Um, how about copying your theme over and then using the wordpress export/import feature?

mmm…interisting enough, especially in replacing SQL script text with text editor like notepad, thank’s alot

Thanks again Nick!

If you’re using mod_rewrite permalinks and moving from localhost/my-site to my-site.com you’ll also need to modify the .htaccess file in WP root.

Thank you !

http://sferlazzorossella.wordpress.com

Thank for the tutorial again

What about using the real domain as local domain so you don’t have to do any editing while migrating?

Go to:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
and open the file “hosts” with notepad.

Then add the domain for each site your develop:

127.0.0.1 www.example1.com #For browser access
127.0.0.1 www.anothersite.net
127.0.0.1 www.yetanothersite.org

Install xampp (I don’t explain that):

And then go to the folder:
B:\xampp\apache\conf\extra

Then open the file “httpd-vhosts.conf” with notepad.

Under the document you see this:


DocumentRoot /xampp/htdocs
ServerName default


Then add the following (note that you use the right foldername for document root and server alias to get it right:

[Note that you disable the domain name in the “hosts” file when you want to see the “real” website.

Have fun with it!

Good tutorial. Definitely want to mess around with things on the local drive before go live.

Simple clean tutorial, nicely done!

Awesome Tutorial! I think I’m going to have to change my website to a wordpress site!

Hi Nick, following step 2. (Find & Replace All Local URLs) It also imported categories, links etc..?
Importing the file usually those features are not imported or wrong!
thanks

hmmm, thanks for this timesaver…
i made it a couple of times like this tutorial, but didn’t thought about to open the sql file in the text editor and use the really basic and timesaving function “find and replace”…
oh, sometimes it is hard to see how easy life could be… ;-)
good job. greetings from kiel/germany

Simple and easy to learn. Thanks a lot.

WP rocks. Thanx for the post.

My god I should have see that before…

HI Nick, if I am doing this for someone else – and integrating their blog into their site like I mentioned earlier, do they need to download anything in their part? I am creating it on my mac, they are on a pc- once I am done with everything and they want to post now on their blog – do they need to do something first? Can you let me know? Thanks Nick. Really appreciate it!

Great tip!

one thing you didn’t mention… you must also find and replace the e-mail address you used when creating the wordpress installation… if it’s different, that is. If you don’t do this you can change the admin e-mail setting in wordpress, but I ran into a problem because somewhere in the database it held onto the old e-mail address and was sending site message to the old e-mail address… just fyi

great tips, thanks

This actually is easier than it sounds. Thanks dude.

You know, searching and replacing the sql file is such a simple perfect idea – that I have never used. I hunt and peck through phpmyadmin to change the urls. This goes into the “Why didn’t I think of that!” file.

Thanks so much for sharing. Your posts are always worth a look, even when they focus on things that I think I know how to do…

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, it’s highly appreciated.
Question tho – What kind of font are you using?
Thank you

Great Tips

Thanks

I got lost right away, because in step #1 it calls to log into phpMyAdmin. The screen is totally different than the one shown. I am using PHP 5.2.6 and MySQL 5.0.51b.

Apparently the layout has changed considerably, making the first part of the instructions useless because there is nowhere to go once the tables have been selected.

There is no Structure field, to tick “Add DROP TABLE / DROP VIEW”. There is however a “Create new table on database wordpress” field that requires to be filled in along with “number of fields” before “Go” can be clicked.

So you see that I am unable to continue until that gets clarified for me. Would it be possible that the instructions be updated using the most current PHP and MySQL?

Thanks,
Ernie

This actually is easier than it sounds.
I had so much troubles in do this in my blog, i almost quit!

Hey Nick,

Great set of tutorials you’ve put together here… Absolutely love wordpress and all that it’s able to achieve.

Just one last step you might like to cover would be a tutorial on upgrading your version of wordpress?

Hi,

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but before importing your .sql file into PHPMyAdmin on the new site, you should search through it with your code editor and change all instances of ‘http://localhost:888/’ to ‘http://www.nameofyourdomain.com/’ so that any images etc. that reference your localhost environment reflect your live environment.

If you don’t do that, any images etc. in your content probably won’t appear because they refer to localhost and not your live URL.

wow what an awesome design!

Scrap my last comment about writing an article about upgrading your version of wordpress…

With the release of WordPress 2.7 it’s as simple as clicking a button :P

This actually is easier than it sounds.
my blog

Tq very much for the tutorial… Great..

This is a very useful tutorial as I recommend everyone who has a word press theme to switch to your domain name because you never know when word press decides to reactivate your blog.

Excellent tutorial. :)

thanks. nice post, great tutorial.
you can try this step to import your wordpress blog to joomla powered site/blog

Thanks for the great post, Nick! :-)

hi everyone…i’m having some problems with a blog…I’ve followed many times this tutorial…everything works perfect locally.
When I upload it to my host, then something goes wrong…
Pages never seems to work…
This is what i’m talking about… http://www.justsimpa.com
Thanks in advance to anyone who’ll answer…

Hey Brian, I’m having the same problem…would the kind gods of the web designer wall please assist us?

Brian and christoball, under Settings->General Settings there is a place for Blog Address. Did you put the subfolder name in there? Just a guess.

I’m using a mac and mamp. Is there anything like Cpanel for the mac?
Please help:)

I do like this post very much, thanks. I can work off-line now.

I’m having the same problem as calliope, everything works perfectly locally but once I moved the site to the server none of my links work.
I was having trouble with importing the database to the server, so I did a fresh install and imported all my posts and pages, they are all showing fine in admin but any links to pages or posts return a 404 page not found error and even previewing posts or pages from the admin does the same thing.
I’m pulling my hair out, any ideas?

Thanks—you just helped me loads!

Comment Guidelines

yes man,
thanks a lot
me too i can work offline
my best regards

well if you have a BIG database, it will be a little annoy to open de .sql and chage and replace..

I think is better doing this .

After you import your DB to the new location…

then you should make a quary.:

To update WordPress options with the new blog location, use the following SQL command:

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'http://www.old-domain.com', 'http://www.new-domain.com') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';

After that you will need to fix URLs of the WordPress posts and pages, which translated from post slug, and stored in database wp_posts table as guid field. The URL values in this field are stored as absolute URLs instead of relative URLs, so it needs to be changed with the following SQL query:

UPDATE wp_posts SET guid = replace(guid, 'http://www.old-domain.com','http://www.new-domain.com');

If you have linked internally within blog posts or pages with absolute URLs, these links will point to wrong locations after you move the blog location. Use the following SQL commands to fix all internal links to own blog in all WordPress posts and pages:

UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = replace(post_content, 'http://www.old-domain.com', 'http://www.new-domain.com');

Browse through WordPress blog to check if everything is okay. You also need to re-login to WP Administration as authentication cookie has now became invalid due to different domain.

Remeber always to have a backup

see’a

what about if i want to set one up in another folder say .www.example.com/themes

the themes folder being the folder where i would want to put wordpress in, anything to watch out for?

WordPress 2.7+ finally has an import/export wordpress option. First step is to upload your theme to the themes folder on your server, then on your local host, export the wordpress file (it’s an xml file), and on your live site, upload it. Voila, done.

Hi, you said this is for backup purposes. So, if someone creates a new post in WordPress, will it automatically show up in the website or does it need to be imported each time? I am new at using blogs and trying to find better ways to incorporate them into a site.
Thank you!

You rock! Thanks for the step-by-step. It was very easy with your help. So many other tuts are way too technical for designers. I created my first theme locally and put it up live today!

Thanks again! Calvin

Hi,

Thanks a lot for this – I was able to export/import my WordPress but at first my images weren’t being uploaded to the right place (I use Windows Live Writer)

The problem was that in my .sql file, the ‘upload_path’ was hardcoded to ‘xampp/htdocs/wp-content/uploads’, which lead to my images being uploaded to the wrong place. I had to replace this with my siteurl (which was not detected when I did a localhost find and replace) to get it working.

It cost me a day in coding so I’m hoping that I can help shed some light on those who come across the same problem.

Excellent tutorial though! :)

Cheers,
Adam

I’m struggling through this series and have just come to this tutorial. Perhaps I should know how but…

“Login to your server cPanel, go to MySQL Databases, create a new database and assign a user.”

Is a bit much for me.

I’ve checked out a few C panel / WordPress tutorials and I’m not giving up.

I appreciate your time and effort, but this one may be too complicated for me

Wish me luck

Keith D

its a good thing that i have some knowledge with database manipulation.
…
..
Thanks for this great tutorial!.

Very affective process.

Finaly a clear and simple tutorial on how to export a local database.After pulling out my hairs the last two day searching for a tutorial that is easy to use i`m praying on my knees to thank God my database is finaly up and running and its just so simple.Wordpress should implement this tutorial in theyr codex!Thanks a bunch.

thank you for this tutorial..very helpful

these are awesome!
thanks for putting in the effort to get this list together http://www.cennet.gen.tr

You saved my blog! I needed the export settings to make .sql file – (moving blog after it went down with no backup).

THANKS!

Overall a good tutorial, I see many are pleased with it. However, partially I find it hard to follow and actually the whole procedure didn’t work for me. Looking for a solution at the moment.

thank you for this tutorial..very helpful.. I learn

Hi Nick,

It is much easier to go to the wordpress-admin panel -> tools -> export.
The file which is created that way can be imported at the new site (admin -> tools -> import)with an existing installation. (It is advisable to delete all the pre-generated categories, posts and replies).

Hi!
Thanks for making a tutorial. I have followed your instructions and I have more or less transported my wordpress from one domain to another domain on the same host server. The home page loads without problem. (I only lost the about information)

However I have other more pressing problems. I keep getting this error message every time when I want to access individual pages or posts such as http://www.villmarksporten.no/kennel:

404 Not Found
The requested URL /kennel does not exist

In WP admin I see all the posts and pages. But somehow the database has not constructed the pages in the process.
Anyone have any idea what is going on and tip how I can solve it?

If I use keywords and the search button I get the posts or page. For instance if I search for oppdrett, a key word I know is located on the “kennel page” I have more luck and I found this entry:
http://www.villmarksporten.no/?s=Villmarksportens+oppdrett give me the page. But it seems like MySQL has not made entries for the permalinks that can be seen inside Wp admin.

I hope I am able to make myself clear.
Thanks!

Thanks ! it worked great…. Come On

good it works

great!!!

excellent help these articles. Created a wordpress theme and went from local to live based on these articles.

There’s no widgets in the GlossyBlue theme. Bummer.

Great info but my needs are simpler.Can you explain the basics of merely exporting a theme from ne of my existing blogs to my harddrive. I just want to be able to upload that same theme again and again. Thanks.

Andrew
Coffs Harbour Australia

I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case, great info…I will add a backlink and bookmark your site. Keep up the good work!

I’m Out! :)

your website theme is very beautiful.
thanks for content.

Great article (as usual) – but I’m finding that if you setup a WP site in MAMP that it still sees the htdocs folder as the ‘root’ of the site and not the actual site folder itself. Is there a way around this so you don’t have to make adjustments from the live version of the site in terms of relative linkage?

Thanks for this guide. It will help me transfer my post from blogger, as xml files are much eaasier and the only way from blogger to wordpress!

why does my jquerry won’t appear in my page???? and my wordpress page is all messed up…. need help very badly…. thank you…..

Do you need to change the database as well when you go through and change the localhost? Or just the local host?

thanks a million for posting this, moving the database can feel so scary, it’s great to have such a great resource!

Minja

Thanks for this tutorial, although following all the steps in moving from MAMP local set up to upload to client server all I get is “Error establishing a database connection.” I have tried 3 separate times to no avail. Please advise – ANYONE!
Thanks!
Kevin

Thanks a lot works like a charm …Great resource …

I just noticed Kevin had the same problem on 29th april. aren’t replies shown here?

It’s Sooo Useful to me.
Thanks A lot.

Awesome guide! Just what I needed, I just ran into one problem I hope you can help me with. After exporting and importing the db, my content is only viewable when logged in to the admin backend. If logged out, the content is not visible.

The layout and theme are fine, but I get the “There’s nothing here.
If there were posts in the database, you’d be seeing them. Try creating a post, and see if that solves your problem” message.

Any ideas?

I did exactly what you did to upload my local MAMP-based site to ipublica.com, with one exception. I changed manually, using a text editor, all instances of ipublicacom:8888 to ipublica.com, in the sql file before importing the database to the server. All worked fine but I observed that the server changed my login settings to my local login settings. So thanks for the idea that I of course need to edit the config file on the server. Maybe even that I do not need to replace all URLs in the sql file, and can do this by simply editing the config file on the server? Let me try this:)
Thanks.
Pierre

Hi!

Thanks so much for all the help! This tutorial is the best I’ve seen.

However, I have one hang-up. I went through the steps and now when I try to access mydomain (www.edwinblue.com) the “:8888/” gets added into the address and the site won’t load.

Possible Issues:

When I setup my MAMP server I just made it “http://localhost:8888/” I didn’t include “mysite”

When I went to update my wp-config file it appeared that all the settings were already correct. ??

Lastly when you say upload the entire “wordpress” folder is that the same as the “wp-content” folder?

Someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help!

Thanks in advance,
Drew

nice! I am so happy I found this…helped us a lot. thanks guys!

I was worrying if this is so simple.
But you rocks..
Great Tutorial
Cheers…

asasa

Working Bro thanks!

Awesome guide. You made it so simple. Worked on the first try.

Thanks!
Maria

thanks for such great and helpful tutorial

I’m working on a client’s website locally and am confused with the directions in Step 2. I’ve tried replacing just the local URL with my domain name. Do I also need to replace all instances of “localhost” with my domain name? In trying just the local URL with my domain name, I’m still getting the local links to show when going anywhere but the start page for my domain.

Find and replace all local URLs with your domain URL (eg. replace all “http://localhost:8888/mysite” with “http://www.yourdomain.com”).

Hmm.. Just a bit confused about step 4: Upload WordPress folder to the server. How is this done?

Thanks for any help!
Kat

8888 is being automatically added to the end of my URL and nothing comes up

amaaaazziiinnnnnngggggg…
thanx to you…… :)

THANKYOU THANKYOU!!!!

Helped so much!!!!!!

Great Danke merci thanks.
It’s amazing

Just curious, how does one go about getting the gui to display in ubuntu? I can access phpmyadmin in the terminal, but I want to use the fancy gui like you have done.

Thanks!

Great share. I have a question, Could you share more information about white iphone 4?

Great tutorial!!

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuu XD XD

kalmıyacak o kimsenin evinde

thanks! great tutorial!

How can I use this process with 3.1? I have multisite locally, but need to move only 1 subsite online. I can export the single database, but not upload the whole wordpress folder cause it includes all my other site as well.

Please help!

Totally covers exporting local WordPress to a web host. Awesomeness!

How do I know what my host is?

Will I still be able to change and update my website locally, and then just upload the files to the web host?

Have learned lot from here, its time to do with my server,
Thanks a lot for valuable information buddy.

There is a deep-rooted issue with this method. WordPress relies on PHP serialization for datasets stored within the database. The format of serialized PHP includes a character count. If this character count differs from the original it can unserialize incorrectly and screw up settings.

Specifically plugins and widgets are first and most obvious effected. The proper albeit more complicated method is to unserialize these with PHP, then replace and reserialize. It’s a stupid issue that could have been avoided in wordpress used JSON.

thanks thanks It’s really helpfull, i did it from bluehost to 1and1 and was perfect THANK YOU!

awesome… thanks guys…

I am wondering if it’s easier to just upload the new custom theme into the wordpress theme folder and not mess around with any config files? That seems to work pretty well for me. Any thoughts Tyler?

Thanks for this tutorial

This has got to be the best tutorial out there…simple and to the point. Thank you, Nick for creating this. I’ve referenced to this post several times to make sure I do it the right way.

AM currently trying to create a local word press. anyways i have intentions of making it live. i installed XAMP and have installed word press. its working great locally. i want to add more stuff on it still though. well i want to know how to make it live and i want to host it myself. am not exactly a newbie to wordpress but i have never made any webpage or site live. i need help making my wordpress live. am googling some info and ama attempt some of them.

i need help making my wordpress live. am googling some info and ama attempt some of them.