Updating WordPress database configuration settings

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Problem

Error establishing a database connection

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Resolution

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Step 1: Determine the correct MySQL database settings

1. Log in to cPanel.

   📘 Note If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see this article.

2. In the DATABASES section of the cPanel home screen, click phpMyAdmin:
   

3. In the left-hand pane of phpMyAdmin, note the name of the WordPress database that you want to use.

   👍 Tip Typically, the WordPress database is username_wpXXX , where username represents your cPanel username, and XXX is a three-digit number. However, if your account was recently migrated (for example, from another hosting provider), the database name may be in a different format.

4. Click the name of the WordPress database that you want to use. A list of tables in the database appears.
5. In the Table column, note the table prefix that is used in the table names.

   👍 Tip Typically, the WordPress database table prefix is wp_ . However, if your account was recently migrated (for example, from another hosting provider), the table prefix may be different, or even nonexistent.

6. On the Tools page, in the Databases section, click Manage My Databases:
   

   📘 Note If you are using cPanel version 118 or earlier, click MySQL Databases instead:
   

7. Under Current Databases, locate the database that you noted in step 3.
8. Note the database username for the database.

   🚧 Important If you do not know the password for this database user, you should reset it now.

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Step 2: Update the wp-config.php file

1. In the FILES section of the cPanel home screen, click File Manager:
   
2. Navigate to the directory where WordPress is installed.

   👍 Tip Typically, WordPress is installed in the public_html (document root) directory. However, if you installed WordPress in a subdirectory, navigate to that directory instead.

3. Right-click the wp-config.php file, and then click Edit.
4. Locate the DB_NAME setting, and then replace the value with the name of the WordPress database that you obtained in the previous procedure. For example, if your database name is username_wp123, modify the text as follows:
   define('DB_NAME', 'username_wp123');
   
5. Locate the DB_USER setting, and then replace the value with the database username that you obtained in the previous procedure. For example, if your database username is username_wpuser, you would modify the text as follows:
   define('DB_USER', 'username_wpuser');
   
6. Locate the DB_PASSWORD setting, and then replace the value with the database user’s password. For example, if your database user’s password is example_password, modify the text as follows:
   define('DB_PASSWORD', 'example_password');
   

   🚧 Important It should go without saying that you should not use example_password as a password on a real installation!

7. Confirm that the DB_HOST setting is set to localhost as follows:
   define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
   
8. Locate the $table_prefix setting, and then replace the value with the database table prefix that you obtained in the previous procedure. For example, if the database table prefix is _wp__, modify the text as follows:
   $table_prefix  = 'wp_';
   

   📘 Note If your database does not use a table prefix, modify the text as follows:

   $table_prefix  = '';
   
9. Click Save Changes.
10. Use your web browser to go to the WordPress site’s URL. The site should now load.