How to login to WordPress Admin BEFORE Domain points to server?

jcncnc

• October 15, 2019 12:27

I have a client who wants to get their WordPress site setup before they point the domain to my server. We can view the site by going to . It gives a 500 error. If memory serves me correctly, we were never able to actually login to WordPress until after the domain pointed to the server. Does anyone know if that's true? And if so, anyone know if there's a work-around?

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  GOT

  • October 15, 2019 18:17

  Best bet is for them to use a local hosts file modification. As in

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  jcncnc

  • October 15, 2019 18:58

  Yes, we tried that and just like the IP-address method, it allows us to view the site but we get the same error when trying to go to the WP admin/login page. I have a feeling it might just can't be done without the domain name. Or I wonder if there's something we could change in the database, maybe replacing the domain name with the IP address?

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  GOT

  • October 15, 2019 19:00

  The problem probably is that you installed it using the username url. I would wipe the site and start from scratch using the hosts file modification. WP ties itself to the url it was used to install.

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  cPanelLauren

  • October 15, 2019 22:23

  If your local hosts file is correctly configured this should work - you might also want to make sure that WordPress isn't installed in a subfolder like domain.tld/wordpress in which case you'd need to use that URL to login.

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  jcncnc

  • October 16, 2019 16:56

  No, WP isn't installed in a subfolder.

  The problem probably is that you installed it using the username url.

  
  Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by that. You're saying I might have installed the website on the server using the username as the url? Not sure exactly what all that means. The username is not the domain name, if that's what you mean by "url". The username is a shortened version of the domain name.

  I would wipe the site and start from scratch using the hosts file modification.

  
  I don't understand how this would work. You're saying delete the site from the server, then change the hosts file on my computer and then setup the site again? I don't understand what difference that would make? My hosts file has no idea when the site was setup nor do I think it cares! And the site being re-set up would still have the exact same information as far as domain name and IP address that would go into the hosts file on my local computer.

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