I can't log in after moving my site

Why it happens

Logins depend on cookies and sessions. After a move, an old cookie domain or path, a wrong live_site, or old sessions in the database can stop the login cookie from being accepted, so the login page just reloads.

Fix it

1. Clear your browser cookies for the site (or try a private window).
2. In configuration.php, set cookie_domain and cookie_path to empty, and live_site to empty.
3. In phpMyAdmin, empty the #__session table (it only holds active logins).
4. Check that tmp_path and log_path point to folders that exist on the new server.
5. Try logging in again.

Good to know

• If you moved from http to https (or back), check Force HTTPS in configuration.php (force_ssl).