Title: testing changes without affecting live site?
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# testing changes without affecting live site?

 *  [ryanoz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ryanoz/)
 * (@ryanoz)
 * [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/)
 * Anyone care to share how they work on a wordpress site without affecting the 
   actual online site?
    All I can think of is that you have two installations?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [alakhnor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alakhnor/)
 * (@alakhnor)
 * [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/#post-543841)
 * I have a local installation and a second installation on my server.
 *  Thread Starter [ryanoz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ryanoz/)
 * (@ryanoz)
 * [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/#post-543846)
 * I don’t understand. I’m really going to need to see the results of my changes
   without it affecting the online site.
    How do you have a local installation? 
   Do you mean with the database local and everything? I have no idea how to do 
   this. As it is now, I’m going to be changing, uploading, replacing, and refreshing
   the site to see the change. Meanwhile, anyone viewing the site will see every
   little change also. EDIT: I didn’t install my wordpress, it was installed automatically
   by my hosting service.
 *  Moderator [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * (@otto42)
 * WordPress.org Admin
 * [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/#post-543852)
 * Get a copy of [XAMPP](http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html). Install it.
 * XAMPP is a locally run, all-in-one, Apache webserver. It includes PHP, Perl, 
   MySQL, etc. And a neat little control panel for turning them on and off as needed.
   You can get the lite version, as all you need is Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The 
   rest is all extra.
 * So, once you install it, you can load a fresh copy of WordPress into its htdocs
   folder (make a wp subdirectory). Then start mySQL and Apache and proceed with
   a normal WordPress install. Use phpMyAdmin (comes with it) to create the database,
   then manually change the wp-config.php file, and then load up a web browser and
   go to [http://localhost/wp/wp-admin](http://localhost/wp/wp-admin) to run the
   install.
 * Basically, you can run the entire server on your own local machine to test. You
   can make changes and observe them instantly in a browser. You can install plugins,
   themes, etc. Export a copy of your data from the live server and import it into
   your local one. Etc.
 * It’s very handy.
 *  Thread Starter [ryanoz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ryanoz/)
 * (@ryanoz)
 * [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/#post-543860)
 * Thanks Otto for the XAMPP info, looks nifty.
    I was able to install another copy
   of wordpress automatically thru my hosting server. I just installed it in a /
   testing/ folder. This sorta helps out, but I’ll still be uploading/refreshing
   constantly. I’ll check into XAMPP, it may be over my head though.
 *  Moderator [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * (@otto42)
 * WordPress.org Admin
 * [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/#post-543862)
 * XAMPP is as simple as it gets.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘testing changes without affecting live site?’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [Designing](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/designing/)
 * [Updates](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/updates/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * Last activity: [19 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/testing-changes-without-affecting-live-site/#post-543862)
 * Status: not resolved

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