How to move a production site to a staging server
Installation and Configuration
Making a "clone" of an existing site is just a few steps:
1) Download the entire public_html directory for the source site, and upload it to the clone site - now you have an exact copy of the files
2) Export the source site database using a DB manager such as phpmyadmin, sequel pro or the built in Adminer - then import this into a NEW database created for the clone site
3) modify the data/config/config.php file on the CLONE site to use the new database name (and user/password if different)
4) Log into the CLONE site and go to ACP -> Communication -> Email Support and set the "active email system" to "Log sent email to activity log" - this is so you don't send emails from your clone system to existing users of your live system.
Quote:
I cant run an integrity check because I cant log in...but i have run repair.php bit changes nothing
This means you are missing either keys files or the database.