WordPress 404 After Migration to New Host Fix

Re-save Your Permalinks

This is often the first and simplest step to resolve 404 errors after a site change. Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress admin area. Without changing any of the selected options, simply click the 'Save Changes' button twice. This action forces WordPress to regenerate your .htaccess file, which is crucial for handling URL rewrites.

WordPress Admin > Settings > Permalinks

Inspect and Repair .htaccess File

Connect to your server via FTP or your hosting's file manager. Locate the .htaccess file in your WordPress root directory. If you experienced a WordPress 404 after migration to new host, this file might be missing, corrupted, or have incorrect permissions. Back up the existing .htaccess file, then try replacing its content with the default WordPress rewrite rules. Incorrect modifications to this file can break your site.

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Verify WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL)

If you are facing a WordPress 404 after domain change or a WordPress 404 after adding ssl https, it is critical to ensure these two settings are correct. Navigate to Settings > General in your WordPress admin. Both WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) must exactly match your new domain and protocol (e.g., https://yournewdomain.com). If you cannot access your admin dashboard, these values can be updated directly in your database (wp_options table, options siteurl and home) or by adding definitions to your wp-config.php file. For example: define('WP_HOME','https://yournewdomain.com'); define('WP_SITEURL','https://yournewdomain.com');

WordPress Admin > Settings > General

OR

wp-config.php
wp_options table (siteurl, home)

Adjust for Subdirectory Moves

When dealing with a WordPress 404 after moving to subdirectory, there are specific steps. Ensure that the .htaccess file in your main root directory (above the subdirectory) correctly redirects requests to the WordPress installation within the subdirectory. Additionally, the index.php file in your root may need to be modified to load WordPress from its new subdirectory path. This is a common point of failure for such migrations.

Root .htaccess file
Root index.php file

If none of these steps resolved it, this is where professional help saves time.