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HostGator Web Hosting Help

How To Change Your Primary Domain

If you have a Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, or Dedicated Hosting account, HostGator is happy to help you change the primary domain on your account. Please review the following information prior to starting the rename process.

What You Should Know Before Renaming Your Account

  1. The process can take 20 mins to 5 hours, depending on the size of your account.

  2. Usernames, passwords, files and databases will remain unchanged.

  3. Despite this, we recommend that you backup the websites and databases then download them to your computer.

  4. Website files for both domains involved may need to be moved in order for the sites to function after the rename. You will need to move files for the new primary domain into the public_html directory and files for the old main domain in a subfolder of public_html. The old primary domain can be assigned to this subfolder after the rename is complete.

    This will be your responsibility to do, and may cause some site files, scripts or other applications to break, requiring modification to work with the new site location.


  5. The new primary domain will point to the public_html directory itself (the same way the primary domain does currently).

  6. Forwarders on these domains will be deleted.

  7. Any custom DNS changes made to either of these domains will be lost and will need to be redone. Cloudflare will also be deactivated on these domains.

    This will most likely only take a few minutes, but it could take up to a few hours.


  8. This will break the ability to publish a Weebly site on the old and new primary domain (if the customer has ever logged into Weebly).

How to Rename Your Account

When you are ready to have your account renamed, simply contact us by phone or chat. Be sure to include the following information to expedite the request:
  • Primary Domain

  • New Primary Domain

  • Last four characters of cPanel password

  • Confirm that you have read and understand account rename information (e.g.: "I have read and understand the account rename information including: my username will not change and I have backed up my files/databases in case there is any data lost during the rename process.")

    • Newly registered and renewed domain names cannot be canceled for a refund.

Get New Domain and Protect your Brand

Protect your brand by buying a variation of your current domain. See domain availability.



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