No Dashboard, Site Down after trying to move from subdirectory to root

Hi All,

After attempting to move my site from a subdirectory (thenewsexed.org/test) where everything was up and running perfectly to the root folder — now I have no Dashboard access and the site is down with a ‘500 Internal Server Error.’

The problem started because in Settings->General (back when I still had dashboard access) I accidentally changed the “Site URL” not to include /wordpress.

Originally I tried following instructions here for “Using a pre-existing subdirectory”:

So far I’ve tried:
Changing the site URL

Adding to the wp-config.php file

update_option('siteurl','https://thenewsexed.org/test');
update_option('home','https://thenewsexed.org/test/wordpress');

Creating a new .htaccess

Double-checking my wp-login.php setting

Adding this to the log-in file:

//FIXME: do comment/remove these hack lines. (once the database is updated)
update_option('siteurl', 'https://your.domain.name/the/path' );
update_option('home', 'https://your.domain.name/the/path' );

I would really appreciate any help. Ideally, I’d still like to move the site but at this point I’d be happy just to go back to the /test.

Thanks!

PS. Was I using the right guide in the first place? maybe Moving your site When Your Domain Name and URLs Do Not Change instead?