Loading A Site Backup In Xampp (Joomla 1.5)

[joom]

I need some help or if someone can redirect me where to go or a link. What I am trying to do is load up a backup of my site which is done in joomla 1.5 i have also done a backup of my databases from my hosting client. Now I have no troubles at all loading joomla 1.5 or joomla 1.7 (originals downloaded from joomla's webpage) but I cant load the saved backup of my actual joomla 1.5 site.

Now what I am trying to accomplish is load my backup copy of my site thats in joomla 1.5 so I can try to do the upgrade to joomla 1.7. I would like to do this in xampp to make sure that my site is compatible to work in 1.7.

If there is a tutorial out there can someone please direct me to it. Or maybe someone can provide a tutorial on how to do it with jpeg pics.

Any help advise would be greatly appreciated.