How to use live DB dump for Test site

[United We Stand]

I'm wondering if anyone can point me to the the right direction of using doing this. I want to use a copy of my live db and use it on my test site but I cant figure out how to make it work. 

This is what I've tried so far: 

Do a fresh new install on a new DB  - everything works with no data. 

Copy the live db to my new test db - I see data but all messed up 

I then Copy the files from the live site to the new test site - images are there now but the styling is all messed up. 

I reinstalled the theme -  site looks exactly like the live site BUT I cant do anything I cant login as a user, view a topic. I keep getting this error for every single thing I click 

"The requested URL /login/ was not found on this server."

I know Im doing something really wrong so Im hoping one of you have done this before and can help me out. 

 

Thanks for all the help. 

[opentype]

You don’t need to do another install. You just clone the database and the files. Then you need to adjust the settings in the config file so the new file path and database settings are working. If you have problems with URLs, it might be your htaccess file. You might also need to clear the cache once you managed to access the ACP. 

[supernal]

Have you enabled mod_rewrite for Apache? 

[Thomas P]

This process is pretty straightforward:

1. Copy Forum Directory (cp -r source target)
2. Backup and Restore forum database (mysqldump & mysql insert)
3. Edit the following files to reflect the new directory, database etc. like e.g. cache server:
.htaccess
config.php
constants.php
conf_global.php

You should protect the new directory via htaccess as test sites should not be publicly reachable. Please keep in mind to change the license and add -TESTINSTALL.
You are entitled to have one (1) copy of your live forums. Be sure to prevent your second test site from sending emails to users.

[United We Stand]

Changing the htaccess solved the URL issue for me. Thanks guys for the help.

I also cleared the cache to fix the graphics error I was having in the Admin panel.