Title: change database connection
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# change database connection

 *  [overthinker85](https://wordpress.org/support/users/overthinker85/)
 * (@overthinker85)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/)
 * I have a blog which currently has around 4 years worth of entries. I’ve backed
   up the current database and downloaded it to my computer. What I want to do it
   connect my wordpress site to a new database and basically start over without 
   having to do a clean install of WP
 * I set up a new DB and user and then edited my wp-config file but it wouldn’t 
   work. When I refreshed my site it said something about too many connections –
   I honestly don’t know. So I edited the info back to what it was before
 * So what I wanna know is, is this possible to do and if so how do I do it? I’ve
   been trawling the internet for a couple of days now and couldn’t find anything
   about it
 * Thanks in advance (:

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  [ftschumann](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ftschumann/)
 * (@ftschumann)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618445)
 * When you say that you’ve created a new database and edited the wp-config file
   to match, do you mean that the database is completely empty? No tables, etc.?
 *  Thread Starter [overthinker85](https://wordpress.org/support/users/overthinker85/)
 * (@overthinker85)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618451)
 * pretty much yeah. I’ve been out of the design/code loop for long I’ve forgotten
   how to do everything
 *  [ftschumann](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ftschumann/)
 * (@ftschumann)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618452)
 * Then the problem is that even though you have the WordPress files uploaded, it’s
   not actually installed on your database. You’ll need to run through the install
   process again I think by removing the wp-config file completely.
 * You’ll loose all data (and possibility the media library’s connection to your
   images). All plugins will still be there, but they’ll need to be reactivated;
   and finally, every setting you saved before (including theme settings, wordpress
   settings, plugins settings, user accounts, etc.) will be gone.
 * So in short, I’m sorry to say, I don’t think that there’s a away to do what you
   are looking for – unless someone can correct me one this.
 * A long and hard alternative, would be to make a second copy of your original 
   database. Open the copy with an editor and remove all the pages and data that
   you don’t want in your new database. Then save it and upload it to your database
   via phpmyadmin. The issue here is that a lot can go wrong.
 *  Thread Starter [overthinker85](https://wordpress.org/support/users/overthinker85/)
 * (@overthinker85)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618455)
 * if I’ve downloaded my database, I’ve just realised I could just ‘dump’ all posts
   and start over without losing anything like themes, plugins etc. If I ever want
   to put all my entries back then i just have to import the database and they’ll
   all come back.
 * easiest option for me, am I right?
 *  [ftschumann](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ftschumann/)
 * (@ftschumann)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618457)
 * If it works without any hiccups, yes, but like a said, there are actually a lot
   of things that could go wrong. On the plus side, if it doesn’t work correctly,
   you’ll know straight away that it’s a database issue 🙂
 * It’s certainly worth a try.
 *  Thread Starter [overthinker85](https://wordpress.org/support/users/overthinker85/)
 * (@overthinker85)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618458)
 * I’ll try that then. Thanks for the help

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

The topic ‘change database connection’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 6 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [overthinker85](https://wordpress.org/support/users/overthinker85/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/change-database-connection/#post-5618458)
 * Status: not resolved

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