Before pushing any website to the Internet, it’s a good practice to install it first on a localhost. That way, you can test, debug, modify the site and the content as much as you like.
Installing a WordPress site is not any different. When you are comfortable with the current version of the website, you can place it online.
In the last blog post, we have a look at using WordPress with wordpress.com and wordpress.org. Let’s continue today with installing wordpress.org on a localhost.
What is a localhost?
Simply saying, a local server is a developing environment in which you host website projects in your own computer or in any local machine. And the project will not yet be accessible online. In other words, setting up a local server allows you to test, debug, and modify the website in an offline manner.
A local server provides you with the similar hosting environment as the web host’s server. There are a number of local web server for different operating platforms such as MAMPP, XAMPP, WAMP.
In this blog post, I use XAMPP.
Installing WordPress on the localhost step by step
- Step 1: Download WordPress from wordpress.org. Visit the site and hit the button Download WordPress.
- Step 2: Unzip the file downloaded. It comes up with a folder named “wordpress”, which contains a lot of folder and file inside. This folder is the root folder which we will use.
- Step 3: Open XAMPP Control Panel, hit the buttons Start in line with Apache and MySQL. Because in order to run WordPress we need both server and the database service.
- Step 4: Create a new database for the wordpress project. Press the button Admin next to MySQL in the XAMPP Control Panel. This brings you to the database center where you can create a new database. Follow the video to create a new one.
- Step 5: Copy the root folder in step 2 into the folder C:/xampp/htdocs/
- Step 6: Go to your browser and type localhost/wordpress or hit the Admin button in line with Apache from the XAMPP Control Panel. Choose wordpress from the Admin page opening with your browser. Please notice, if you rename the folder “wordpress” after downloading it, the URL will also come up with the new name.
- Step 7: If you successfully land on the WordPress setup page, follow the video below to finish the registration phrase. This phrase includes choosing language, connecting to the database and registering the first website information.
Notice: installing WordPress on XAMPP allows you to fill in the database information with username: root and no password, but for another local hosting, this information may be different. So please remember to check the server development page for an exact answer.
Video on installing WordPress on a local server
Link on Youtube: Installing WordPress on a local server