How do I create a test forum?

[sophie1204]

I've been searching the forum here and haven't found anything that's basic enough for me to understand (yes, I'm a complete idiot about this stuff).

I want to create a test forum that's essentially a duplicate of my live forum, with all the add-ons, style changes, etc. that I've already made, and where I can test new add-ons, upgrades, etc.

How do I do this, in the plainest, most straightforward way possible?

Thanks in advance for you patience and understanding.

 

[oman]

I've been searching the forum here and haven't found anything that's basic enough for me to understand (yes, I'm a complete idiot about this stuff).

I want to create a test forum that's essentially a duplicate of my live forum, with all the add-ons, style changes, etc. that I've already made, and where I can test new add-ons, upgrades, etc.

How do I do this, in the plainest, most straightforward way possible?

Thanks in advance for you patience and understanding.

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/how-to-install-xenforo-locally-to-your-pc-using-xampp.355/

 

[sophie1204]

Thanks. but I don't use a PC; I'm a Mac user, instead.

And to be honest, that looks like a fairly complicated explanation.

 

[Biker]

You can create a test directory on your server and install XF to there. The installation needs to be password protected so unauthorized access is prevented. If your server uses cPanel, this is rather easy to do as you can password protect the directory via cPanel.

 

[TPerry]

Thanks. but I don't use a PC; I'm a Mac user, instead.

And to be honest, that looks like a fairly complicated explanation.

Are you comfortable using Linux and the CLI? If so, grab VirtualBox, set up a Debian/CentOS/whatever virtual machine and do it there. It's what I do for my sites... and I'm on a Mac Mini.
If you are not comfortable with it, you can do as Biker suggests (which is what a lot of people do since they are not familiar with the ins/outs of setting up a server/VPS that is unmanaged - which is what you would be doing in VirtualBox).

 

[Morgain]

Ive always done standard install and laboriously added all the same things one by one.
Is there a way to make a mirror install of the live install, with all style changes, template edits, addons, nodes and permissions, but no members and no threads, posts, or pages?
Then you could add a few dummy members and start testing anything new.

 

[Paul B]

No, you can't selectively copy content.

Just copy the DB and then create your test users.