I screwed up my Wordpress site...Help

[Calliegirl]

I tried to move it from the subdomain where I've been working on it to the main domain, and screwed it up.
I saw the codex which attempts to explain how to do it, but it was too complicated. So, I took the advice other people who had posted simpler instructions.

My home page was showing up on the main domain and the rest was sort of at the old site, but I tried to reverse what I did and now I have no home page at either site, no admin access at either site and the old domain site redirects to the new one which gives a page with 'an index of'.

I tried to install a new Wordpress site at the main domain, and figured I would just load the theme and copy the child theme and database over. But it won't let me install it. I get an error message and I don't understand what it's referring to:

The installation can not be completed:
- You cannot install more than one script in the root directory of a domain.
Click on the browser's Back button to fix reported errors.

It's possible I'm trying to install in the wrong place. If I could at least get into the admin panel, I could change the urls back to the old site.

I've worked on that site for 6 months, I don't want to lose it all.

It's a mess.

 

[Calliegirl]

I managed to get it to come up at the old testing domain site except for the home page. For some reason that one page redirects to the new domain and haven't figured out why yet. At least I can access it again.

 

[Second Summer]

I'd be happy to try and help, but unfortunately I'm extremely busy these days ... Feel free to post the links here so we get a better idea of what you're talking about, or send me a PM if for some reason you don't want to make them public.

 

[Calliegirl]

Well, I've managed to get it working at the old subdomain again.
I'm trying to move it from:
http://oneveganworldnew.moratzdesigns.com/

to the main domain at:
http://www.oneveganworld.com/

I had a website up at the main domain already, which I deleted so I could move the new one there, now I have nothing at that site.
I still need to move it, but I'm a little afraid to go through that again. There needs to be an Idiot's guide to changing domains.

I followed the instructions on someones blog, which said you only have to change the urls in the general settings and move your files to the new domain. I changed the urls and had no idea what they meant by move the files. The domains are in the same place. Anyway, that left me unable to access anything, and I found something on the Wordpress site which helped to get it back up at the old site. Now I'm back where I started, and hopefully haven't messed any of the files up.

 

[Second Summer]

Did you manage to make it work again? Both URLs work for me now, showing what seems to be the same Wordpress blog.

 

[Calliegirl]

No, it doesn't work yet. All the links are broken. The only page that shows is the home page.

I ended up copying everything from the testing site folder to the folder where my old website had been located. I copied the database, updated the wp-config file so it points to the new database, and used the search and replace tool so that it all matches the new domain, but it still doesn't work. I've tried everything I can think of, but I can't figure out what's wrong now.

I'm wondering if it's a permalinks problem, but I can't get into the admin dashboard to set them.

A Wordpress codex mentions disabling the .htaccess file temporarily, going to go try that.

 

[Calliegirl]

Yay, It works! I'm doing a happy dance.

It turned out I was missing the .htaccess file.

 

[Second Summer]

Yay, It works! I'm doing a happy dance.

It turned out I was missing the .htaccess file.

Well done! Yes, the .htaccess files often have important redirect settings necessary for code to work properly.