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How to Fix Localhost URLs After Moving Your WordPress Site to a Live Domain

25 threads Sep 7, 2025 Core → Localhost installs

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One of the most common challenges when moving a WordPress site from a local development environment (like XAMPP, Local, or a home server) to a live web host is dealing with URLs that still point to localhost. This guide will explain why this happens and walk you through the most reliable solutions.

Why Do Localhost URLs Cause Problems?

When you build a site on your local machine, WordPress stores the site's address (URL) in its database as http://localhost or something similar, like http://192.168.2.210. This URL is used to generate links for your images, CSS stylesheets, JavaScript files, and other content.

When you migrate the site to a live server and update your domain's DNS, the database still contains all those old local URLs. This means when someone visits your new domain, their browser tries to load the site's resources from their own computer instead of your live server, resulting in a broken, unstyled website. As seen in the support threads, this is a frequent point of confusion for users hosting on Synology NAS, XAMPP, or other local setups.

How to Fix the Localhost URL Problem

There are two primary methods to update the URLs in your database. It is highly recommended to create a full backup of your website's files and database before proceeding.

Method 1: Use a Search and Replace Plugin (Recommended)

This is often the safest and easiest method, especially for beginners. A dedicated plugin can safely handle the serialized data in the WordPress database, preventing data corruption.

  1. On your live server, install and activate a migration or search and replace plugin. A popular and free option mentioned in the threads is Duplicator. Another excellent choice is Better Search Replace.
  2. After activation, navigate to the plugin's tool in your WordPress admin dashboard.
  3. You will perform a search for your old local URL (e.g., http://localhost/wordpress) and replace it with your new live domain (e.g., https://yourdomain.com).
  4. Run the search and replace operation. The plugin will update all instances of the old URL throughout the database.
  5. After completing the operation, clear your website's cache (if you use a caching plugin) and log out and back in to ensure you have a fresh session.
  6. Thoroughly test your website. Check your homepage, posts, pages, and ensure all images and styles are loading correctly.

Method 2: Update URLs via phpMyAdmin (Advanced)

This method involves directly editing the WordPress database. This is a powerful method but carries more risk if done incorrectly.

  1. Access your live hosting account's control panel (e.g., cPanel) and open phpMyAdmin.
  2. Select your WordPress database from the left-hand column.
  3. The two most important tables to update are wp_options (or yourprefix_options) and wp_posts.
    • In the wp_options table, find the siteurl and home rows and update their option_value to your new domain.
    • The wp_posts table contains the content of your posts and pages. You will need to run SQL queries to update the guid and post_content columns. A common query looks like this:

      UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = REPLACE(post_content, 'http://localhost/wordpress', 'https://yourdomain.com');

  4. Crucial Note: Simply updating these tables may not be enough, as URLs can also be stored in a serialized format within the database. Using a plugin (Method 1) is generally safer as it handles serialization correctly.

Important Additional Steps

  • Resave Permalinks: After updating URLs, go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress admin and simply click "Save Changes" without making any changes. This refreshes your rewrite rules and can fix 404 errors.
  • DNS Propagation: Remember that after pointing your domain to your new host, it can take up to 24-48 hours for DNS changes to propagate across the internet globally.
  • Local Hosting & Public Access: If you are hosting your site on a local machine or NAS (like Synology) behind a home router, making it accessible on the public internet requires complex configuration like port forwarding on your router and using a dynamic DNS service. For a production website, using professional web hosting is strongly recommended, as noted in the sample threads.

By following these steps, you should be able to successfully replace all localhost references and have your migrated WordPress site functioning correctly on its new domain.

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