Cloning existing website

  • Resolved John

    (@dsl225)


    11 years, 7 months ago

    I installed a first instance of WP for a given site, installed all needed plugins and themes, made relevant configs and everything runs fine.

    I now want to clone the whole installation, including the related database, themes and plugins, to another website so that I don’t need to start from scratch – and then just change the database name and site title so that I may just modify what’s needed for the new site.

    I searched the plugins but was able to find only duplicators or backup utilities.

    Anyone has an idea on how to proceed? Maybe just copy the whole WP folder elsewhere and then only change the database name – is that feasible?

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • What about the content? Will you change the content or keep the same content?

    Thread Starter John

    (@dsl225)

    No, I’ll change most of content. Maybe keep some illustrations but change all texts found in pages.

    What I want is to clone the whole layout, including menus and pages (but excluding posts of course), and WP’s installation and general config.

    Then, as I would do in such a case, the easiest will be to import the site to a local installation, use the same plugins and theme so that the site looks the same, and then change content, etc. so that I won’t run into issues of duplicate content, etc. Once everything is up to your expectation, you can go online with it.

    I also would like to add that exporting your current database and then copying all your files is another way you can migrate your site.

    – FTP and copy all WordPress files
    – Export the database using PHPMyAdmin
    – Search for all old site urls and replace them with the new site url
    – FTP in to the new site and upload the WordPress files you just copied
    – Create a database using the same name and the old database
    – Import the .sql file (after you have replaced all old url references)
    – ensure that all that the database credentials are correct for the new database
    – Reset permalinks just in case

    Krishna’s way is a bit longer but more fail proof. I only recommend the way I just stated if you know what your doing.

    Thread Starter John

    (@dsl225)

    Many thanks to both of you.

    Current site is already running on local machine with XAMPP.

    I was thinking to import the database using a new name in order to avoid conflicts.

    In any case, what happens with wp-config.php? I’ll need to edit it, isn’t it?

    Yes. You will need to edit it to match your new connection settings

    Thread Starter John

    (@dsl225)

    Great, that works.

    I just copied everything, exported the DB under a new name, edited the paths found inside to match the new domain and imported into the new one.

    Many thanks for your assistance to both of you.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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