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Download WordPress from an FTP Server and Run it in XAMPP Local Host
This is the second part of a two-part tutorial. The first part was titled “Install and Run WordPress in XAMPP Local host.” In this article, I will detail the procedure for running your website right in your XAMPP local host. The purpose is to do on-site work on the local host so that it won't interrupt the normal website operations in your actual FTP server.
Contributed by Codex-M Rating: / 4 September 16, 2009
Improving functionality for customers by adding some new features.
Improving the website banner and logo as well as adding new content.
Testing a plug-in or any new scripts.
Before you can implement this daunting task, make sure you have all of the following:
A fully running WordPress website (completely running with plug-ins) in a Linux-based Apache server.
A fully functional WordPress MySQL database.
FTP access to your website.
A MySQL user name and password access.
Access to the WordPress wp-admin dashboard panel (user name and password).
Full access to your web hosting account.
If you are missing one or more of these requirements missing, ask your web hosting agency to provide the details. If you cannot obtain even one of those requirements, you will find it very difficult or impossible to run WordPress locally.
With the help of your favorite FTP client, connect to your website's FTP using your FTP username and password. See example.
If your domain name is: WWW.MADMAXALIENS.ORG
Site Name: Madmaxaliens
Host / IP/ URL: ftp.madmaxaliens.org
User name: yourusername
Password: yourpassword
Port : 21
Timeout: 60
Retries: 2
Create a folder in your desktop with your domain name as the folder name. If your domain is www.madmaxaliens.org, the name of that folder in your desktop should be "madmaxaliens."
After connecting, press Control A to select all files in your WordPress FTP server. See screen shot below (right side of your FTP client for the hosting files). The vital files are highlighted, while those that are unnecessary are not highlighted.
Do not include the following files in the selection:
a. php_uploads
b. stats
c. _db _backups
These are heavy files and not necessarily important to running your WordPress site in your XAMPP local host. Remember that these types of files/file names might change from one hosting company to another. So consult with your hosting company for the equivalent files.
On the left side of your FTP client is the view of your local computer. Navigate through the folder you have created on your desktop so that those files from your FTP will be downloaded to that specific folder on your desktop.
The download path should look like this:
C:Documents and SettingsCodexmDesktopmadmaxaliens
Where "madmaxaliens" is the folder name in your desktop. After downloading files from the FTP, they will be saved inside that folder.
After selection of those vital files, right click and download. Note that the download button might be different for different FTP clients.
Okay, this step requires access to you WordPress MySQL database. Once you log in to phpMyAdmin, it will display the dashboard as shown below:
Then follow the procedure below:
Click "Database."
Locate the name of the WordPress database and click it.
Click "Export."
Click "Save a file."
Make sure that the export file type is set to "SQL." Leave others as they are.
Finally, when all are set, click "Go."
If you are using Firefox, a dialog download box will appear; save it to your desktop.
Configure database and import it to XAMPP phpMyAdmin
Once you have successfully downloaded the database to your desktop, log in to your localhost database: http://localhost/phpmyadmin, and then supply your login username and password.
After that, under "Create New Database,", enter the exact database name and then click "Create." Just leave it as it is first; we still do not need to import anything as of this moment.
In your desktop, copy and paste the entire FTP downloaded WordPress files folder "madmaxaliens" (this is an example only) to C:xampphtdocs, so that after copying the Windows file path of the folder will now be: C:xampphtdocsmadmaxaliens
Okay, under the "madmaxaliens" WordPress folder, find the "wp-config.php" file. Open it using your favorite PHP editor, and then change the database settings to the one that used by your local host.
For example, If I have the following local host database details:
Local host Database name: madmaxaliens
Local host Database Username: madmaxaliens
Local host password: passwordxxx
Local host host name: localhost
Find the following lines, the same as the example PHP script lines below and revise them according to your own access details:
define('DB_NAME', 'madmaxaliens');
define('DB_USER', 'madmaxaliens');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'passwordxxx');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
Leave the others as they are. Do not change anything except the above lines.
Supply the blog title, Madmaxaliens , and also your email address. Since we are running at local host, we do not need this to be found by the search engines, so uncheck "Allow my blog to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati."
After that, click "Install WordPress." Okay, when you go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin, WordPress creates the standard MySQL database. Take note: THIS IS NOT YOUR WEBSITE DATABASE.
So what you will do is go to MySQL and delete each of the created tables ONE BY ONE (Do not delete all of tables together, as you will end up deleting the MySQL database also). These are the default tables:
wp_comments
wp_links
wp_options
wp_postmeta
wp_posts
wp_terms
wp_term_relationships
wp_term_taxonomy
wp_usermeta
wp_users
If other tables appear, delete them also. You can easily delete each table by using the "Red X" symbol beside the trash box symbol. After deleting, click "Structure" to see the other tables again. After deleting all default tables, you should see "No tables found in database."
Import the actual downloaded website MySQL database
Follow the steps below to import the downloaded MySQL database to XAMPP:
Click "Import" in the phpMyAdmin.
Click "Browse" and then locate the SQL file on your desktop.
Make the sure the format of the imported file is "SQL." Leave the others as they are.
Click "Go" to import the file. 5. Click the MySQL table (under the database: "Madmaxaliens") with the name "wp_options" and change "Option value" to:
Site URL: http://localhost/madmaxaliens/
Home: http://localhost/madmaxaliens/
Edit the .htaccess file in the localhost
This is the original .htaccess syntax used in your FTP server:
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
If you still use this one as the syntax of the .htaccess WordPress localhost, you will get a 404 header status (page not found) for your inner pages. This is because the reference with respect to the root / (which is true in your web host) does not anymore apply.
So you have to edit the .htaccess file to reflect the new root location of your blog at the localhost: http://localhost/madmaxaliens/
So open the .htaccess file under your folder in htdocs and edit to (example only:)
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /madmaxaliens/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /madmaxaliens/index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
Then save it as .htaccess
Editing the files
You can now start viewing the localhost version of your WordPress website. If you like you can even log in to the Admin panel. Just type in:
(example:)
http://localhost/madmaxaliens/wp-admin
Then use the actual user name and password that is used in the live/web host version of your WordPress.