I have been through that tonight and in the past with another client. it worked great for my last client but I can’t see how that applies here.
I need to give it a domain name to access the dashboard or else it just thinks it’s looking for a page on the mainsite. but I can’t use the domain name it’s going to end up as because of the shopify site.
If a website is already installed on mainsite.com is it not possible to to access the dashboard if you install wordpress on mainsite.com/worpress/? Because it doesn’t seem so. I can’t adjust any setting on Mainsite.com because it is a functional website that I can’t touch. I just want an easy place to build the site so that when it’s finished I can just point the correct domain at it.
What you have addressed here seems to be helpful for that final step but I’m having trouble at step 1.
Generally, you should be able to install in a sub-directory without messing with the other site at all. The login would be:
http://example.com/newsite/wp-login.php
If that doesn’t work because of how your server/sites are set up, sounds like you may need to set up and use a temporary domain name on the hosting account?
yeah I tried that. I thought it might have something to do with how the mainsite is set up. It’s a squarespace site, so I assume it’s hosted by them.
I was setting it up inside crazydomains against the mainsites domain/hosting package but since that’s probably being redirected via an A record or something to squarespace it might be affecting it… I’m one of those intermediates that has a basic understanding of the terms but implementation is still uncharted area. So I’m sorry if what I’m saying doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Yep, that’s probably why – you can only use a domain name on one server at a time.
I get this query a lot. I’m curious as to how the professionals would handle this type of scenario.
If someone came to you and said… “I have a store in shopify that I’d like to expand upon. I’d like to build a wordpress site with an eCommerce platform to give me a more professional online presence.
I want the shopify store to remain up until the new site is ready to go. I have an unlimited hosting plan with crazy domains under a different domain name.”
How would you go about doing it? Where would you build it temporarily until it was time to switch? It should be pretty straight forward but I’m just stuck.
There are many ways to do that – and it depends on various factors, but personally, I think it’s easier to create the site on a live server than on a local install. But I know people who use the local install –> move to server approach. It’s really whatever you and your client are comfortable with. One downside to a local install is that your client can’t see the site except on that computer.
You can use whatever domain you have available – or create a new one for temporary use – or do it on your own server space (if you have that available). Of course, then you will have to mess around with moving it and/or changing the domain name, etc. But that’s all doable – various plugins make it fairly simple. Just be sure you have full backups before you start that part.
I’m on a live server. Not a local install. Sorry if that wasn’t communicated clearly. The client is comfortable with what ever it takes except that we can’t use the domain that its going to end up as.
I want to build it somewhere that’s easy for migration. I’d rather install it in a place where it will stay and just change the domain name once its complete.
Here’s what I’d like to do really simply.
Build: http://www.mainsite.com/wordpress
Access: http://www.mainsite.com/wordpress/wp-login.php
Or
wordpress.mainsite.com/wp-login.php
…build it…
Migrate: http://www.actualdomain.com (pointing to subdirectory) this information being in the forst link you snet me.
Doesn’t seem difficult but for some reason it is. I’d still be really interested in what you would do given the information old and new.
Thanks for helping.
As you are not able to log in to make the change, one of the quickest ways it to do it via the database: change the siteurl and home fields in the wp_options table to:
http://mainsite.com/wordpress
This will then let you log in at http://mainsite.com/wordpress/wp-admin or http://mainsite.com/wordpress/wp-login.php
Once logged in, install and run this plugin to update the rest of the URLs:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/velvet-blues-update-urls/
— select all options EXCEPT the last one (GUID)
Once that is done, go to:
Settings > Permalinks and Save.
Yes, I got that you’re on a live server :). You asked about development options – that’s the only reason I mentioned local (which isn’t what I would do either).
Sorry if I’m confused too – so just to clarify
From what you have said, the existing sites (using the domain names) are on different server(s) from where the new site will be? In that case you can’t use those domain names.
Thanks Lyle!
Yogi, i have a hosting service available to me which is also under the same account all the domains are too. Its just the main domain or mainsite.com is actually hosted by squarespace..
I feel like it should be as easy as creating a directory in that hosting service and pointing a donain to it. But it would have to be a subdomain i think as we have established that Mainsite.com is actually now pointing to squarespace
we have established that Mainsite.com is actually now pointing to squarespace
So in that case, you cannot use that domain (or sub-domain) on a server besides squarespace.
You should be able to use any other domain and then change the URL’s when the site is ready to go as per Lyle’s post.
