This method is most often found on the web when looking for instructions to reset a WordPress site. This involves manually removing the components of the WordPress site that are variable over time but leaving some (in theory) unchangeable components in place. The site is effectively “gutted” in order to fill it with new content afterwards.
We will show this procedure here for the sake of completeness. The process is no less time-consuming than completely reinstalling WordPress. However, since some WordPress components survive the reset, there is a risk that components from the old installation will cause problems later. Let’s take a look at the process:
- Create a complete backup of the existing site.
Backup WordPress database and WordPress directory!
2. Create new database and save access data of the new database.
Create the new database in the hosting backend or use the mysql command on the command line.
It is often recommended to delete the existing database at this point. This is actually unnecessary. It is often better to hold onto the data a little longer. Remove the old database only when you are sure that everything is working.
3. Empty all content in the wp-content/ folder.
At this point, it is often recommended to delete the wp-content folder completely. On the Linux command line, the following command does this, as long as you are in the WordPress root directory: