I cannot login into a test clone of my wordpress website

  • Good day to the community,

    I made a clone-copy of all my WP files and folders and created a “test” folder in the root of my host where I copied all those files.
    This clone will be used to test new features before applying them to the live site.

    I cloned the live database and created a new one, with different name, username and psw (to avoid affecting the live DB when I mess with the test site).
    I then copied these database login data to wp-config.php.

    I also added to the same file the two lines suggested here:
    https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/creating-a-duplicate-site-for-testing

    Namely:

    define('WP_SITEURL', 'https://mydomain.org/test');
define('WP_HOME', 'https://mydomain.org/test');

    The original test site was created via a 1-click install provided by my host and it worked, but it became out-of synch with the live one. I have just overwritten those files with the live ones to be sure to have an exact clone.

    Now I cannot login to my testsite. Every login attempt is met with a reloaded WP login page with no error message.

    I spent a couple of hours trying all workarounds suggested here, to no avail:
    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Login_Trouble

    I also tried the “lost password” link in the login page, but I do not receive any password-reset email.

    Thank you for all the help you can give me to get out of this impasse.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • What method did you use to ‘clone’ the site. If you did not use special means to replace the URLs and paths in the database, there may be broken serialized strings in many places.

    Here is an article with the steps I use to migrate (copy) a site: https://wordpress.mcdspot.com/2012/08/22/migrating-a-wordpress-site-step-by-step/

    Thread Starter trappist

    (@trappist)

    Thanks for your kind reply.
    I copied files and folders via FTP. That should be quite safe, if I am not mistaken. The problem then becomes the database. I thought that updating the wp_options field in the DB with the correct url that includes the “test” folder would have sufficed, but I was wrong.

    I will try your suggestions as soon as I can but, if I got it right, it will not create a proper clone. The current WP version I am running is 3.4.2 and, if I make a new 1-click install, the latest version 3.5 will be installed instead. I do not want to update to the latest WP until I am 100% positive it works in the test environment (which I am struggling to setup).

    Just install the version of WP that you want in the ‘new’ site at the beginning.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘I cannot login into a test clone of my wordpress website’ is closed to new replies.