Delete all files and start over?

rbencomo · Post by **rbencomo** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:26 am

My web hosting provider is HostGator. I currently have Joomla 3.5 installed. Is there a way to delete my entire website and reinstall Joomla from scratch? I basically want all files removed so I can start over from the beginning, like a clean slate. How can I do this?

Thanks!

Post by **imanickam** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 12:17 pm

If you go to cPanel of your host services, you could delete the files using tools/utilities such as File Manager. Before deleting the files, make sure to take a copy of the file configuration.php which may come handy when you reinstall Joomla!

In Joomla!, deleting a web site involves deleting the files and the database content. The database content can be removed by accessing the database using tools/utilities such as phpMyAdmin. These tools/utilities should be available in your cPanel.

After deleting the files and the database content, you could follow the steps in the document https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:Installing_Joomla to install Joomla!

rbencomo · Post by **rbencomo** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:24 pm

I haven't used any database features yet. But, do you think it's still safe to delete the entire folder that stores my Joomla files? It appears that everything is stored in a single folder with the same name as my domain name.

sozzled · Post by **sozzled** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:38 pm

rbencomo wrote:It appears that everything is stored in a single folder with the same name as my domain name.

This is fairly normal. When you create a website you would normally associate a folder to a domain name; likewise, you would have separate folders associated with other domains or sub-domains.

As a general practice, when I want to "start over", I delete all the files within the folder associated with the site and I drop all the database tables associated with the site before I re-install Joomla.

NickC4555 · Post by **NickC4555** » Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:17 am

rbencomo wrote:I haven't used any database features yet. But, do you think it's still safe to delete the entire folder that stores my Joomla files? It appears that everything is stored in a single folder with the same name as my domain name.

Yes you have. Joomla creates all of its database tables when you install it. You must drop these and leave an empty database. Or use a different prefix when you install again, but then you would have loads of redundant tables that would be confusing for maintenance in the future.

rbencomo · Post by **rbencomo** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:37 am

NickC4555 wrote:Yes you have. Joomla creates all of its database tables when you install it. You must drop these and leave an empty database. Or use a different prefix when you install again, but then you would have loads of redundant tables that would be confusing for maintenance in the future.

I'm not too familiar with the phpMyAdmin. How do I "drop" the database tables associated with my Joomla installation?

I currently see 2 different databases on phpMyAdmin. They are "abc_jmln1" and "abc_wrdp1", which are databases associated with Joomla and Wordpress, respectively. Do I need to delete the entire Joomla database? Or erase it? How?

Thanks!

NickC4555 · Post by **NickC4555** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:47 am

Open your Joomla database in phpMyAdmin. In the left column, click the database name - this will display all of the tables in the main pane on the right. Scroll to the bottom and click Check All. Then, in the With selected dropdown, click drop. Then click ok. Your database will now be empty for a fresh installation.

WebHostFace · Post by **WebHostFace** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:55 am

Alternatively you can simply safely delete your existing files and databases and reinstall Joomla via your cPanel's auto installer of software. It will take you just a few clicks.

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