RootsWeb hosted web sites
This a collection of directions from Anne Mitchell of RootsWeb, Pat Asher, and tips from RootsWeb-Help and Freepages-Help mail list members. I'll update as new information becomes available.
Has your site already been restored?
First, determine if your site has been restored. Go to https://sites.rootsweb.com/~sitename/
Change "sitename" to the account name of YOUR site, e.g. pasher, gearyfamily, smithcounty, etc.
If it does not appear at the above URL, it has not been restored and you will need to request your site be restored at: https://useraccount.rootsweb.com/websites/restoreWebsite
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have named your home page anything other than index.htm or index.html or index.shtml you are going to have to include the page name as part of the url in order to check to see if the site has been restored.
Homepages Hosted Sites
If you had a homepages hosted web site (all of which should be restored), you will find your hompages URL will work.
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pasher OR http://sites.rootsweb.com/~pasher
Change pasher to YOUR SITENAME.
Freepages Hosted Sites
If you had a freepages hosted site (and your site has been restored) you should be able to get to your content again. I am using my sitename as an example. Make sure and change the sitename to YOUR SITENAME.
For example, if your account is gearyfamily and if you use the URL:
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gearyfamily/genealogy
You will be taken to the home page of your genealogy_html directory. NOTE: If your pages are in one of the other communities, change genealogy_html to the proper community. (history_html, family_html, etc.)
Alternatively, you can also use the old URL:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gearyfamily
which will automatically redirect you to the new version of the URL. Just substitute the name of YOUR account into the URL. NOTE: As you update your site, I would advise you to use the newest version of the url rather than the old one since there is a redirect in place.
I prefer to use https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gearyfamily/ which defaults to the genealogy_html directory. This will NOT work if your files are located in one of the other communities OR if you are one of those who have more than one account that has the same username. This includes freepages, homepages, or WWW accounts.
Resetting Your Password
Once you have verified your site has been restored, you will need to reset your password and agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement. Go to
https://useraccount.rootsweb.com/websites/requestChangePassword
to request a password reset.
Password rules: Passwords must be between 10 and 32 characters long, and must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lower case letter, one number, and one of the following special characters: _ ! @ # ( ) Asterisk (*) and ampersand (&) are NOT accepted characters.
- If your account has not been restored, you will not get a response back from the password change tool.
- The links in the password reset email expire in one hour so do not request it until you are ready to enter your new password.
- If you do not receive it within a few minutes, check your spam folder.
- If your email has changed since you created the account, and you can no longer receive mail at the original email address; or the site is registered to a previous USGenWeb coordinator, write to [email protected] for assistance.
How to connect to update your site
Both the Online Editor and File Manager has been discontinued and will NOT be coming back. If you were using a web editor to publish your site before, it will no longer work to publish your site. This includes Expression Web, FrontPage and any of the others. The very latest version of Dreamweaver which is a subscription service will allow you to publish. Everyone else will need to use a 3rd party FTP program such as FIlezilla, WSFTP, Core FTP, etc.
You will also need a program for editing your files. Third party ftp programs are NOT editors.
You must connect using SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) You can use any FTP Client that supports SFTP transfers. The host you will be connecting to is: sitesuser.rootsweb.com (Note "sites" is plural and "user" is not.)
Specific Instructions for:
Using the newest version of Dreamweaver, Anne Mitchell connected using these settings:
Server Name: sitesuser.rootsweb.com
Connect using: SFTP
SFTP address: sitesuser.rootsweb.com
Authentication: Username and password
Root Directory: public_html/ (or genealogy_html, military_html,
etc. for Freepages accounts)
Web URL: https://sitesuser.rootsweb.com
With WS FTP Pro, Pat Asher uses :
Host Name: sitesuser.rootsweb.com
User ID: account name (e.g. pasher without the tilde)
Password: **********
On the Advanced screen, select --
Server type: SFTP/SSH
On the Startup Screen, select --
Remote folder: public_html (or genealogy_html, military_html,
etc. for Freepages accounts)
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have named your page something other than index.html or index.htm or index.shtml you are NOT going to view your site unless you include the homepage name.
Example: If I go to http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gearyfamily/family/ which does NOT contain an index.html file, I get the message This page isn't available to you!
