Need to copy current site to new site, run both for a few weeks

This Codex article will explain how to copy your site:
Moving WordPress

Since you want to keep both sites running for a few weeks, you’ll have to treat them as independent sites, each having its own database.

If you’re copying to a new server, then Changing Your Domain Name and URLs should be the steps you need.

If you’re copying on the same server, you’ll need a hybrid of Changing Your Domain Name and URLs and Moving Directories On Your Existing Server.

Please have a look and let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks Brian, I’ll give it a go.

I just noticed that my link to the codex article is broken. In case you can’t find it, here’s the correct link: Moving WordPress

Hi Ella,

Assuming that you’ll be making a copy of your existing site on the same server, here is an overview of what you’ll need to do:

1. Download your existing site files from the remote server.
2. Export your database – go in to mySQL and export the database as SQL.
3. Move the backed up files and database into a new folder on your local computer – somewhere safe – this is your site backup.
Again, on the remote server:
4. Create a new database for your new site.
5. Import the SQL backup from your original site into the new database.
6. Create a new directory for your new site in the public_html or www directory.
7. Upload all of the files that you downloaded from your original site into your new directory.
8. Edit the new site’s wp-config.php with the new site’s mySQL database name, user and password.
9. Upload the Search and Replace for WordPress Databases Script to the root directory of your new site. (This is the new directory that you created.)
10. Point your new domain to the new directory that contains the files for your new site. You can probably get help with this from your hosting provider. You will have to wait for the new domain to resolve before you can continue with the next step.
11. Follow the Search and Replace script instructions – you’ll use the script to replace your original site’s URL with the URL for the new site. For example, replace example.com with example-new.com
12. Be sure to follow all the instructions and delete the Search and Replace script when you’re finished with it.
13. Log in to the admin panel of your new site: https://www.new-example.com/wp-admin – it will be the same username and password as the original site.
14. Go to Settings > Permalinks and click the Save button

You should now have a brand new site that is a copy of your original site. If you get stuck or have any questions, just ask.

Thanks Brian! Please forgive me, I’m a complete WordPress newbie. I didn’t create the original site or set anything up so I’m really starting from scratch here and am stuck on #1. I’m looking at CPanel at our web host, just not sure exactly what to download. Looking in the public_html folder, I see several folders that seem associated with wordpress, wp-admin, -content, -includes, and I’m seeing a bunch of php files (in the public_html level), another folder that references the theme source. Should I download all of that?
I’m starting to feel like I’m in a bit over my head…

Yes Ella, you should download all of the files in the public_html folder.

I’ll be at a birthday dinner tonight, but I’ll be free later tomorrow and next week. Or maybe someone else may chime in.

Can I ask who hosts your current site and what the web address is?

Thanks Brian! So, a friend of mine has Backupbuddy and has offered to help me copy the site. Is there a reason I shouldn’t use this tool? I’ve looked at some of the documentation for it and it looks pretty good, but maybe I’m missing something.

A friend that will help you sounds perfect! I’ve heard good things about BackupBuddy, so it sounds like a good solution.

This is obvious, but worth saying: make sure you have a working backup before you begin and you should be fine.