When a WordPress site becomes corrupted or is lost because a backup tool failed, you can still bring it back from whatever you have on hand. This guide explains how to manually restore a WordPress installation from its site files and a database backup — without relying on hosting control-panel tools.

What you'll need

  • A fresh WordPress installation on any hosting platform
  • FTP access credentials to the new WordPress installation
  • phpMyAdmin access to the new WordPress database
  • All original site files, including the wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes directories
  • Your database backup file (compressed or uncompressed)

Step 1 — Verify the WordPress installation

Navigate to the new WordPress domain. You should see either the WordPress language-selection screen or a default theme — either confirms a successful fresh installation.

Step 2 — Delete the existing files via FTP

Connect with an FTP client like FileZilla using your hosting credentials (hostname, username, password, and port). Navigate to the root WordPress directory and delete all existing files and folders, including wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes.

Step 3 — Empty the database

Open phpMyAdmin with your database credentials and select your WordPress database. Go to the Structure tab, use Check All to select every table, then choose Drop to clear the database.

Step 4 — Upload your site files

Upload all of your original site files and directories from your local machine to the remote root WordPress directory over FTP.

Step 5 — Update wp-config.php

Download wp-config.php from the remote site and edit the MySQL settings to match your new database credentials:

  • DB_NAME — new database name
  • DB_USER — new database username
  • DB_PASSWORD — new database password
  • DB_HOST — new database host

Upload the updated file back to the remote site.

Step 6 — Important: stop before setup

When you visit your site, you'll be sent to the WordPress installation screen at /wp-admin/install.php. Do not proceed — running setup here will overwrite your restored site.

Step 7 — Import the database backup

Back in phpMyAdmin, select your WordPress database, open the Import tab, choose your backup file, and click Go to restore the database.

Step 8 — Complete the restore

In your browser, remove /wp-admin/install.php from the URL and press Enter. Your WordPress site is now fully restored.

Tools we recommend

To avoid this fire drill next time, use All-in-One WP Migration for manual backups and migrations, and BackupBuddy for automated, scheduled backups.