How to Move WordPress from a Subdirectory to the Root Directory

Moving a WordPress site from a subdirectory to a domain's root directory is simpler than moving it to a new host or domain name. Read along, and we will tell you how to do it with a few quick steps.

This post includes:

• Why Install WordPress in a Subdirectory?
• Before the Move
• How to Move WordPress Installation from Subdirectory to public_html Directory
• Conclusion

Why Install WordPress in a Subdirectory?

Installing WordPress in a subdirectory can be a good idea because:

• It keeps your root directory tidy and clean (in case you need to add any other PHP applications to your site).
• It enables you to create a new, development, WordPress site while keeping your existing site in the root directory. When you're finished with your WordPress development, you can back up and then delete your current site's files, and then use the instructions below to display WordPress from the site's root directory.

Before the Move

Here’s what you should do before attempting to move your WordPress site:

• Clear the cache of ALL pages cached by your caching plugin, and then deactivate the caching plugin. Deactivate Broken Link Checker and any Redirection plugins as well.
• Remove any old site files from the root directory, perhaps by copying them to a folder called _backup - this includes an index.html file, which will completely break this process. All old site files and folders must be removed or moved to another directory, so they do not interfere with WordPress. Having index.html and index.php files in the same folder causes confusion, and the index.html will most likely be used instead of WordPress' index.php file.
• Make sure you don't have any other folders in the root directory with the same name as any pages on your WordPress site. For example, "blog," unless this is the name of your subdirectory install of WordPress, in which case you can't have a page of the same name. The browser will get confused and look for that page in that folder, which can cause issues;
• Use wp-db-backup to make a backup of your database;
• In case you type the URLs incorrectly in the next step, make sure you have access to your database via phpMyAdmin in your web host's control panel. The wp-config.php file contains your database username and password.

How to Move WordPress Installation from Subdirectory to Root Directory

• Remove the subdirectory from the URL for both the WordPress Address and the Site Address by going to Settings → General. Please remove the trailing /. Both addresses should simply end in .com, .org, or whatever domain type is used. Click the Save Changes button.
• You must use FTP or the cPanel File Manager to move all of the WordPress files from the subdirectory to the root.
  • To do this via FTP, open the remote server area and navigate to the subdirectory containing the WordPress installation you want to relocate. Drag all of the files in this directory out of here and into the root directory.
  • If you are using the File Manager:
    • Double-click the subdirectory containing the WordPress files.
    • Click Select All to select all the files.
    • Click Move File. In the Move dialog box, remove the subdirectory from the path field, so the path you are moving to will be just the root directory.

The files should now be moved to the root directory. Then:

• Login to WordPress in the root directory which should be your domain name plus /wp-admin, e.g. https://mywebsite.com/wp-admin.
• Go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes. This will rewrite your .htaccess file to remove the subdirectory from the page URLs.
• Install and use an URL update plugin like Go Live Update Urls.

Make sure the URLs do not end in a forward slash /. If you must use a forward slash, use one for both URLs, not just one. Here, consistency is essential. Also be certain not to update all GUIDs. This will result in many theme settings being reset and posts being republished to the RSS feed.

• Click the Update URLs button. This should catch most of the URLs on the site. However, if it seems to miss several, you can try repeating this process without the https:// part of the URL and see if it catches more.
• Check for other URLs not caught by the plugin, including:
• Appearance → Menus — check for any custom URLs to the old site URL in any custom menu items, such as the home page link.
• Appearance → Theme Options or your theme’s Theme Options page — check the URLs for any uploaded files such as the logo or favicon and remove the subdirectory from the URLs as needed.
• Sliders — If you use Revolution Slider or other slider plugin, that may prvent the update of the URLs of the slider images. Edit the slider and remove the subdirectory from any image URLs.
• Shortcodes and custom layouts — Some shortcodes for button links or custom theme layouts may contain URLs to the subdirectory which you may need to manually change. If you can find a pattern to these, you can try to run URL update plugin again using the URL pattern you find.
• Check the site to ensure that everything is as it should be.
• Reset the caching and update the .htaccess file as directed by the caching plugin. Test the site again in a different browser to ensure that the pages are correctly caching.
• Finally, to avoid losing all SEO credit for the old site, implement a wild card redirect from the old URL to the new one. To accomplish this, use the File Manager or FTP application to add the following code to the top of your .htaccess file, substituting YOUR domain name and subdirectory name. (Please keep in mind that .htaccess is an invisible file.) To see this file, you must select Show Invisibles in the File Manager or FTP client.)

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mydomain.com/subdirectory$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.mydomain.com/subdirectory$
RewriteRule (.*)$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

On the RewriteRule line, use www or don’t use www according to what you have in your Settings → General. For example, if you don’t have www in your URL in the General Settings, do not include the www in the RewriteRule line.

Conclusion

That's it; you've successfully transitioned your site from a subdomain to a root domain. You can now see it in action by visiting your website. Check your website to ensure that everything is in working order.

We hope this article was useful in transitioning your site from a subdomain to a root domain.

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