Can WordPress be installed over itself?

  • Resolved MikeHarrison

    (@mikeharrison)


    11 years, 10 months ago

    My site was hacked and taken completely offline. With some recently backed-up files, I was able to get a somewhat older version of the site back online, but I cannot access the WordPress dashboard. This is probably due to having used the Better WP Security plugin to hide the backend.

    Can WordPress be installed over itself? In other words, will the installer allow me to write over the existing files on the server?

    Or, is there a a better (and maybe easier) way to bring the site back up to date?

    Many thanks for any input.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Site URL?

    You can perform a manual update. If you are using a theme in it’s default setup (no code changes) include that but no plugins.

    If you do have theme mods, I would keep those offline for now until you are sure no theme files were hacked. Use the default theme to get site up and running – or an unedited version of your theme.

    It is important that if you are restoring a site that you do not use an old version of WP with a database that was updated at some point after your backup files were taken. A newer version of files is OK as that will force an update to db…

    You will need to redo the wp-config.php file with the database stuff etc.

    The best to way to restore a WP site, is to have both a database backup and a backup of all files from the same time.

    If site gets hacked or otherwise unusable, you can restore the site to that time with these.

    Thread Starter MikeHarrison

    (@mikeharrison)

    I have a complete copy of the entire site – including the database backup folder – on my computer (the backup was made just days ago), and just copied it back to the server. After doing that, the site now displays /wp-admin/install.php, claiming there’s no content. But there is. Files on the server looks are just as they were before the hacking.

    How are you restoring the database?

    Thread Starter MikeHarrison

    (@mikeharrison)

    FIXED!

    There must have been something wrong with the database I was using. I found one that was newer (automatically created and sent to me by the Better WP Security plugin). I copied that to the _db_backup folder in the root directory, then logged into my hosting account with my ISP and performed a database restore.

    Thank you –?immensely – for taking the time to help me. I appreciate it VERY much!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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