XAMPP + Wordpress -- How to copy an existing site to edit locally

Question

I'm attempting to get an existing wordpress website on my local device.

I'm also doing this "blind" meaning no one really knows the set up of this thing.

I've managed to FTP all the files from our hosting service. The issue is I can't seem to actually get the website to match what exists in prod. I initially thought it was a matter of me using a dummy DB rather than a copy of our prod db, or simply pointing XAMPP at the prod DB (which I am also curious how to do). I'm not sure this checks out since there seems to be content on the website that would not live inside a db.

My questions are as follows:

1. Is there a good tutorial on how to port an existing wordpress site to your local device? I cannot seem to find anything that reasonably outlines this and is up to date. The one I found uses a plugin called "duplicator" which im unable to use successfully on the site. I'm not sure how this would differ from me simply grabbing the relevant files.

2. After FTPing them -- I was brought to the wordpress install page locally. Similarly to what happens when you just download a clean WP version. Is this expected even with an existing site?

3. I will certainly eventually need to hook this to our DB. Is there anyway to simply point XAMPP at a prod DB?

Thank you! Happy to provide any follow ups. I have a fair amount of dev experience, but I do not do web dev, and most of my experience have been in robust enviornments where I generally dont have to worry about these issues. Thank you!

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65835450/xampp-wordpress-how-to-copy-an-existing-site-to-edit-locally

Answer 1

Well, the easiest method is to use the Duplicator plugin. The link below will give you instructions on how to move files using the plugin and moving the files manually.

https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-live-wordpress-site-to-local-server/