Moving WordPress « WordPress Codex

Moving WordPress « WordPress Codex

Changing Your Domain Name and URLs

Moving a website and changing your domain name or URLs (i.e. from http://example.com/site to http://example.com, or http://example.com to http://example.net) requires the following steps - in sequence.

1. Download your existing site files.
   
2. Export your database - go in to MySQL and export the database.
   
3. Move the backed up files and database into a new folder - somewhere safe - this is your site backup.
   
4. Log in to the site you want to move and go to Settings > General, then change the URLs. (ie from http://example.com/ to http://example.net ) - save the settings and expect to see a 404 page.
   
5. Download your site files again.
   
6. Export the database again.
   
7. Edit wp-config.php with the new server's MySQL database name, user and password.
   
8. Upload the files.
   
9. Import the database on the new server.