Install WordPress On Your Computer

To have WordPress installed locally on your computer is a blessing. You can try out new themes and plugins and other things without messing around with your real online blog. I enjoy it because it is fun too. It allows me to test things I never would dream about to test on my online blogs. It is really simple to install WordPress on your computer and one of the most practical things you can do.

In this short easy-to-follow tutorial you will learn how to install WordPress locally on your computer. We will do the installation in the following order:

• Downloading Softwares
• Installation of XAMPP Lite
• Starting the XAMPP Lite
• Setting up MySQL Database
• Create a WordPress database user
• Installing WordPress

The installation of XAMPP Lite is really simple - a tutorial for that is almost not necessary, but it is here for reference reasons and you need only to read that part (The Installation of XAMPP Lite) if you run in to some problems.

Install WordPress On Your Computer Video Tutorials

This video tutorial in two parts on how to install WordPress on your Windows computer using XAMPP Lite teach out a slightly different method to make the installation.

• How to Run WordPress on Your Windows Computer Using XAMPP - Part 1
• How to Run WordPress on Your Windows Computer Using XAMPP - Part 2

One main difference is that the author chooses to make the XAMPP installation without the Installer and that is a bit more complicated (but not much more). If you feel for that, use the method in the video tutorial. Or use the videos like a reference.

The Downloads You Need

You need to download the following two softwares (links below). They are both free and can be downloaded without any prior registration.

WordPress Publishing Platform
WordPress is an open source blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL which can also be used for basic content management. It has many features including a user-friendly workflow, a rich plugin architecture, and an advanced templating system.

XAMPP For Windows - XAMPP Lite
XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is very easy to use as well. Be sure to download the XAMPP Lite version, with the handy automatic installer (EXE), of the software.

That’s all you need to download. You are now ready to begin the installation.

The Installation of XAMPP Lite

The easiest way to install XAMPP Lite is to use the self-extracting archive - you can see images HERE. If you by some reason chose to install the XAMPP Lite without the installer, then you have instructions HERE

Installation

• Start the EXE file by double clicking on it (if you saved the archive before), choose a directory and click on “Install”.
• The first dialog box: asks you to select which language you prefer, select your language.
• The next dialog you will see is the first page of the XAMPP Setup Wizard - click next.
• The third dialog: choose a directory or destination for the installation - click next.
• The next dialog is the XAMPP Options dialog box. Choose install Apache and MySQL services - if you want you can also choose to create desktop icon and a folder in the start menu. Click Install.

You are now finished with the XAMPP Lite installation. The next you will do is to start up your Apache and MySQL services.

Starting the XAMPP Lite

To start up your Apache and MySQL services, do the following:

• Open the xampplite folder. You should be seeing a screen with these files:



• Double click on the file with the name “xampp-control”.
• The control panel looks like this:



• Click the Start button beside Apache. If you get a Windows Firewall warning: choose Unblock.
• Click the Start button beside MySQL. If you get a Windows Firewall warning: choose Unblock. If everything works, the control Panel log updated with “Running” with a green background besides the Apache and MySQL services.

You have now started the XAMPP Lite. You can test if it works by opening your browser and navigate to localhost using the following path: http://localhost.

More to read: XAMPP for Windows - The Installation

Setting Up A MySQL Database For WordPress

The easy way to create a MySQL database would be to use phpMyAdmin (it comes with the XAMPP Lite package).

• Navigate to phpMyAdmin through your web browser. The URL is: http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
• Create a WordPress database by entering in a name (In this tutorial we call it wordpress_db) and click the Create button. You can use the values exactly as they are on the image.

You have now created a database with the name “wordpress_db”.

Create a WordPress database user

• Go to phpMyAdmin home by either clicking on the logo on the top left or clicking on the home icon.
• Click on the Privileges tab and then click on “Add a New User”.
• For the User name field, type in any name, this tutorial uses “example_user”.
• For Host, select Local.
• See the image below on how to fill in your information. Click on “Generate” next to Generate Password.



• Write down the User name and Password you used, because you will need them later.
• Set the Global Privileges of “example_user”. For this local installation – just check all of them.
• Click the Go button to create the database user. You should now see a confirmation that you have created the user successfully.

Add your newly created user to the database you created earlier by in the “Database-specific privileges” fieldset, in the “Add privileges on the following database” field, selecting “wordpress\_db”.

You should now be finished with your MySQL Database setup.

More to read: phpMyAdmin - Documentation

Installing WordPress On Your Computer

• Unzip (extract) the WordPress ZIP file you downloaded and move the entire contents into the “htdocs” folder inside the XAMPP Lite folder.
• Inside the WordPress folder, open wp-config-sample.php file using your favorite text editor.
• Fill in the information with your own database information like, for example, this:

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress_db');
/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'example_user');
/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'TypeYourPasswordHere');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

• Save your configurations like “wp-config.php” (not “wp-config-sample.php”).

Open your browser and navigate to the install script: http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php. If you did install correctly, you should now see the WordPress welcome screen. Follow the instructions given by your WordPress installation.

You are now finished with installing WordPress on your computer.

More to read: Getting Started with WordPress