I know we can move a wordpress blog to a new host/server same domain by copy-pasting the wp-content and replacing the database. But what I like to do is export the blog to a .xml file via options-> export, change nameservers, install wp on new server, and then import the .xml file to the new blog My question is that if we then change the permalink structure(via .htaccess) to make it the same as the previous one, will it affect any incoming links?
If you are going to use the same domain name why would you have to change the permalink structure or are you just planning to do it to change it up? Eitherway if you want to change the permalink structure there is a plugin that will do all the htaccess stuff for you. If you need me to find it let me know. I have it on one of my blogs and actually changed the permalink structure this morning and it went without a hitch.
I dont think you got me. I wanted to change hosts without copy pasting the database or any files... so I just imported the .xml XRU file(or whatever its called) and changed the permalink structure to match the old one...
If you are going to use the same domain name then you will have to export the file first either way. Its not like you can go straight from one to the other because only one site can have the domain going.