How to Reinstall WordPress (The Right Way)

There could be several reasons why you have landed on this article. Maybe you have problems with your WordPress website, you have detected that you don’t know how to fix, or worse, maybe your site was hacked. Or you just want a fresh start for your site. No matter the reason, we will help you! Read on to find out how to reinstall WordPress.

There are two main ways to uninstall and reinstall WordPress. You can reinstall WordPress while keeping all of your existing content, or delete all of your files and install a fresh copy. We’ll look at the two ways to do it, and then look at the different methods of achieving it.

Now, whatever you decide to do, we recommend doing one before you try anything. You can do this by simply copying all your WordPress files to your computer or a cloud drive. Since you never know when something might go wrong, having a failsafe just in case is simply best practice.

Reinstall WordPress through the Administrative Panel

This method of reinstalling while keeping all your content is probably the easiest. You do this using your WordPress dashboard. If you can’t access the dashboard, don’t worry! You can do it manually using the FTP method that we will explain later.

In any case, using the board is very simple. All you need to do is go to the sidebar, then click Control Panel -> Updates and touch the button reinstall now.

The process is completely automatic, all you need to do is wait several seconds and you are all set.

Reinstall WordPress using FTP

If annoying bugs or anything else is stopping you, you can use the FTP method (or maybe it’s just your favorite). It is a very similar method to the one mentioned above, the only difference is that using FTP you will go through the process manually instead of using a one-click installer.

Here is a list of the steps to follow to reinstall WordPress:

1. Download a fresh copy of WordPress.
2. Extract the ZIP file
3. Upload all files except /wp-content/ folder

Now, let’s see how to do each step individually.

Start by going to and downloading the latest version.

Once the download is complete, extract the contents of the ZIP file to your computer and delete the wp-content folder. This step is crucial as otherwise your content could be overwritten.

When you’re done, you’ll need to upload your files to where WordPress is installed. By default, this will be your root folder named public either public_html. When you do, a message will appear indicating that destination file already exists. You will need to overwrite any existing files at this point.

What you will do exactly is replace the core WordPress files, creating a fresh new copy. And how do you remove the wp-content folderyour content files like themes and plugins will not be modified.

Reinstall WordPress using WP-CLI

WordPress can also be reinstalled using WP-CLI. It is a command line tool used to customize your WordPress installation. It is capable of adding/removing users, categories, posts, insert test data, as well as . WP-CLI has more features, but we won’t cover them here.

Just below is a command line that you can freely use to reinstall WordPress without affecting themes and plugins. By the way, WP-CLI is fully installed and compatible with all .

wp core download –skip-content –force

How to completely reinstall WordPress (remove all files)

Before saying anything else, please note the following: By using this method, all your content files will be permanently deleted. Make sure there is no content worth saving, as once this is done, you will not be able to undo it.

You might want to do this if you run into WordPress errors that you can’t fix, for example. Or maybe you just want a clean slate and start all over again.

With that said, there are only two steps involved in the process. First, delete all your existing WordPress files. Second, install a fresh copy using whichever method you prefer. It really is that simple. To delete the files, use a file manager or connect via FTP and delete the files that way.

There is no need to delete your existing WordPress database, even if you plan to use a new one. However, if you want to start over completely, we don’t blame you! On , you can delete the database by navigating to the section MySQL databases.

Similarly, you can use phpMyAdmin to delete the database, this will also delete your database completely.

Once this is done, there will be nothing left. You can now go ahead and start installing a fresh copy of WordPress as if it were a brand new website. As with reinstalling WordPress, there are a few ways to do this, either automatically or manually, depending on your host. If you’re with a host like , there’s a ready-made 1-click auto-installer that installs WordPress in seconds. Alternatively, you can do it manually, which would set you back only about 5 minutes. We’ve covered all the ways you can.

Congratulations, at this point you should have a completely blank canvas for your website!

conclusion

Keeping all of these things in mind, reinstalling WordPress is a fairly simple process. Here’s a quick summary:

• using the button reinstall now from the built-in WordPress dashboard.
• Downloading and then uploading the WordPress files, while excluding the wp-content folder on your server.

And if you’re looking for the clean slate approach, you just need to delete all the WordPress files and (or) the database. Then simply install a new copy using the method of your choice.

We hope you enjoyed our guide and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

Deyi is a digital marketing enthusiast, with a background in web design, content creation, copywriting, and SEO. She is part of ‘s SEO & Localization team. In her free time, she likes to develop projects, read a book or watch a good movie.