• Hosting Flash Sale: Starting at $0.43/mo for a limited time
Client Area
Client Area

How to Move a MySQL Database Between cPanel Accounts (When phpMyAdmin Export Keeps Failing)

Transferring a MySQL database from one cPanel account to another sounds simple — until you hit the real-world problems. One of our clients recently ran into a situation where a database had to be moved from:

Old user: spiderth
New user: helpdeskspiderth

The challenge?
Some database tables were very large, causing phpMyAdmin exports to fail. Timeouts, partial exports, corrupted SQL files — the usual headaches.

At PrenHost, we see this often, and there’s a clean solution.

 The Problem

When exporting via phpMyAdmin:

  • Large tables timeout

  • Browsers fail mid-download

  • Upload limits block import

  • You can’t directly “transfer database ownership” between cPanel users

The Database Map Tool in WHM also does not support transferring between two active cPanel users — it only maps orphaned databases. So users get stuck.

 The Solution: Copy the Database Directly (No Export Required)

Instead of exporting and re-uploading, we use phpMyAdmin’s internal database copy function — which works inside the server and doesn’t depend on browser timeouts.

This method avoids:

✔ Slow export
✔ Slow upload
✔ Size limits
✔ Timeouts

And you get a perfect copy of the database inside the server.

 How We Fixed It

We created a new empty database under the new cPanel user:

helpdeskspiderth_help

Then in root phpMyAdmin (WHM → SQL Services → phpMyAdmin) we selected the old database and used:

Copy Database To → helpdeskspiderth_help

But with the correct settings, because two options must be turned off:

❌ CREATE DATABASE before copying
❌ Adjust privileges

If these remain checked, phpMyAdmin will break the mapping or fail the process.

Final settings:

Copy database to: helpdeskspiderth_help

[●] Structure and data
[ ] CREATE DATABASE before copying
[✔] Add DROP TABLE
[✔] Add AUTO_INCREMENT
[✔] Add constraints
[ ] Adjust privileges

Then → Go

The database copied perfectly — even the large tables.

Finally, we mapped the correct MySQL user to the new database and assigned full privileges.

 Result

The client’s application worked instantly with the new database.
No downtime. No corrupted tables. No manual SQL editing.
A clean migration inside the same server.

How PrenHost Helps

At PrenHost, we assist customers with:

  • Database migrations between cPanel accounts

  • Moving websites across servers

  • Fixing MySQL errors, corrupt tables, and timeout issues

  • WHM/cPanel configuration

  • Server-level optimizations

Whether you’re stuck with a broken export, confused database ownership, or failed import — our team can handle it safely and quickly.

Tags:

Leave a Reply