Tutorial for making a test install?

[galenb]

1 hour ago, teraßyte said:

It's not working because the URL is not the same as before. In the previous screenshot, you were using the /forums/ folder, but not in your latest screenshot.

The check requires the same exact URL, not just (sub)domain.

Not quite clear on how that works but I'm gonna give it a shot. I think I understand what you mean. Thanks!

 

[galenb]

So after a month of trying I was finally able to build a test website and get it to work. The whole problem was getting the themes set up correctly. There was an old non functioning theme and and I had to work around it to get the forums and admincp so they weren't just some messed up css on the screen.

Once I finally got a working test site with an uploaded database. I was able to do a manual update on the version 4.4.9 all the way to 4.7.9. Shortly after I got that done the newer 4.7.10 dropped and I was able to do a one click update to go from 4.4.9 to 4.7.10. after setting up a basic theme with different colors etc.

I finally found a time with a break in the action to update the primary site but only went from 4.4.9 to 4.7.9 cause I had confidence that would work (I never went from 4.4.9 to 4.7.10 directly). I had set the themes up as I had on the test site prior to doing the update and it all performed well without any errors and the db seems to have gone well also.

My final step with be in a couple of days to take 4.7.9 to 4.7.10 but I wanted to get a a couple of daily backups of the DB under my belt and get a copy of the website at 4.7.9 downloaded to my local machine before trying it.

Thank you everyone for being so patient and diligent in your assistance.