How to install WordPress on your Windows Computer?

Do you want to install WordPress locally on your Windows computer? It would be a great idea to create a local development website for testing new releases, themes, plugins, and code updates before using them live. 

In this article, we will show you how to install WordPress on your Windows computer and create a local WordPress environment on the computer. We will use XAMPP application to carry out the procedure for the tutorial.

What is XAMPP?

XAMPP is a free, open-source, multi-platform web server software subsystem containing intuitive Apache for creating a web server. It stands for cross-platform (X), Apache (A), MariaDB (M), PHP (P), and Perl (P). 

XAMPP installs everything you need (server application, database and scripting language) to run a local WordPress test server. Besides, you can also use it to create local installations of other websites like Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShop, PHPBB, and OpenCart.

Install XAMPP on your Computer

Since XAMPP is open-source, you can download it for free from the Apache Friends website.

You can find different versions of XAMPP. For the purpose of this tutorial, we installed the PHP 7.3.9 version of XAMPP on Windows. The process is the same for Linux, Mac, and Solaris as well although the layout control panel varies depending on the Operating System.

When the XAMPP is downloaded, run its installation program.

You will get to the XAMPP Setup Wizard that will guide you to the installation. Click the “Next” button.

In the next step, you will need to select the server and program language component that you want to install. By default, all the components are selected.

Now define the location where you want the installation of XAMPP to be placed.

In the next step, you will find a short note about the Bitnami application. You can choose to learn about it or skip it by unchecking it and clicking “Next”.

Now the XAMPP is ready to be installed on your computer. 

It will only take a minute to unpack all the files of XAMPP and install them to the computer.

You may get flagged by your antivirus software (if you have installed an antivirus on your computer.) So, be sure to give it access.

When you are done with the installation, it will ask you to start the control panel now. Simply, tick the box and click on “Finish” button.

Now the XAMPP control panel will open. If everything is fine on the installation, the control panel will look like the one in the image below.

To check if the webserver is working well:

• Open your web browser
• Type http://localhost/
• If the screen like the one below is loaded – it is working perfectly.

To check if the database server is working well: 

• Open your web browser
• Type http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
• If the screen like the one below is loaded – it is working perfectly.

If all is good then that great. 

Now, let’s switch to the next part – the installation of WordPress.

Note: Installation of XAMPP is a “one-time” task. So, if you already have XAMPP pre-installed on your computer, you can skip this part.

Installation of WordPress

Download the latest version of WordPress from WordPress.org.

Unzip the downloaded WordPress in any folder. You can give any name to the unzipped folder. Here, we have given “wptest”.

Copy that folder and go to the XAMPP folder (the location where you have installed XAMPP). Then, open the “htdocs” folder and paste the copied folder there.

Create MySQL Database:

• Run XAMPP Control Panel.
• Start Apache and MySQL
• Click on the “Admin” button of MySQL 

You will be directed to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

Click on databases and create a new database.

Note: The name of the database must be same of the WordPress folder that you have copied on the “htdocs” folder.

Once the database is created, its time to install WordPress on your computer:

• Open your browser.
• Type the name of the database that you have created after http://localhost/. We named the folder and database name “wptest”. So, our link looks like this http://localhost/wptest/.

There, select the language.

Now you will land to the page where you need to submit your database information. 

Always remember, the database name should be exactly the same to what you have set while creating the database.

Note: By default, the username is always root and the password section should be left blank and database host: localhost.

Now click on “Submit” button.

If all your provided information is correct, you will see a screen notifying that the configuration file has been successfully created and you can proceed further.

Click on “Run Installation” button.

Now you will get to the next page where you need to fill the installation form.

The form includes site title, username, password, and email address. You can also discourage the search engine to index the website.

Soon, after the installation is completed, you will receive a success message.

Congratulation, you have successfully installed WordPress on your desktop. 

Further, you can go to the WordPress dashboard by clicking on the “Login” button.

Enter the username and password you have set and enjoy using WordPress.

Conclusion:

This way you can install WordPress locally on windows. Installing WordPress on your computer allows you to create a local testing environment for new templates and plugins before applying them on live website.