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Do you want to move the WordPress website to another hosting without using a plugin? This is your place to reach for.
As a WordPress developer, you are likely migrating the website for some reason, like the high renewal hosting price, or you may even have found new hosting with stable uptime.
This article will show you how to backup and restore a WordPress site manually. If you prefer to migrate the WordPress website using a plugin, read our previous article, How To Migrate a WordPress Site without Coding.
For this tutorial article, I migrated a jelly product distributor website based in Indonesia.
Backup the WordPress Database
The first thing you must do is store the database installed on your WordPress system. This stage is easy to execute as long as you can access the cPanel Hosting.
- Login to the cPanel Hosting
- Make sure the database name you want to backup. If you need to know the database name, please find it on the wp-config.php of File Manager
- Then go to the phpMyAdmin on the Databases menu
- Please select your database name target
- Click on the Export tab and click the Export button to download the database
- Once it’s finished, you will find the downloaded file with an SQL extension
- Done. You have backup the database
Backup the Website File
The second step is to back up your WordPress website file. You only need 7 steps. Check it out!
- Open the File Manager
- Select the website domain folder. My domain name is suppliercicau[dot]com, so I open up the folder
- Then choose the Select All option, and right-click on the selected files, select the Compress
- On the Compression Type, select the Zip Archive and finally click Compress files
- It will take some time to generate a zip file of your website, and it depends on its size
- Next, you will see the Compression Results, and you just need to close it
- Now backup the generated zip file by right-clicking and click Download
- Done. You have backup the website files
Configure the Domain
After storing your WordPress database and website files, the next stage to do is restoring. As simple as backup, restoring the database in WordPress can be done through phpMyAdmin. But you must first configure the domain by changing its nameservers and adding it to a new hosting.
- Login to the domain client area, and change the nameservers
- I use the HawkHost hosting, so I change the NS to ns5.hawkhost.com and ns5.hawkhost.com on my domain
- Login to your new cPanel Hosting, and add the target domain
- You will be asked to enter the domain name, uncheck the Share document root, and click Submit
- The domain has been added to the new hosting
Create a New WordPress Database
- Go to the MySQL Database Wizard
- Name a new database you want, click “Next Step”
- Then, fill in the database username and password. You can also use the Password Generator to create a strong password
- Remember this password! We will use it in the next stage
- Next, check the ALL PRIVILEGES mark and click “Next Step”
- Done; you have created a new database successfully
Restore the WordPress Database
Now, you have a new database for the WordPress website you want to migrate. But the database file is still empty; you need to import it from the old one. Yes, the database is the SQL file you have downloaded before. Once you have imported it, you have restored it.
- Go to the phpMyAdmin on the Databases menu
- Select the database file you have created before and click on the Import tab
- Point your mouse to the “File to import:” option, and click “Choose File” to upload the SQL database file you have backup
- After choosing the SQL file, then click Import
- A successful message will appear: “Import has been successfully finished, 71 queries executed. (wp731.sql)/database name”
- Congrats! You have restored the WordPress database to a new site
Restore the Website File
Finally, we have reached the final stage of WordPress website migration. Now, you need to upload the website file to File Manager and do a bit of configuration. Let me show you the simple way!
- Open the File Manager and select the website domain
- If you find the folders’ exist, delete them all by right click and choose Delete
- Click the Upload button, and you will be redirected to a new tab
- Now click on “Select File” and upload the website files which you have compressed
- Wait until the uploading process is done
- Once the file is uploaded, the loading bar changes to green color, and you can click the Go Back button
- Extract the zip file by performing the right click and selecting “Extract”
- You will be asked which folder you want to put the files in. Make sure you have chosen the right URL path. It is marked by a slash tag. Please fill in your domain folder name. For instance, I put it on /suppliercincau[dot]com
- Next, click Extract Files
- Now, you have some folders and files extracted on your domain
Configure the WordPress Database
- On your WordPress site folder, edit the wp-config.php file through right-click option
- You will get a notification message and click Edit
- Then, please change the Database Name, Database Username, and Database Password you have created in previous stage
- Once you have done so, hit the Save Changes button
- Now, please access your website. It should open perfectly
- Done
Congratulations! You have successfully migrated the WordPress site without using a plugin. You also learn the WordPress database configuration, how to backup, and restore it.
Conclusion
There are many methods available to migrate a website using WordPress CMS. You can backup and restore it to a new WordPress hosting through the plugin features. You are also allowed to migrate manually, as this article taught. Hopefully, this tutorial is easy to understand and can be a solution to answer your question.
