migrating from a broken self-hosted WordPress install to WordPress.com with no wp-admin access

  • Unknown's avatar
    alessondraspringmann · Member ·

    I host http://blog.sondy.com with a third-party, but the install became corrupted and I can’t login via http://blog.sondy.com/wp-admin. However, I can still ssh into the host machine and recover the wp-content etc. folders. Is there a way to migrate the content from this old install to WordPress.com, knowing I can’t generate an .XML file from the wp-admin interface?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • staff-zinnia · Staff ·

    Hi –

    I assume that you’ve not been able to reset the password? There are some alternative methods listed on this page:
    https://codex.wordpress.org/Resetting_Your_Password

    You’ll need to use a .xml for importing to WordPress.com. The only other option would be to use a migration plugin on our business plan. This would require you can access the site.

    If the files can get downloaded you could rebuilt the database locally.

  • Unknown's avatar
    alessondraspringmann · Member ·

    I can not reset the password because there is no login page. wp-admin won’t load (feel free to check for yourself). There’s no way to log into the install from a browser. I can ssh/sftp into the host no problem to download files.

    How do I rebuild the database locally?

  • staff-blorbo · Staff ·

    A blank page usually just means that PHP is crashing, usually due to a function conflict introduced by a plugin or theme.

    Try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

    If that does not resolve the issue, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting provider’s documentation for specifics on these), navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).

    If that doesn’t work, I recommend reaching out to WordPress.org support since that is a self-hosted WordPress.org site: https://wordpress.org/support/forums/

    To clear up any confusion, WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two different entities: http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

  • Unknown's avatar
    alessondraspringmann · Member ·

    Thanks for your help! This is what I did to resolve the issue.

    I added a php.ini file to my wp-admin directory with the following lines: 

    “display_errors = on” 
“error_reporting = E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE”

    When I went to log in, it showed an error with the Google Analytics plugin. I renamed the Google Analytics plugin directory and was able to log in.

    Thank you, and as well as for your patience for my posting on the wrong forum.

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