Installing WordPress on a local host is a very important step for anyone looking to create and develop a website powered by this popular content management system (CMS).
Setting up a local development environment for your WordPress website is important. Not only does it allow you to experiment, customize, and test your website thoroughly, but it also ensures that any issues are addressed before you deploy your website live on the internet.
With a local development environment, you can safely make changes to your website without affecting the live version. This allows you to work worry-free and get your website up and running as smoothly as possible.
This process provides a safe and controlled environment for learning, designing, and refining a website’s features without affecting its online presence.
In this guide, I will guide you through the steps involved in installing WordPress on a local host, allowing you to embark on your web development journey with confidence and creativity.
Table of Contents
What is WordPress?
Before guiding you through the steps of installing WordPress on a local host it is important to note what WordPress actually is.
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that is written in PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) and also paired with MySQL or Maria database as the case may be.
It is accessible and integrated into it are themes whose features include a plugin architecture and a template system.
Themes are a group of files containing codes, graphics and stylesheets. Themes dictate the overall appearance of a website.
Most of the popular websites in the world were created using WordPress; it powers a very large number of blogs and websites.
WordPress is the most popular way to create e-commerce websites.
Websites like:
- Blogs
- Portfolios
- Business sites
- Social network sites
- E-commerce websites and so on,
Can be created using WordPress and in an easier way when compared to web development.
What is XAMPP
XAMPP is a local host software that allows you to create and run a website from your computer. Once you properly set up this software, you can start a new WordPress installation with just a few steps.
Without further waste of time, I’ll take you directly into the steps to successfully install XAMPP and also set up a WordPress development site in localhost
Steps to installing XAMPP
Step 1: Download XAMPP
Downloading XAMPP is the first step in installing WordPress locally.
There are many sites where you can download XAMPP from google. All you need to do is to find the one that is more appropriate for you.
The file size varies depending on the site although it ranges from 110 MB to at least 150MB. You can download the XAMPP windows installer from Apache friends.
Step 2: Installing XAMPP on your PC
Once the download finishes, click on the XAMPP windows installer that you downloaded to initiate the installation process.
Now, depending on your windows configuration, a User Account Control (UAC) might show on your installation interface; just continue through that after which you will see a standard installer screen:
Click on next to continue, it’s a straightforward installation process.
However, on the next screen, you will have the opportunity to choose which component to install. It depends on your requirements but to install both XAMPP and WordPress, the only features you need in addition to the required features are:
- MySQL and
- PHPMyAdmin
Click on the Next button and follow the installation process until you have successfully installed XAMPP on your computer. The installation process might take a few minutes to finish.
Step 3: Starting the XAMPP modules and testing the server
To install WordPress on a local host you will need to run 2 modules
- Apache
- MySQL
You can start both from the XAMPP control panel:
Once you click on both of them, their status will change to green as you can see above.
To test that your local server is working properly, Click on the admin portion of the MySQL module and if all things work well it will secure a working connection and you will have a working XAMPP server ready for a WordPress installation.
Installing WordPress on a local host
To do this you will need to download WordPress manually. First, visit wordpress.org and download the latest version of WordPress.
It normally comes as a zip file, unzip it to get the WordPress folder.
Then, in your windows, locate the folder where you installed your XAMPP.
Note: the folder path should be like this or similar to this, c:\xampp. Click on the folder to expose its contents, locate and click on the htdocs sub-folder:
Open the htdocs subfolder and create a new folder inside. Now go back to your unzipped WordPress folder, open it and copy the contents. Empty the contents in the folder you created in the htdocs sub-folder in XAMPP.
You can repeat this step if you want to install more than one WordPress in your XAMPP folder.
Creating a database for the WordPress
To do this, you will need to launch PHPmyAdmin from the XAMPP control panel by turning on the Apache and MySQL modules and clicking on the admin portion for the MySQL module.
Doing this will prompt you to a page that looks like this:
Click on databases and create a database for the WordPress that you will install.
you mustn’t forget the name of the database as you will need it for the WordPress installation process.
Installing WordPress on a Local Host Using the On-Screen Installer
After creating the database for WordPress, open a new tab from your browser and input this http://localhost/FOLDERNAME.
Note: The folder name should be the name of the folder you created in XAMPP under the htdocs subfolder.
If done properly, it will prompt you to a new page that has the WordPress logo and some other information. Here you are only required to read through the info after which you will click on the let’s go button at the bottom left.
If you click on the button this is what you will see:
Fill in the above information like this:
- Database name = the name of the database you created in PHPMyAdmin
- Username = “root”
- Password = should be left blank
And submit.
After submission, a page will be opened for you to install WordPress normally just click on “Run installation”.
Upon completing this process, you will see that your WordPress will be installed perfectly. With this, you are ready to start working on your site.
for more guide on this watch the video below
READ ALSO: WordPress Debug Mode
Conclusion
If you follow the steps above correctly your setup should be up and running.
subsequent installing WordPress on a local host will be much easier once you learn how to install XAMPP and WordPress for the first time.
