How to move a website from a subdomain to the main domain
Building a new site on a subdomain often leaves behind stubborn redirect loops that persist even after updating configuration and .htaccess files. This traps your main domain pointing back to the subdomain, preventing the new site from going live correctly.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to move a website from a subdomain to the main domain
- 1building the new site somewhere elseDid this help you?
- 2using a redirect checker toolDid this help you?
- 3checking the database for the home urlDid this help you?
- 4defining WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL constants in the wp-config.php fileDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“if I build a new site on the subdomain, is it easy enough to move it over when I have built it - or should I be building the new site somewhere else?”source ↗
“I am really scratching my head on this one. I clones a WP install from a subdomain to a new separate domain. Previously I had a redirect from the domain to the sub domain but after the clone and setting the config and htaccess files mydomain.com is still redirecting to sub.mydomain.com. I clear cached the and checked every existing configuration I could think of but it is still redirecting. What am I missing?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Moving a virtual domain controller without a USN rollback
- 3How to move an online community without losing members
- 11Migrating an established online store to Shopify Plus
- 3Leaving Shopify or Wix to own your site and data
- 8Migrating a child Active Directory into a parent domain
- 3What to do when your cloud service suddenly shuts down