Title: Create a development environment
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Create a development environment

 *  [waddah.ajaj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/waddahajaj/)
 * (@waddahajaj)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/create-a-development-environment/)
 * Hello All,
 * I’m new to wordpress. I was recently assigned a task in my company to support
   and upgrade the company’s running website.
    I have the admin credentials, and
   the site is up and running, but now I need to create a local development environment
   to develop and test before deploying live. I need help setting up the environment
   and perhaps a quick introductions on how to develop and deploy changes. I’m familiar
   with HTML/JavaScript/jQuery/CSS, just new help with the concept of wordpress.

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

 *  [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * (@senff)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/create-a-development-environment/#post-5784520)
 * To get a development environment running on your local machine, there are a few
   steps to take even before WordPress comes into play. The first steps involve 
   installing a webserver and database.
 * Recently I wrote some instructions for that: [http://www.marksenff.com/generic/install-wordpress-local-pc-also-one-site/](http://www.marksenff.com/generic/install-wordpress-local-pc-also-one-site/)
 * It’s written for Windows, but if you have a Mac it should be easy to follow as
   well.
 *  Thread Starter [waddah.ajaj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/waddahajaj/)
 * (@waddahajaj)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/create-a-development-environment/#post-5784521)
 * Thank you for your reply. I did eventually manage to deploy and run wordpress
   on my machine using Bitnami wordpress plugin.
    I also exported the app and then
   imported it on my instance. My problem now is that I need to copy the theme used
   in the website to my post. I understand that I can zip all the related files 
   and import them, but I’m not sure what are the exact files, especially that there
   are a lot of php files used for the theme (I’m not sure if it includes functionality
   as well, i.e. links and behaviours). What I’m sure of is that it’s not pure css
   like the demo themes installed with the default wordpress. Any guidance will 
   be much appreciated.
 *  [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * (@senff)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/create-a-development-environment/#post-5784523)
 * To transfer a theme from one site to another, copy the directory **/wp-content/
   themes/THEMENAME** (including all files inside it) from the original server and
   paste it on the other.
 * To copy the DATA (blog posts, pages, any other settings) from one site to another,
   you’ll need to do a database transfer.

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

The topic ‘Create a development environment’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [deployment](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/deployment/)
 * [development](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/development/)
 * [environment](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/environment/)

 * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/create-a-development-environment/#post-5784523)
 * Status: not resolved

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