It’s always a good idea to create a local WordPress site. Whether you’re just getting started with WordPress or you’re ready to build a new website, a native WordPress installation provides the perfect place to play, try out a variety of themes and plugins, and learn all about the world’s most popular CMS. So, in this article we will show you How to install WordPress locally on your Windows operating system using the XAMPP open source development environment.
Before we begin, you should know that a local WordPress site will only appear on the computer you installed it on. A local WordPress installation is not publicly available like a live site. Instead, only you will have access to it, which is why it’s so convenient to learn about WordPress and try out its different features without fear of making mistakes or creating something less than perfect.
Now that we’ve said that, let’s see how exactly to install XAMPP and install WordPress locally.
Installing XAMPP on a Windows Computer
First step Download XAMPP and install it on your computer. To do this, simply go to: Apache Friends Click on the website and “XAMPP for Windows” connection.
After the download is complete you will need to run the newly downloaded file for the XAMPP installer to launch.
If you have an antivirus program running, you may receive a pop-up message like:
Simply click Yeah and continue with the installation.
You may also receive a User Account Control (UAC) message. if you do, click OK continue.
After you receive all pre-installation messages and warnings, you should see the following prompt to start the installation process:
click Next.
The following screen should offer the option to select the components to install. To use WordPress with XAMPP, along with the necessary components you will have to choose:
Any other component is optional. After selecting the components you want, Next.
Now select the folder where you want to install XAMPP. You can create or use an existing folder in the C:\ directory. We will leave the default way we suggest you too.
For the purposes of this article, on the next screen, we will uncheck “Learn more about Bitnami for XAMPP” as we will be installing WordPress manually without using the Bitnami program. After unchecking this option Next.
XAMPP will now be ready to load all the files you specified earlier.
by clicking Next Once again the installation process will begin. Please be patient, it may take a few minutes to complete depending on the number of packages you choose to install.
After the installation is complete, “Do you want to launch the Control Panel now?” checkbox selected and click Come to an end. If for some reason you need to start XAMPP differently, you can navigate to the XAMPP folder in the selected installation directory and open the “XAMPP Control Panel” file.
When the Control Panel opens for the first time, it will ask you to select your preferred language. You can choose between English and German. After choosing your preference, Save button.
You should now see XAMPP’s Control Panel screen.
You can click the start buttons for Apache and MySQL to check if everything is working properly. If everything is set up properly, both components should work fine. However, if they don’t start, there may be a problem with Skype or a similar program using the same ports as the XAMPP modules. In this case you need to close the conflicting applications and restart XAMPP.
Fly. We can give you very helpful advice on how to switch your PHP resources in XAMPP and leave more power to your local server. This is especially necessary when you install a premium theme on your local installation. When you first open XAMPP, you have to click on it. configuration button for Apache server and choose to open php.ini file in the drop-down menu.
After that, in your default text editor, you will see all the relevant settings for PHP resources in that file. All you have to do is change the following resources to the specified values:
max_execution_time=300 memory_limit=128M upload_max_filesize=128M post_max_size=256M max_input_vars=5000
Once you have added the new values, save the changes and restart your XAMPP by stopping and restarting Apache and MySQL.
Once all components are working properly, open your preferred browser and visit http://localhost.
Download WordPress files
Now it’s time to add WordPress to our newly created localhost website. What you need to do first Download the latest version of WordPress from official website.
After the download is complete you will need to navigate to the folder where you installed XAMPP (in our case this was the default installation path – C:\xampp). From there, you need to find and open it. htdocs Folder:
In htdocs, create a WordPress folder for your site. The name of this folder will be the subname used to access your WordPress site. For example, if you name the folder newsite, you’ll access your site by going to: http://localhost/newsite in your preferred browser.
After creating the folder, open it and extract the WordPress.zip file you downloaded earlier.
Creating a Database for WordPress
Next, you need to create a MySQL database for your local WordPress site. To do this, start phpMyAdmin from your XAMPP control panel by clicking the executive Button for MySQL component:
The phpMyAdmin browser page will open in your default browser. Here, just click new Link to create a database for your WordPress site.
Enter a name for your database and in the second field blend choice. Click now Create. You can name your database whatever you want – remember the name you chose because you will need it in the next steps.
After all this is done, you need to restart the simulated web server. To do this go to XAMPP Control Panel and Stop Button for Apache and MySQL. Next, press Beginning Press the button again for the changes to take effect.
Installing WordPress Locally
Now that you have installed XAMPP, copied the WordPress files and created a database, http://localhost/newsite it should show the WordPress installation wizard in your preferred browser.
Select the language you want to use and Continue.
The next screen will ask you to recall the information from the database you created earlier. You can continue to the next part of the installation by clicking the button. Let’s go! button.
Here you need to enter the following information exactly and then click. To send:
After that, you should see the welcome screen for the famous five-minute WordPress installation process.
Fill in the fields with your site details such as your site title, email address. Click “Install WordPress” when you are done.
Congratulations! You are now ready to work natively with XAMPP and WordPress to develop your site. If you need to install WordPress on XAMPP in the future, we hope this tutorial helps.
