I am trying to setup a local version of a website that is live, I have downloaded the files and database and believe it is all ready and sorted, but I am having an issue whereby the site is trying to force HTTPS and so all browsers are reporting ‘This site can’t provide a secure connection,
localhost sent an invalid response.’.
What is the way to handle this? Am I supposed to try to install a certificate?
I am running MAMP for the apache and mysql servers.
WordPress keeps WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL in DB, this is set during initial installation and usually is the domain of your website, in your case it is a domain with https.
Your visiting site via local domain, but WordPress redirects to https live domain, causing redirect loop which obviously fails.
To fix this, change WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL values in DB.
Or simply add this to wp-config.php:
define('WP_HOME','http://domain.local');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://domain.local');
Also remember that your browser is caching redirects aggressively. You need to clean cache to see results, or use browser incognito mode.