Before You Begin — Preparation

• Have login details for both old and new cPanel accounts.
• Know which domains/addon domains exist.
• Check disk space on the new hosting account.
• Pick a low-traffic time for the final switch.

Step 1 — Backups (Do This First)

Full cPanel Backup (recommended)

1. Log into the old cPanel.
2. Go to Backup or Backup Wizard.
3. Select Full Backup.
4. Download the completed backup.

File-level Backup (File Manager)

1. Open File Manager → public_html.
2. Select all → Compress → ZIP.
3. Download the zip file.

Step 2 — Addon Domains

1. Log into the new cPanel.
2. Go to Domains → Addon Domains.
3. Create each addon domain.

Step 3 — Copy Files

A — Old Server

1. File Manager → Select all → Compress → ZIP.
2. Download the ZIP.

B — New Server

1. Upload ZIP.
2. Extract ZIP.

C — Cleanup

• Delete ZIP after extraction.
• Fix permissions.

Step 4 — Databases

A — Export from Old

1. Open phpMyAdmin.
2. Choose DB → Export → Quick → SQL.

B — Create DB on New

1. Create database.
2. Create user.
3. Assign privileges.

C — Import SQL

1. Open phpMyAdmin.
2. Import → Choose file → Upload.

D — Update Config File

DB_NAME
DB_USER
DB_PASSWORD
DB_HOST

Step 5 — DNS & Cutover

Preview

Use your local hosts file to preview before going live.

Change DNS

1. Update A record to new server IP.
2. Check MX records if email is hosted.

Step 6 — Testing

• Load pages.
• Test forms.
• Check images.
• Test uploads.

Common Errors & Fixes

1) 500 / Blank Page

• Permissions incorrect.
• .htaccess issues.

2) DB Connection Errors

• Wrong DB credentials.

3) Missing images / CSS

Final Checklist

- [ ] Full backup created
- [ ] Addon domains recreated
- [ ] Files zipped + uploaded + extracted
- [ ] Database exported + imported
- [ ] Config updated
- [ ] Permissions fixed
- [ ] DNS updated
- [ ] Site tested