Transferring your domain and hosting to Web Hosting Canada is a 2-step process that involves:

(1) Transferring your domain name registration to Web Hosting Canada (optional) and updating your DNS or Nameservers; and

(2) Transferring your web hosting, including files, databases and email accounts to Web Hosting Canada

Note: For a worry-free transition, our technicians can handle the transfer process for you, for an additional fee of 49.95$. Please get in touch with us to request this service.

If you wish to perform this transfer yourself, please follow these steps:

1- TRANSFER YOUR DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION TO WEB HOSTING CANADA

1. Before initiating a transfer, please ensure your domain name is properly configured for transfer. These changes can be made by contacting your current Registrar or using their online interface:
   
   
   1. Make sure your email address is listed as your domain name’s Administrative email address. If it isn’t, update it. In some instances, you may need to deactivate any special Privacy Protection features you have active on this domain.
      
   2. Ensure there is no “Lock” on your domain. You need to disable the transfer lock if it is active.
   3. You must obtain the EPP or Transfer Key for your domain. The EPP key is usually emailed to the Administrative contact upon request.
   4. You cannot transfer domains that have been registered or renewed less than 60 days ago. If it was, you will need to wait a minimum of 60 days to place your transfer order. In the meanwhile, you can still transfer your hosting and update your domain’s nameservers as described later in this article.
      
      Please allow up to 24 hours for any changes to your domain name to take effect.
2. With your domain name ready for transfer, you may now place the new transfer order with Web Hosting Canada.
3. If you need hosting (recommended): Select the hosting package you wish to purchase (if in doubt, we recommend our most popular package, the PRO hosting)
4. If you do not need hosting (only transferring the domain): Click on the Transfer Domain tab and enter your domain name
5. If required, you will be prompted to enter your EPP code now. Please enter the code obtained in step 1.3.
6. Complete the order and make your payment.
7. Wait for a transfer verification email that will be sent to you by the central registry. You will be required to access a link (URL) within that email and accept the transfer request.
8. Wait for a confirmation email from Web Hosting Canada confirming that your domain name has been successfully transferred. This may take up to 7 days, assuming all the previous steps were completed successfully. In the event that there was a problem with your transfer causing it to fail, we will also inform you of this and you will be able to re-initiate the transfer once more (after having made all necessary corrections).
9. Assuming you also purchased web hosting with us, once your domain is transferred, you will need to update your domain's DNS. This will link your domain name to your new hosting account with us. Note: in order to guarantee a smooth transition, only update your DNS to ours after having transferred all your web files on your new account and re-created all your email accounts on our servers (see procedure below for this). Our DNS are:
   
   ns1.web-dns1.com
   ns2.web-dns1.com
   ns3.web-dns1.com
10. Wait up to 24 hours for the new DNS information to propagate, and you're done!

2- TRANSFER YOUR HOSTING ACCOUNT TO WEB HOSTING CANADA

In order to transfer your hosting account files on to our servers, we are assuming that you already have your entire web site on your local computer. You must now follow these steps:

1. If you haven’t already done so, order the web hosting package that best suits your needs, while making sure you've selected the "transfer" option for your domain (see procedure above).
2. Once you have made your payment, wait for our confirmation e-mail containing your account details.
3. Connect to our servers by FTP (or any other file publishing method you prefer), using the Permanent Address we provided for your account. This way you can transfer files to your account before pointing your domain name to us, thus decreasing downtime for your visitors.
4. Upload all your files in the "public_html" directory.
5. If you had email addresses with your other host, re-create those email addresses on our servers using the Email Accounts feature of our cPanel.
6. ADVANCED - If you had any databases with your other host, copy them to our servers as well. You will need to re-create the database on our server using the cPanel (note that due to some cPanel restrictions your database name might be different from its name with your other host). Then you may export the contents of your database from your other host and import it into your new database on our servers. This can be accomplished with the phpmyadmin tool.
7. ADVANCED - If needed, update your web site's configuration files and scripts in order to ensure all settings are correct, particularly where they refer to database connection credentials.
8. Test your web site using the permanent address provided, and fix any bugs you discover.
9. You're now ready to point your domain name to our servers! This can be done by changing your domain's DNS to:
   
   ns1.web-dns1.com
   ns2.web-dns1.com
   ns3.web-dns1.com
10. Wait up to 24 hours for the new DNS information to propagate across the Internet
11. Test your site thoroughly. Make sure to clear your temporary Internet files in your browser and refresh the page several times in your browser in order to ensure you’re seeing the latest version of your web site.
12. If everything works as expected, you’re done! You can now safely cancel and close your account with your other provider.

Questions or problems? Contact our technical support team for assistance. If you would like our team to handle the transfer of your web site from start to finish, just get in touch with us.

Article ID: #HC5123