WordPress.org

1. goldenroadtraveller
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   I recently launched an xampp localhost on my laptop and installed wordpress in the wordpress directory in Htdocs. I had all my themes, child themes, override.css files and all such modifications saved here as well.

   I then installed a second xampp localhost on another computer, a pc and transferred the bulked up wordpress file from the laptop into the htdocs folder on my second localhost. Went through the wordpress user creation process, etc (created a new account), and upon logging in and opening my dashboard found that, although all my original themes and child themes were there, none of them had the changes which I had made on the first computer, even though the files for all such changes are in their right places in the wp directory in the second computer.

   If the above is unclear, feel free to ask more, I am rather new at this and trying to find out how to transfer a newly created wp site from one computer to another.

2. datasoftict
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   Just to get this clear - you have transferred your files, the themes are all activated and can be loaded, but the most recent changes made are not showing?

   My first reaction would be to reload all the changed files, the .php .css etc, and check that I don't have any duplicates (silly as that sounds). Sometimes I have found when moving from PC to PC I have not had exactly the same directory paths and I was banging my head as I am updating but not seeing the changes, only to find that paths are not the same, and I am updating files that can't be seen.

3. goldenroadtraveller
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   Correct, I may indeed be doing all this in an unecessarily cumbersome way, but I transfered the entire wordpress directory, with all the theme files etc it contains to another computer, and into the same localhost directory as they had been living in in the first computer. Everything seems to be the same. Mind you the first computer ran on XP and the second one is a vista machine.

4. datasoftict
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   With WP taking it all step by step is logical, even if cumbersome!

   Can you make any changes to the files on your new system and do they show? I don't know what changes you have made, but I would do something like change a background to red from white, something that would be very obvoius. My initial reaction was permissions, but if you can make changes to the files than they should be the same as on your old PC.

   We have found problems with Vista/XP, but only with IE (what a surprise) firefox works fine across both platforms here.

5. fonglh
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   I think you also have to export the wp_options table from your laptop and import that into your PC.

6. goldenroadtraveller
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   @ datasoftict
   I was running a quick experiment and didnt have notepad++ or firebug installed yet, and considering how limited the programs on the second computer were I wasn´t really able to make changes. I´ve installed those now, and will be trying what you recommend.. But honestly I don´t think its a permissions issue, more likely I transferred something wrong or failed to transfer it at all.

   @fonglh
   I transferred the entire wordpress directory from my xampp localhost on computer 1 to to the second xampp localhost on comp 2, I didnt specifically check, but if I took it all, wouldn´t wp_options table have been there with the transfer?

   Essentially what i was (in a crude, entirely experimental way without instructions of any kind) trying to do was tranfer a bunch of modified and redesigned wp themes (with all accompanying changes) from one computer to another, as if I were passing them on to a client. Now that my first attempt failed so miserably, i´m looking into the right way to do it, but asking advice to you guys here as well just so I can know what was wrong with the attempt I made already.

7. fonglh
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   sorry I didn't make it clear. What you need to transfer is the database wp_options table, which isn't in the wordpress directory. It's handled by the database server in its own way.

   You might be able to use phpmyadmin to export the database to an SQL file on your laptop, then import it onto the PC. phpmyadmin is a graphical front end for database administration.

   To summarize, when moving WordPress installations, you need to copy both the files as well as the actual data from the database.

8. Samuel B
   moderator
   Posted 1 year ago #

   ref
   http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#Moving_WordPress_to_a_New_Server

9. datasoftict
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   I zip themes for transfer then unzip into their own directories and ftp them up, that way as themes/plugins are always within their own directory and loaded into the relevant directories in wp-content either plugins or themes.

   If you have created a clean WP install and you are only loading the themes, then I don't see why you should load the MySQL data again as, as you say, if it were a client site they wouldn't need a database update as this should be done by activating the theme. However if you move a system than a backup would need to go across to the new server.

   Clearly I might be incorrect on this, and if so if @fonglh or @Samuel B could correct me that would help me as well as @goldenroadtraveller.

   Without going over old ground here I am right in thinking that the WP install works fine, but your changes to your themes are not coming across properly?

   Did your themes work at all or was it just the changes that were lost?

10. fonglh
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    Ah I see it now, we're talking about different kinds of changes. datasoftict is referring to changes you might have made to your theme by changing the templates or stylesheet. I am referring to changes you might have made in the dashboard, perhaps to the site name or widget customizations. Or perhaps you've created some pages with content and want to transfer those over.

    For the first type, you'll only need the files. For the second type of changes, you'll also need the database.

11. goldenroadtraveller
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    Hey guys,

    So I ended up mostly solving the problem, The first time I had tried it, I had taken the entire wordpress directory to computer 2 but had not thought to upload the tables from my localhosts phpmyadmin (including the wp_options file), this way when I opened localhost in computer 2 I still had lots of elements missing.

    What I then did was re install a totally new, clean wordpress into computer 2's localhost after erasing the old one completely, into this I uploaded all the tables from wordpress one by importing a sql.gz WordPress Backup file of the tables from computer 1.

    Then I took the themes directory and plugins directory from computer 1 and installed those into the fresh WordPress xampp directory on computer 2 as well. This way I had to log in to the wp-admin on computer 2 using the username and pass from the first computer (at first I had made a new wp login on computer 2) and viola! I had the latest changes and all my themes and mods from computer 1 now working on computer 2 (minus dashboard changes and a header image which wasn´t on file in computer 2)

    So @ datasoftict, I agree in your confusion: why do I need the database if the previous themes and their files are loaded into a new wordpress install? I figured that the info the themes contain would be enough.

    @Fonglh: It seems you're right then, to transfer, you need to seperately import various data files and directories as well, quite a few things, and then import them all properly again. My confusion llies in wondering why its so complicated, is there no simpler way to import a customized wp website to another server/person/computer?!

    Now I have a third problem! All the pages except home on computer 2's version of my site don´t load, it simply says " Object not found"...

    hope my above explanation was clear.

12. goldenroadtraveller
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    @datasoftict: The first time I tried, the themes were present in my appearance tab of dashboard on the second localhost, but none of my original changes, Then I installed the tables from localhost 1 AND reinstalled the themes and all associated stylesheets again, and the changes were present. Now, the other pages >(besides the "about" or home page) on site 2 won´t open, I just realized.

13. datasoftict
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    I am glad it is working, but I am slightly confused. If you created a theme or plugin that you want to load to a client site then you should not need to do anything with the database. Clearly you won't be loading phpmyadmin and doing a data restore everytime your theme is loaded.

    Therefore either your theme has some 'tweaks' that are in *your* database and therfore needs to be taken over to site 2, or your theme doesn't load properly when installing and therfore wouldn't amend a clients site if installed through the dashboard.

    If there are still page issues try checking permalinks. If you can see the 'about' page and 'home' in pages then just try a new save on them. If they are not viewable via the pages option then again you will need to check the databases are the same on site 1 and 2.

14. goldenroadtraveller
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    @Datasoftict

    first of all, bear in mind that I´m totally crash coursing all this, so still getting my bearings crudely on a few things (in case some of what I say seems ignorant)

    Second, I don´t generally do this, but I had a client from another line of service i provide ask me to. And yes, to load a basic theme framework to someone elses wordpress install doesn´t require a database, but if I modify the dashboard settings or the theme in any way,(through a child theme or override css file) then I´d have to send these over from where they were done to the new computer. I had to make modifications, to make the theme less bloggy, and to mess around a bit with some header, sidebar, and footer settings.

15. datasoftict
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    Please understand that I wasn't in any way being critical, we all started somewhere and I would never judge any one elses's work or methods. (I don't think some of mine would stand close scrutiny.) It was a clumsy attempt to clear my mind and consider the root cause of the problem and sort out the confusion that *I* had of "If it is just a theme how does it affect the DB?"

    After all, every problem I deal on these forums with teaches me something new - even if only to be more tactful!

16. goldenroadtraveller
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    Haha, no no! My apologies, I wasn´t implying that you were being critical at all, I was just elaborating on why something which on the face of it should be a simple process is resulting in so much experimentation and screwups on my part...

    Aside from that, with regards to the pages not loading, I had forgotten to upload my htaccess file to the wp directory on computer 2!

    Im going to start everything from scratch again, and see how I can create a more efficient way of sending a modified theme and site from one computer to another, what I did worked, but even with you guys helping I was clumsy as all hell in tranferring..

17. goldenroadtraveller
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    And thanks for all the advice to all of you who posted here! very much appreciated and glad to see that the other members of the forums in general can be so responsive and helpful, when I learn enough to give advice of my own, I´ll be sure to do likewise.

18. wordpress-help
    Member
    Posted 1 year ago #

    Hi Guys,

    I would like to share my step by step post with you regarding transferring wordpress files from one host to another.

    http://www.socialnetworkpromotions.com/move-wordpress-to-new-server/

    Thanks

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