How to migrate a WordPress site from localhost to a live server in cPanel

1. Make sure your WordPress project runs on localhost perfectly.

2. Preparing Files for Upload

  • Locate your local WordPress installation folder.
  • Compress all the WordPress files and folders into a .zip archive.

3. Exporting the Local WordPress Database

  • Access your local phpMyAdmin (usually via http://localhost/phpmyadmin)
  • Select the database associated with your WordPress site.
  • Click on the “Export” tab. 
  • Choose the “Custom” export method for more control, or “Quick” for a basic export.
  • Ensure the format is SQL and click “Go” to download the .sql file.

4. Create a Database and Database User

  • Log in to your cPanel account.
  • Navigate to “Manage My Databases” under the “Databases” section.
Create a New Database User.
  •   Scroll down to Database Users.
  •   Click Add New User.
  •   Enter a username and a strong, secure password (you can use cPanel’s password generator). Make sure to note down the database name, username, and password
  •   Click Create User.

 5. Give the User Access to the Database.

  • Under Add User to Database, choose the user and the database you just created.
  • Click Add.
  • On the next screen, select ALL PRIVILEGES — this gives your Laravel app full control over the database.
  • Click Make Changes to save.

6. Upload and extract WordPress Files.

  • Access cPanel’s “File Manager.
  • Navigate to the public_html directory. 
  • Upload the compressed WordPress  .zip file.
  • After completing the upload, go back to the public_html File.
  • Extract the contents of the .zip file into the public_html file.

7. Importing the Database.

  • In cPanel, go to “phpMyAdmin” under the “Databases” section.
  • Select the newly created database.
  • Click on the “Import” tab.
  • Choose the .sql file you exported from your localhost and click “Go” to import. 

8. Updating the wp-config.php file

  • In cPanel’s File Manager, locate the wp-config.php file within your WordPress installation directory.
  • Edit the file and update the database name, username, and password to match the credentials you created in cPanel.  (that you noted).
  • Click Save Changes.

9. Final Checks

  • In cPanel, go to “phpMyAdmin” under the “Databases” section.
  • Select the database associated with your WordPress installation
  • Find the table named wp_options
  • Find the rows where the option_name is “siteurl” or “home”.
  • Click the “Edit” button for these rows. Replace the existing URL with your new WordPress URL. Ensure you include “https://”
  • Click “Go” or “Save” to apply the change.

10. Go to your domain and refresh it.

 

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