Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

How to Download a Wordpress Site to Localhost

Are you planning to migrate your WordPress site to your local machine for development or testing purposes? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of downloading a WordPress site to your localhost.

Step 1: Download and Install a Local Server Environment

To get started, you’ll need to download and install a local server environment, such as XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP. These software packages offer all the essential components needed to run a self-contained local server environment on your computer.

Step 2: Create a Test Database

The next step is to create a new database on your local server. You can do this by navigating to your local server environment and opening up PHPMyAdmin. Once inside, create a new database and give it a relevant name.

Step 3: Download Your Wordpress Site’s Files

The third step involves downloading your WordPress site’s files from your live server. To do this, you can use an FTP client application like FileZilla or Cyberduck. Connect to your live server and locate your WordPress site’s root folder. Download all the files in this folder, including the wp-admin, wp-includes, and wp-content directories.

Step 4: Export Your Wordpress Site’s Database

The fourth step requires you to export your WordPress site’s database from your live server. You can do this by logging into your cPanel account and finding the phpMyAdmin tool. From there, locate your WordPress site’s database and click on the "Export" button. Choose the SQL format and download the file to your computer.

Step 5: Import Your Wordpress Site’s Database

After downloading the database file, you need to import it into your local server environment. Open up PHPMyAdmin on your local server and select the database you created earlier. Click on the "Import" button and select the SQL file you just downloaded. Click on the "Go" button to import your database.

Step 6: Edit wp-config.php File

The next step is to edit the wp-config.php file to reflect your local server environment's database credentials. You can open this file using a text editor and find the database name, username, and password fields. Update these fields with the database credentials you set up in step 2.

Step 7: Upload Your Wordpress Site’s Files

The final step is to upload your WordPress site’s files to the htdocs folder in your local server environment. You can do this by navigating to the root directory of your local server environment and finding the htdocs folder. Copy all the WordPress site’s files and paste them into this folder.

Conclusion

That’s it! You’ve successfully downloaded your WordPress site to localhost. Now, you can develop and test your site locally without affecting your live site. Follow these steps carefully, and you’ll be up and running in no time. Happy local development!