Duplicate WordPress site for local development and testing environment

Posted on August 6, 2009

1. Download all files from eg http://example.com, upload to eg http://localhost/example/.
2. Export mysql database from example.com
3. Create a local mysql database with the same user, password and database name. These can be found in wp-config.php
4. Import the database into your new local account
5. Log in to the database, and do:

update wp_options set option_value='http://localhost/example/' where option_id=1

You’ll now be able to log in at http://localhost/example/wp-admin, using the same username and password as http://example.com/wp-admin.
5. In WordPress, click ‘Settings’ and change the blog address to your local address.
6. Profit!