Lee Heidel

Migrating from Movable Type 4 to 5 on Pair Hosting

Movable Type Nut LogoIf you're a Pair.com hosting client and use their Software Installation Manager you know that getting up and running with Movable Type is quick and easy. However, if you want to migrate from Movable Type 4 to Movable Type 5 it's a different story.

Pair has one-click installation and upgrading available for Movable Type 4 and Movable Type 5 on separate "tracks". This means that you can upgrade within that version number (from 4.36 to 4.38 or 5.1 to 5.2 for example) but not from 4 to 5 directly. If you'd like to upgrade your version 4 blog to version 5, follow these steps. Continued on the permalink...

Complete a full backup of your Movable Type 4 installation. Pair offers an easy backup process. Go to your Software Installation Manager, click on your MT 4 link under "currently installed software" and then click the Backup Movable Type link and follow the instructions. Hopefully, you won't need this; but if anything goes awry, you can use these files to return your site to its previous state.

Install Movable Type 5 via the Installation Manager. Be sure to enter a different blog path than your current site in the configuration settings.

Export the old Movable Type 4 database using phpMyAdmin.  Go back to your Software Installation Manager screen and click on your MT 4 link. Then, click the "Database" link. Finally, click the "Manage using phpMyAdmin" link. Log in with your "full user" credentials and go to the export tab and export your database. If it's a large database, add gzip compression. I also chose to add the "Drop Tables" command. 

Import the MT4 database into your MT5 installation. Back to the Software Installation Manager - but this time select your MT5 software and navigate to the database and open in phpMyAdmin. Go to the import tab and select and upload the exported MT4 database. If you run into an error stating that the database isn't specified, edit the sql export file in a text editor and add this line above the first Drop or Create command, save and try again. Replace "your_mt5_database_name" with your database name, naturally. 

USE your_mt5_database_name;

Log in to MT5 using your MT4 username/password. Go to the new installation path of your Movable Type 5 software and log in. It will prompt you to run and upgrade script. Wait patiently, and voila - your old site on MT5.

Delete the MT4 software. After you've confirmed everything is up and imported properly, delete the Movable Type 4 software from the installation manager.

If you run into any problems or need help with upgrading your Movable Type 4 software on Pair.com or any other hosting service, let's talk.