Get old wamp installation data to work on new computer

Question

I'm having a big problem with my wamp server for some months now.

I've developed 6 sites locally using wamp server. I had a problem with my computer and copied all my site directories to a hard Disk.

I got a new computer with W8.1 on it and copied back the wamp-folder. I tried to lunch it, but its not working. So i've installed a new wamp server. But i've no idea how to import my site from the old server to the new.

My first problem is that I can't get my old site running on the new wamp installation. I did not save my databases before my computer went down.

But I thing I can find it on the mysql folder from the old system backup. Where and how, I've no idea. So I would like to take my sites from the old wamp and installed it on the new one or get it to work on the new wamp. I've already googled for one month now but I could not find any solution!

Answer 1

Option 1. ReCreate the old WAMPServer on the new PC

If you have the complete directory structure backed up from your old PC then you can just copy the complete folder structure from your backup to the new PC.

Make sure you put it on the same disk and folder that it was originally installed on, so if it was originally installed in C:\wamp make sure you copy it back to that folder.

Launch the wampmanage.exe from that folder ( C:\wamp\wampmanager.exe )

Using the wampmanager menus do

left click wampmanager -> Apache -> Install Service
left click wampmanager -> MYSQL -> Install Service

WAMPServer should now be as it was before your problem

Windows 8.1 has a blank C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file, so you will also need to add all the domains for any Virtual Hosts you had created, but at a minimum it should have these entries.

127.0.0.1  localhost
::1  localhost

Option 2. Add your old Apache/PHP/MYSQL to the new installation of WAMPServer

Remember, one of the big advantages of WAMPServer over other Windows AMP stacks is its ability to have more than one version of each of Apache/PHP/MYSQL in the same WAMPServer instance ready for easy switching between verions of all of these.

So you could keep the new installation and selectively copy over the Apache/PHP/MYSQL versions and then copy over your 6 sites.

So STOP WAMPServer

copy the OLD \wamp\bin\apache\{apacheversion} folder to NEW `\wamp\bin\apache\
copy the OLD \wamp\bin\php\{phpversion} folder to NEW `\wamp\bin\php\
copy the OLD \wamp\bin\mysql\{mysqversion} folder to NEW `\wamp\bin\mysql\

Restart WAMPServer

You should now see that the old and new version of Apache/MYSQL/PHP are available.

Now copy your OLD \wamp\www\??? site folders into NEW \wamp\www\??? and your 6 sites should also be available.

Now you can switch back to the old versions of Apache/PHP/MYSQL and run your sites like that, or backup you databases properly using the old MYSQL version and then restore them to your new MYSQL version

You switch versions using the wampmanager menus like so:-

wampmanager -> Apache -> Version -> (click the required version number )
wampmanager -> MYSQL -> Version -> (click the required version number )
wampmanager -> PHP -> Version -> (click the required version number )