{"id":19040390,"date":"2026-10-09T00:32:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/topic\/migrating-to-godaddy-managed-wordpress-when-db-table-prefixes-differ\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T00:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:32:06","slug":"migrating-to-godaddy-managed-wordpress-when-db-table-prefixes-differ","status":"publish","type":"topic","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/topic\/migrating-to-godaddy-managed-wordpress-when-db-table-prefixes-differ\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrating to GoDaddy Managed WordPress when DB table prefixes differ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hi Migrate Guru Support,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I recently completed a migration using the free Migrate Guru plugin from a WordPress website hosted by 1ClickWebsite to a client&#8217;s GoDaddy Basic Managed WordPress hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The migration ultimately succeeded, but we encountered a database table-prefix issue that caused considerable troubleshooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m hoping to understand whether we missed an important step in the migration process and, more importantly, establish the correct procedure to prevent this from happening again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Our migration setup<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The destination was a new GoDaddy Managed WordPress hosting installation that already had a default, blank WordPress website installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We installed Migrate Guru on the source and destination sites and performed the migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two installations had different database table prefixes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Source (1ClickWebsite):<\/strong> <code>wp_<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Destination (GoDaddy):<\/strong> <code>wp_433e1b8df5_<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What happened<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Migrate Guru completed the migration, and the migrated website&#8217;s files and database tables were present on the destination hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, both sets of database tables remained in the destination database:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The original GoDaddy WordPress tables (<code>wp_433e1b8df5_<\/code>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The migrated website&#8217;s tables (<code>wp_<\/code>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The destination WordPress installation was still configured to use the original GoDaddy prefix in <code>wp-config.php<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consequently, visiting the website displayed the original blank GoDaddy WordPress installation, including the default &#8220;Hello world!&#8221; post, rather than the migrated website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After changing $table_prefix in <code>wp-config.php<\/code> to <code>wp_<\/code>, the correct migrated website loaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We subsequently encountered further confusion because GoDaddy&#8217;s server-side caching continued displaying the original starter website even after the configuration was corrected. We eventually identified that separately by comparing the normal URL against a cache-bypassing URL and flushing GoDaddy&#8217;s cache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The migration now appears to be functioning correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What I&#8217;m trying to understand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve found other WordPress.org discussions suggesting that Migrate Guru intentionally preserves existing destination tables when their prefix differs from the source site&#8217;s prefix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I understand why that might be desirable, especially when multiple WordPress installations share a database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What I don&#8217;t understand is how Migrate Guru is intended to handle the destination&#8217;s <code>wp-config.php<\/code> configuration in this scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Specifically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Is this expected behavior?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the source and destination have different table prefixes, is it normal for Migrate Guru to import the source tables alongside the destination&#8217;s existing tables?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Should Migrate Guru automatically update <code>wp-config.php<\/code>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After importing the source database tables, is Migrate Guru supposed to update the destination&#8217;s $table_prefix setting to match the imported tables?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or is this a configuration step that the person performing the migration is expected to handle manually?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. What is the recommended procedure before GD WP migration?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For future migrations to GoDaddy Managed WordPress, should we:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Create the required blank destination WordPress installation and leave its automatically generated database prefix unchanged?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Change the destination&#8217;s table prefix to match the source before running Migrate Guru?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Or use a different approach entirely?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to avoid making unnecessary database changes that could break the destination installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>4. What should we verify after migration?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the source and destination prefixes differ, is checking and potentially correcting $table_prefix in the destination&#8217;s <code>wp-config.php<\/code> an expected part of the migration process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>5. Are there any GoDaddy Managed WordPress-specific considerations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given that GoDaddy automatically provisions a WordPress installation when setting up Managed WordPress hosting, is there a particular procedure you recommend for this hosting environment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>My ultimate goal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I regularly build WordPress websites for small businesses and occasionally migrate them to client-owned hosting and am in a community of over 500 people doing the same model. Migrate Guru is our default tool for migrations. I&#8217;m developing a written SOP for future migrations and would like to follow Migrate Guru&#8217;s recommended process rather than rely on trial and error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m particularly interested in understanding <strong>whether the table-prefix mismatch could have been prevented before migration, or whether correcting the destination&#8217;s configuration afterward is simply an expected step when using Migrate Guru.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any guidance from your team would be greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-19040390","topic","type-topic","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic\/19040390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/topic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic\/19040390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19040390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}