Customer Portal - Change Primary Domain

• Checklist
• Important Notes
• Change Domain

Depending on the hosting package you have, here are the steps to change your primary domain in your account.

Jump to a Section:

• Shared Accounts & Reseller Accounts ⤵
• Windows Shared Accounts⤵
• Dedicated Servers and VPS⤵
• Changing Addon and Subdomain Names⤵

Shared Accounts and Reseller Accounts

To change your primary domain name:

1. Log into your Customer Portal.
   • If you cannot remember your password, click on the Forgot Password link below the login area, then follow the instructions emailed to the primary email address on file.
2. Select Hosting from the left-hand side menu.

   

3. Select Manage on the package you wish to update. 

   

4. Click Settings.

   

5. On the right-hand side, click Change Domain.

   
   

6. Enter the new domain name you wish to use:

   
   Note: This will only change the domain setup on the server. This step will not register your new domain. You can always register a new domain name with HostGator at hostgator.com/domains.

7. Select Update Domain. You will receive a notification indicating that your domain change was successful, as illustrated below. 

   

   

Error Message - Addon Issues

The notification below indicates that you have an additional service tied to your packages, such as GoMobi or SiteLock, and you will not be able to change the primary domain name of the associated package from within your Customer Portal. This error occurs because the additional service is directly configured to work on a specific domain name.

Windows Shared

To change the primary domain of your Windows Shared hosting plan, please reach out to us via phone or Live Chat for assistance.

Dedicated and VPS

Dedicated and VPS packages are initially provisioned with the domain name chosen at the time of your sign up. This domain name gets assigned as your hostname, and updating this requires complex modifications to your server's configuration.

Changing Addon and Subdomain Names

You will not need HostGator's billing tool to create or change your subdomains, addon domains, or parked domains for packages using cPanel. 

Please note that an addon domain is different from the primary domain in the account. For more information on managing subdomains, addon domains, and parked domains, see the following article:

• What is the Difference between Parked, Addon, and Subdomains?

How to Change an Addon Domain Name and Keep the Content

1. Register your new domain name.
2. Log into your cPanel.
3. In the Domains section, click the Addon Domains icon.

   

4. Enter your "new" domain name.
5. In the Document Root box, enter the document root of the old addon domain. This path is the location where the website files for the domain are stored. You can see this under the Modify Addon Domain section.

   

   For additional information on document root folders, please refer to the following article:

   • What is a Document Root Folder?
6. Click Add Domain to add the new domain in cPanel using the old "document root" (which you wrote down) as the new document root value.
7. Remove the old addon domain. 

   

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