator plugin on your current WordPress location. The Duplicator plugin is a free WordPress plugin and available on wordpress.org . Then follow these easy steps to create a copy of the WordPress site:

1. In your admin menu, click on the new Duplicator menu item.
2. Click the Create Package button,and then click Create Package Set.
3. click the Installer and Package buttons to download both of the files.
4. Use FTP or another file manager to access your website. now upload the installer and package to the new directory where you will be moving your site to.  Rename the file ending with installer.php to simply installer.php if it hasn’t already been renamed.

Next you’ll need to create a new database, the plugin can do this for you but I’ve heard that is doesn’t always work. If you need to create your own database just follow the steps below or check out this detailed guide from Hostgator.

1. In cPanel, create a new database.
2. Create a new database user.
3. Give the user all privileges to the database you created.

Now it’s time to re install the site onto your new location .

1. In the browser, enter the URL of the new website, followed by /installer.php. For example, if I’m moving wpknight.com, I’d browse to wpknight.com/installer.php on my new server. 
2. Change the fields in the Settings section if you need to, but the defaults should be ok for most installs.
3. Enter your new database information, and click Test Settings.
4. Check the box I have read all warnings & notices.
5. Click Install and wait for the installation to finish.
6. Follow the steps on the next page to finish the installation.

And that’s it you’ve successfully finished moving your WordPress installation.  Once you’ve used this method a few times it will become even easier and just take a matter of minutes. If you need more details instructions check out the plugin author website here.