Move WordPress Without Reinstalling

Move WordPress to a new, or another test server without reinstalling.

Maybe this is common knowledge to some, but I just discovered it lately. I needed to reinstall a test server and an already established WordPress test site on this server. I thought, can I eliminate a few steps in this procedure simply by copying files back to the new server without actually running wp-install.php, importing the database, re-enabling widgets etc., etc.. So I proceeded copying backed up files to the server.

For me this involved Apache server and MySQL database on localhost. After installing the server, configuring, setting up the virtual host and such, I simply:

1. Copied the old folder with the database file (which I had backed up along with my exports) back to the (in my case) mysql/data folder.

2. Copied the backed up WordPress site folder along with any other needed files/folders to the original location on the server.

And that was it. When I fired up phpMyAdmin it recognized the WordPress database. When I typed in the URL and sent the browser to fetch, my local site returned in it’s original condition. End of story.