How to import a web site

[RemiAdem45]

Hi

I am very new to joomla. I am in charge to administrate a web site made with joomla (I dont know the exact version but it is a 3.xx at least) by an other person.
I am usin Xammpp (v 7.2.7) I have copied the directory of the web site in the htdocs and when I try to acces to the web site it says:

Failed to read session data: user(path C:\xampp\tmp) in C:\xampp\htdocs\adem\libraries\joomla\session\handler\native.php on line 260
Error: Failed to start application: Failed to start the session


If some one can help I will be very greatfull

Remi

[gws]

Use Akeeba back up on the live site and import the .jpa back up file to your local server and then use kickstart.php to extract it and install it on the local server..
https://www.akeebabackup.com/

[RemiAdem45]

I have downloaded and installed Akeeba but it is not working because all I have is the directory of the web site and when I try to log in as an administrator I have the same error.
Is it possible to transfer the web site from files?

[gws]

You need to install akeeba on the live site,make a backup,download the backup file xxxxxx.jpa to your xamp htdocs folder, remove everything else in the htdocs folder and place the kickstart.php and xxxx.jpa files there. In your browser type localhost or 127.0.0.1 and then follow the instructions on the screen.

[RemiAdem45]

I am not sure I can acces the live site, because I am not sure it exists because I think that the person who design it did it localy. But I am going to check that

[Per Yngve Berg]

All I have is the directory of the web site

The content of the site is stored in the database. Without the database, you have nothing.
You can see the credentials of the database in the configuration.php file.

[ThomasGHarris]

Hi RemiAdem45,

Yes, without the database there would be no site and only a bunch of files. Check configuration.php for the database information which is needed, if it doesn't exist you will need to recreate it using a brand new Joomla site.

[Webdongle]

wamp is better than xampp but without a database you have no site.

[RemiAdem45]

The site has never been on a distant server. It has always been in local. I have switched to wamp and I manage to import the data base.
Now I can acces to the identification page. But the password does not work. I have tried to create a new user with phpmyadmin but the passwordfield is encripted and I don't know which encryption protocol has been used.
Is there a way to solve this problem

[Webdongle]

Default database
User: root
Password:
No password ... the password is blank

You need to edit those (as well as the dbprefix) in the configuration.php.

If you create another folder in wamp's /www you can install a fresh Joomla and see what the configuration.php looks like in wamp.

Do you have a .jpa file from the site?

[RemiAdem45]

I have found the solution
Here is what I did:
I created a new joomla web site with a super user
With phpmyadmin I copy the super user data from the table xxxx_users and insert it in the yyyy_users of the imported site
I also add a line in the yyyy_user_usergroup_map as describe below
SQL code:
INSERT INTO yyyy_`user_usergroup_map` ('user_id', 'group_id') VALUES ('nnn','8')
"nnn" is the value of the id field for the super user in the yyyy_users table

The I replace the value of the line $secret = '.......' in the file configure.php of the imported site by the one in the file configure.php of the site I created

I closed everythin and restart my navigator and I was able to connect to my imported site

[Webdongle]

But now you have a database that is a mixture and files that are just Joomla. You do not have the original site.

[ThomasGHarris]

Hi Remi,

You could instead change the super user password to be secret, just follow instructions here: https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F As they already said, the change you did only gave you a mixture of content and it won't work properly.

[RemiAdem45]

But now you have a database that is a mixture and files that are just Joomla. You do not have the original site.

No I have the original site now because the original site was made on a computer I will named A.
I just copy the directory of the site from computer A to my computer.
The only thing that was missing was the content of the database.
That is why I have to import it from the computer A
And then I exported it to my computer.

[RemiAdem45]

Hi Remi,

You could instead change the super user password to be secret, just follow instructions here: https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F As they already said, the change you did only gave you a mixture of content and it won't work properly.

Interresting but MD5 is no more in use since a longtime so method 2 will not work. This is the one I tried.
May be I did not explained very well what I did but I have got the original site an not a mixture

[ThomasGHarris]

Hi Remi,

Strange, this still works for many websites I need to change this. Also, is your website working with no trouble now? Nothing else is needed?

[Webdongle]

If you have the original database then why import it into a database that already has data ?
All you needed to do was
Install Akeeba into the original site (on computer A) then use the backup.jpa to install on the second computer.

or
Copy the files over
Create a new empty database and import the original data into the empty database

The way you explained it sounds like you have connected the files of a fresh Joomla install to the ne database that has old data added.

As you installed the latest Joomla and don't know the version of the original Joomla ... then the database could be a mix.

Please see https://docs.joomla.org/Copying_a_Joomla_website
and consider using wamp instead of xampp.