I'm starting to help on the development of a Drupal based site and I got the files for the site on a zipped folder.
I can import the files into Acquia Desktop and it gives me no error and runs the server. However, when I go to the site, it behaves as if it was a new install of Drupal, negating all the work done before.
Is there a middle step before importing into Acquia that I don't know?
Thank you!
So, to make it official, if Drupal is offering you new install that means that something is wrong with database. Either it's empty or database account information is not correct or something like that.
When you are moving database, you can do it with backup&migrate module (if you want to do all the job from back-end interface).
Or you can use PhpMyAdmin or similar tool to move database to new server. Or you can do it straight from console (shell). In both ways you would have to adjust /sites/all/default/settings.php file with new database user account info.
When moved to new environment check also if all paths needed by drupal to be writable are really writable. Go to Configuration -> Media -> Filapaths and click "Save configuration". If some path is not writable it will get red outline, so you have to make it writable.