Title: Direct WP from folder to root Last modified: August 20, 2016 --- # Direct WP from folder to root * [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/) * I created a site in WP and put it in a temp /wordpress folder while I build all the pages (there’s a temp page on the root right now). I will need to direct the site to the root when it’s ready. Is there a way to do this in the settings w/o having to copy over all the files/folders to the root and then change all the image paths, etc? I think I remember hearing that you could do that. If so, will this cause a problem for SEO / SEs, creating sitemaps, etc. since it will kind of be “forwarded”? Thanks so much in advance! Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 22 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/page/2/?output_format=md) * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139371) * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory](http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory) * The only thing you’d have to worry about are pages already indexed by search engines. Sounds like the site has not been ‘live’ so that shouldn’t be a problem. The other directory/path manipulation is done on the server before a browser or crawler sees anything so ‘forwarding’ you are worried about is completely invisible from the outside. * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139419) * Okay, cool. Thanks and thanks for the link. * I’m a little lost. If I already installed WP into the subdirectory (/wordpress), then I don’t have to do step “6. Move your WordPress core files to the new location( WordPress address)” since the files are already in there? So, in terms of moving/ copying, the only thing I’m doing is copying the index.php and .htaccess files? Not exactly sure what they mean here. * In #11 – what do they mean by update your permalink structure? I set up this site with “Custom Structure: /%postname%/”. Is there anything I need to change? * Thanks! * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139470) * You are starting at about item #7, yes. * #11 means that if you are using pretty permalinks– url structures other than the `myblog/?p=` one– then go to wp-admin->Settings->Permalinks and hit the ‘ Update’ button. If WordPress can write the .htaccess file for you, it will. Otherwise you will get a note telling you to paste the following into your .htaccess file, followed boy about ten or so lines of code. * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139471) * Okay, cool! Thanks so much!! * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139472) * Backup everything. Mistakes happen. Things go wrong. You want to be able to put things back the way were. * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139474) * I use the wordpress automatic update. It’s emailed everyday. Will that do? Gosh, this feels kind of scary honestly. Maybe I will just copy the files over to the root? * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139476) * Copying is every fit as dangerous, maybe more. What you are doing is fairly risk free actually. Just export your database just in case. * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139477) * Gosh, I thought the backup (from WordPress Database Backup) included the db but maybe not. Export it from the cpanel or is there a place right in the WP admin panel? * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139479) * I don’t know what “WordPress Database Backup” contains but it sounds like it does contain the database. Open the file and take a look. * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139482) * I opened the file in notepad and it’s gobbledy gook. File is: * mercur11_wrdp1_wp_20110619_693.sql.gz. Isn’t gz a type of zip file? * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139491) * .gz is a compressed file _similar to_ a .zip file. 7-Zip will extract it. So will Alzip. * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139493) * Cool, downloaded 7 zip and extracted. Now, what program do I use to open it? * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139494) * Opened it with WordPad…..wow, this is the back up for the db, pages, comments, plugins, images, everything? * Thread Starter [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * (@sculley) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139495) * Notepad I mean. Or is this just the sql db? * [s_ha_dum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apljdi/) * (@apljdi) * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/#post-2139512) * Its not the DB, exactly, but is a text file representation of the db, and you can re-import it if you need to.. Sound like you have the backups you need. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 22 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Direct WP from folder to root’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 22 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Sculley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sculley/) * Last activity: [15 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/direct-wp-from-folder-to-root/page/2/#post-2139596) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics