How to migrate your website to Hostwoody without downtime

In short: prepare your old account, run the automatic migration tool, check the copied site on a temporary URL, then switch your domain’s DNS. Your site stays live on the old host throughout.

Moving hosts used to mean downloading every file, exporting databases, uploading it all again and hoping nothing broke. The Hostwoody migration tool automates that work for sites on cPanel, Plesk and DirectAdmin hosts, and for WordPress sites anywhere. This guide walks through the process and the problems we see most often.

Before you start

• Choose the right plan. Automatic migration is included with WindBoost (WordPress sites) and SolarPro (any site).
• Keep your old hosting active until the new site is live and checked.
• Have your old hosting login details ready: control panel username and password, or FTP details for WordPress.
• Make sure your old account isn’t over its disk quota or suspended — backups can’t be created if it is.
• Lower your domain’s DNS TTL to around 300 seconds a day before switching, if your DNS provider allows it. This makes the final change take effect faster.

Step 1: Start the migration

Log in to your control panel, open the migration tool and choose where your website is hosted now: cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, or WordPress over FTP.

Step 2: Connect to your old host

Enter the login details for your current hosting. The tool uses them only to read your existing account and copy your data — nothing is deleted from your old host.

Step 3: Choose what to move

Select the websites, databases and mailboxes you want to migrate. You can move everything at once, one site at a time, or in batches if you have many sites.

Step 4: Wait for the copy to finish

The time needed depends on how much data you have. The average migration takes around 30 minutes, while very large sites can take a few hours. You can ask for an email when the migration completes.

Email is moved using IMAP sync, which copies messages without interrupting your existing mailboxes.

Step 5: Check the site before switching

Preview the migrated website on its temporary URL. Click through key pages, test contact forms and logins, and check that images load. For online shops, test the basket and checkout in the payment gateway’s test mode where possible.

Step 6: Switch your domain

When you’re happy, point your domain at Hostwoody by updating its nameservers at your registrar, or by editing its DNS records. Changes usually take effect within a few hours, but can take up to 72 hours worldwide. During that time some visitors reach the old site and some the new one, so avoid making content changes until the switch is complete.

Moving the domain registration itself is optional and separate. You can transfer it to Hostwoody later, or leave it with your current registrar.

Step 7: Tidy up

• Activate your free SSL certificate once DNS points to Hostwoody.
• Switch on the CDN and one-click optimisation.
• Update email apps if your mail server settings changed.
• Keep the old hosting for a week or two as a fallback, then cancel it.

Troubleshooting common migration problems

cPanel: stuck on “Waiting for cPanel backup”

The tool has asked your old cPanel server to create a full backup and is waiting for it to arrive. Common causes are:

• the account is over quota or suspended, so the backup was aborted
• the old server’s firewall blocks outbound FTP uploads to our migration IP range 45.8.227.0/24
• the old server is under heavy load, so cPanel is throttling the backup
• the site is very large and the backup is still being created

Plesk: the migration fails straight away

The tool requests a backup through the Plesk API. If it fails immediately, API access is usually disabled — ask your current host to enable Plesk API access for your account. Also check that there’s enough free space for a backup and that 45.8.227.0/24 isn’t blocked.

WordPress over FTP: the migration fails

• Keep wp-config.php in the same folder as the WordPress core files. If you moved it for security, move it back temporarily.
• Use standard permissions: 755 for folders and 644 for files.
• Allow our migration IP range 45.8.227.0/24 through any firewall.
• Make sure the domain still points to the old host during migration, or the tool can’t find the site.

If you’ve checked these and the migration still won’t complete, contact our support team with the error message and we’ll help.