{"id":1433,"date":"2026-10-19T10:03:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/?p=1433"},"modified":"2026-10-19T10:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:03:55","slug":"how-to-move-a-wordpress-site-from-a-subdirectory-to-the-domain-root","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/how-to-move-a-wordpress-site-from-a-subdirectory-to-the-domain-root\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Move a WordPress Site from a Subdirectory to the Domain Root"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During site development or migration, WordPress is frequently installed into a subdirectory (such as \/wp\/<\/code>, \/v2\/<\/code>, or \/wordpress\/<\/code>). This makes your website accessible only via yourdomain.co.uk\/wp\/<\/code> instead of yourdomain.co.uk<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving WordPress to your domain root (public_html<\/code> or httpdocs<\/code>) makes your site load directly on your primary domain. While changing the web address seems simple, this process requires moving server files and updating configuration settings<\/strong>, meaning it cannot be done through the WordPress admin panel alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prerequisites & Preparation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before making any changes to site files or database URLs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Take a Complete Backup:<\/strong> Perform a full backup of both your website files and database.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Note Current Settings:<\/strong> Log into your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Settings > General<\/strong> to take note of your current WordPress Address (URL)<\/strong> and Site Address (URL)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Check Your Document Root:<\/strong> Identify where your main site lives (public_html<\/code> on cPanel or httpdocs<\/code> on Plesk).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Step 1: Update WordPress URL Settings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Before moving any files on the server, you must inform WordPress of its new location. You can do this via the WordPress Admin dashboard or directly in the database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Option A: Via WordPress Admin Panel (Recommended)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Log into your WordPress dashboard (e.g., yourdomain.co.uk\/wp\/wp-admin<\/code>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Go to Settings > General<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Change both the WordPress Address (URL)<\/strong> and Site Address (URL)<\/strong> from (http:\/\/yourdomain.co.uk\/wp)<\/code> to (http:\/\/yourdomain.co.uk)<\/code>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Click Save Changes<\/strong>. (Note: Your site will temporarily show errors or break until you complete the file movement steps below).<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Option B: Via phpMyAdmin (If Admin Access is Lost)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      If you cannot log into the WordPress admin panel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Log into cPanel\/Plesk<\/strong> and open phpMyAdmin<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Select your WordPress database from the left menu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Open the wp_options<\/code> table.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. Locate the siteurl<\/code> and home<\/code> rows.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      5. Edit both values, replacing (http:\/\/yourdomain.co.uk\/wp)<\/code> with (http:\/\/yourdomain.co.uk)<\/code>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Step 2: Move Files to the Document Root<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. Open File Manager<\/strong> in your hosting control panel (or connect via FTP\/SFTP).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. Navigate to your subdirectory (e.g., public_html\/wp\/<\/code>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. Select all files and folders<\/strong> inside the subdirectory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        4. Move them up one level into your domain root directory (public_html<\/code> or httpdocs<\/code>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        5. Verify that core files like index.php<\/code>, wp-config.php<\/code>, and the wp-content<\/code> folder now reside directly inside the main root folder.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Step 3: Update or Create the .htaccess<\/code> File<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          Once the files are moved, the rewrite rules in your .htaccess<\/code> file must be updated so WordPress handles URLs correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          1. In your root directory (public_html<\/code>), edit the .htaccess<\/code> file (enable Show Hidden Files<\/em> in File Manager if needed).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          2. Update the default WordPress rules to remove the subdirectory path:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Apache<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            # BEGIN WordPress\n<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>\nRewriteEngine On\nRewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]\nRewriteBase \/\nRewriteRule ^index\\.php$ - [L]\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d\nRewriteRule . \/index.php [L]\n<\/IfModule>\n# END WordPress\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
              \n
            1. Click Save Changes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
              Step 4: Post-Migration Checks & Troubleshooting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
              Once files and settings are updated, run through these essential checks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                \n
              • Flush Permalinks:<\/strong> Log into your updated WordPress dashboard at yourdomain.co.uk\/wp-admin<\/code>, go to Settings > Permalinks<\/strong>, and click Save Changes<\/strong> without making alterations. This clears old path caches.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Fix Hardcoded Inner Links & Media:<\/strong> Moving files does not automatically update images or internal links previously saved into page content. Use a search-and-replace plugin (such as Better Search Replace<\/em>) to update references from yourdomain.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/<\/code> to yourdomain.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/<\/code>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Clear Caches:<\/strong> Flush any caching plugins (LiteSpeed, WP Rocket) and your local browser cache.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                Common Pitfalls & When to Contact Support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                • 500 Internal Server Error:<\/strong> Usually caused by leftover subdirectory paths in the .htaccess<\/code> file. Re-check your .htaccess<\/code> rules in Step 3.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • 404 Errors on Subpages:<\/strong> Re-saving permalink settings (Step 4) resolves most broken internal link issues.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • Mixed Content Warnings:<\/strong> Occur if some media uploads are hardcoded to http:\/\/<\/code> or retain old path prefixes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                  Need Assistance?<\/strong> If you are uncomfortable moving server files, managing database entries in phpMyAdmin, or run into persistent site errors after moving files, please open a support ticket with our team. We can assist or perform the migration safely on your behalf!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
                  During site development or migration, WordPress is frequently installed into a subdirectory (such as \/wp\/, \/v2\/, or \/wordpress\/). This makes your website accessible only via yourdomain.co.uk\/wp\/ instead of yourdomain.co.uk. Moving WordPress to your domain root (public_html or httpdocs) makes your site load directly on your primary domain. While changing the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1436,"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudabove.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}