Leaving Domain of One’s Own: The Practical Steps

This guide is intended to help with the practical steps once you are ready to transfer. We highly recommend that you read the Leaving Domain of One’s Own: Overview guide first to understand what it means to migrate and general things you may want to consider.

Below we describe both the process for migrating to Reclaim Hosting (the company that provides the Domain of One’s Own platform) and a general process for migrating elsewhere.

Please note that you only want to follow any of the below steps when you are ready to transfer your domain.

Migrating to Reclaim Hosting #

If you would like to continue using your domain after leaving UMW and would like to continue hosting your account with Reclaim, complete the following steps:

1. Choose one of the shared hosting accounts that Reclaim offers or go directly to the Student/Personal Plan option.
2. In order to transfer your domain choose the “I will use my existing domain and update my nameservers” option.
3. Complete the sign-up process/pay invoice ($35 a year for the personal option).
4. Send a support request to support@reclaimhosting.com with the following message:
   Hello Reclaim Hosting Support,
   I am graduating from the University of Mary Washington and I would like to migrate my account, (your domain), to Reclaim Hosting. Please let me know if you need anything else from me.
   Best,
   (Your Name)

A member of Reclaim Hosting support will respond & help you get your account migrated ASAP.

Migrating Elsewhere #

If you would like to continue using your domain after leaving UMW but would like to migrate it elsewhere, complete the following steps:

• Generate a full backup of your account.
• Prepare your domain for transfer by going to the Migration Information page (you need to be logged in to your DoOO account to see this page), unlocking your domain, and requesting your EPP transfer code.
  • Note: Some vendors need an additional step to be done that will require Domain of One’s Own admins to complete. Please contact us if you run into issues at the transfer step.
• Next, follow the instructions provided by your new hosting platform on transferring domains/migrating websites. You can find instructions for common hosting platforms below:
  • GoDaddy Transfer
    • You can migrate your content and domain.
  • Host Gator Transfer
    • You can migrate your content and domain.
  • Wix Domain Transfer
    • You cannot move your content, just your domain URL.
  • Squarespace Domain Transfer
    • You cannot move your content, just your domain URL.
  • WordPress.com Domain Transfer
    • You can only manually export/import WordPress content and move your domain.

Updated by Shannon Hauser 01/16/25