I’m having trouble with my WordPress site after moving it to a new hosting provider. Every time I visit the site, it automatically takes me to the wp-admin/install.php page instead of showing my actual website.
I followed all the standard migration steps including exporting my database, creating a fresh database on the new server, importing the old data, uploading all WordPress files through FTP, updating URLs in the database, and configuring the wp-config.php file with new server details.
My site is located in a subfolder within public_html, and there’s already another WordPress installation in the main directory. I’ve updated my .htaccess file to reflect the subdirectory path with proper rewrite rules.
I checked the database tables and they appear to be intact with no corruption. When I try a fresh installation in the same location, everything works perfectly, which suggests my server configuration is correct.
Why won’t WordPress recognize my migrated installation and keep forcing the setup process?
Had the exact same issue during a migration. WordPress was convinced it wasn’t installed properly. First thing - check if your wp_options table actually imported. I’ve seen imports fail silently on bigger tables. Run a quick query for ‘siteurl’ and ‘home’ in wp_options. If they’re gone, WordPress thinks it’s a fresh install. Also found out some hosts have weird database permissions that mess with WordPress reading tables. Create a simple PHP file to connect and query wp_options directly - that’ll tell you if the connection’s working right.
WordPress migrations are perfect for automation. All those manual steps you mentioned? They fail in weird ways that’ll drive you crazy trying to debug.
I’ve done dozens of these migrations and manual work always bites you. Database encoding gets screwed up, tables import halfway, permissions break, or some invisible character in wp-config triggers that install redirect.
Skip the manual troubleshooting and build an automated workflow instead. Set it up to handle database dumps, file transfers, URL replacements, permission fixes, and validation checks all at once. Automation catches the edge cases manual work misses.
My migration setup runs pre-flight checks on the source site, transfers everything with proper encoding, validates database integrity, updates URLs and paths automatically, fixes permissions, and runs a health check on the migrated site.
Haven’t seen a WordPress installation redirect since I switched to automated migrations. Makes the whole process reliable and repeatable.
your wp-config might be holding incorrect database creds or the tables didn’t fully import. sometimes large dbs timeout during import without a notice. also, if ya have any caching plugins, better deactivate em before migration, they can cause issues.
This happens when WordPress can’t find key config data in your database. Check if your wp_options table prefix matches what’s in wp-config.php. I hit this same issue last year - turned out the INSTALLED constant wasn’t set right in the database. Run this in phpMyAdmin: SELECT * FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = ‘db_version’; If it’s empty or shows the wrong version, WordPress thinks it needs a fresh install. Also check file permissions - wp-config.php should be 644 and your WordPress folder 755. Hosts sometimes reset permissions during transfers, which breaks the WordPress-database connection.
make sure your siteurl and home values in the wp_options table match your new subfolder. also, double-check your db prefix in wp-config - it needs to match what’s in your database. trust me, that mismatch can cause headaches.