WordPress is a fun blogging software, and if you are one of those who like to try new things on your WordPress blog, it’s always a good idea to get a local installation of WordPress on your system. You can use it to try new WordPress plugin, making changes in your theme and many more task. Infact, if you have seen WordPress videos on my Youtube channel, you would notice all the videos are created on local WordPress installation.
We have been talking about self hosted WordPress a lot, though many BlogSpot users still feel WordPress as alien platform because they are not familiar with it. To get familiar with WordPress, you can start by creating a free account on WordPress.com or you can install WordPress on your computer to test it on Local environment. Benefits of installing WordPress locally:
- Familiar with WordPress
- Familiar with database
- Make changes locally and then make changes on your online blog
- Local test platform.
To start with local WordPress installation, you need to download a software name WAMP. And also download Latest release of WordPress.
How to install WordPress on WAMP:
Using WAMP to install WordPress on localhost needs little bit of technical knowledge, you can also look into instant WordPress, which is a stand alone software for using WordPress on your desktop.
So, lets get started with our tutorial:
1 Install WAMP
In the PHPmail option while installing WAMP, leave it as it is
2. Now extract the WordPress.zip. Create a folder under C:\wamp\www name it as WordPress copy all the files and folders under WordPress folder in C:\wamp\www
3. Start WAMP and start all the services by left clicking on it in the task bar.
4. Open http://localhost/
5. Click on Phpmyadmin and create a database for your WordPress install.
6. Open http://localhost/wordpress and click on create a configuration file.
Now Enter the details as mentioned.
- Database name : Database name you have created (wordpress)
- Username : root
- Password : Leave it blank
- database host : Keep it default (Localhost)
- Database prefix : Keep it default (wp_)
Click on Submit. On next screen click on Run setup
On the next screen add Blog title and Email. Search visibility will not matter here as we are working on Local environment.
On the next page , copy the password and save it. Click on login and login with the password in the screen and user name as admin.
Viola! You have just created a local WordPress test environment using WAMP. You can also use XAMPP to install WordPress locally, but I prefer WAMP over XAMPP. If you are setting up a test server for your team, you can grab unlimited web hosting like Bluehost and install more blogs in sub-domain or sub-directory and use it for testing. For personal use, you should use WAMP or instant WordPress to get WordPress blog on your local Windows computer.
If you are using Mac, you can refer to: Tutorial to install WordPress locally on Mac using MAMP
If you are stuck anywhere or find issue with installing WordPress using WAMP, do let me know via comments. You can also refer to our WordPress guide for more such tutorials. If you find this guide useful, do share it on Facebook and Twitter.
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Article by Harsh Agrawal
Harsh has written 1206 articles.
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{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
It is really great to have a local installation of Wordpress, for some new experiments. Whenever I have to do some changes on Internet Techies, I usually do it on my local copy and then load the entire changes to production.
This step by step guide is very useful for new serious bloggers, you making out a good collection.
I have adopted same methodology for years now. WAMP on my local to play around with customizations. Saves a lot of effort.
I one among those people who still feel wordpress as alien platform because I am very afraid of paying penalty in search traffic and other parameters. But i decided to change my blog from blogger to wordpress after seeing this awesome post, please help me in changing to new platforn
I am currently using Xampp to create a simulated environment , I will surely give this is a try, looks like a purely user driven without manual intervention which is required in XAmpp.
Problem I faced with Xampp is that i was not able to run it as windows service, i hope this can run in background as the windows service.
Thanks for sharing such a nice post.
As I am learning Wordpress and I have accounts in many free hosting websites like 000webhosting and x10hosting but they are full of errors and some of them disabled my account without any reason.
I really need this type of Local hosting.
Thanks harsh
woot that was so well explained, going to try this tonight. I was always looking for something like this to test theme modifications offline.
Really very useful info harsh… will help a lot in initially experimenting on the local machine and then hitting over the net.
I’ve tried installing wordpress using Xampp, but the problem is that .htaccess don’t seem to work ther… [not only for wordpress, i had this problem for all scripts using htaccess.]
due to this, custom perma links never works in xampp…
does htaccess work for WAMP?
I haven’t Tested This!
I used xampplite for local Installation of wordpress..
and everything was working fine.. but once i installed ISI server in My Comp.. the default localhost(port number 80) was occupied by Microsoft.. so it used to redirect to diff path…
after searching for help, i got an answer that we are required to configure the port number other than 80 in config file….
does the same applies to wamp?
Typo, it is IIS Server (not ISI)
Yes. You need to change port number for apachy server.Go to C:\xampp\apache\conf and open httpd.conf file and and search for
Listen 80
Instead of 80 you can give some other port number like 81,82 etc.
hi thanx for ur great tips but i hve one prob i have done everything right according to ur steps but wen i login from wordpress.com it showing my old blog and old themes and post its nt showing my orginal blog which i hve created using localhost/wordpress all the changes i hve made its nt showing on wordpress.com and and when i login from localhost/wordpress it doesnt show me my website address it shows link like this localhost/wordpress only so pls tel wat shuld i do?
Import your blog to local wordpress.
I have setup wamp and I was able to setup a new install of wordpress using wamp. How can I run my online blog (all files + database) on my localhost so I can work on it then upload new changes. I tried importing the database, but I can’t get the contents to load.
Thanks for your help.
You can fix by go into Setting in Dashboard, then change WordPress Address and Site URL with your local IP.
Great howto on installing WP locally. The nice and big screenshots help a lot, making the step by step process very easy to follow. Well done.
It’s extremely useful and faster to handle the code before uploading. If you want some hacks for theMy SQL, installing Navicat or MySQL Query Browser may ease the work.
The problem I have is that I can´t save changes in header.php while working with wordpress localy in wamp. Why is that? Please help me
Great post! I’ve wondered about this, as I do a lot of coding on the move & travelling. Bookmarked & will be implemented
I also use Wampserver to install it locally, very useful especially when you want to try plug in or create your own template. Thanks for this post!
Before seeing this article it was looking big trouble to install wordpress, but thank god it’s working now!
Really well written post!
Harsh
Many thanks for a clear and informative Tutorial. As a recent newbie of 3 months and playing with Wordpress I realised I had to do a local install to really test before going live with a launch.
I thought this was going to be a nightmare – not at all. thanks again and as a small compensation I bought a ebook through one of your links. Rik
I got following erros and can not login.
Deprecated: Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-settings.php on line 520
Deprecated: Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-settings.php on line 535
Deprecated: Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-settings.php on line 542
Deprecated: Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-settings.php on line 578
Deprecated: Function set_magic_quotes_runtime() is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-settings.php on line 18
/** The Database Collate type. Don’t change this if in doubt. */ define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”); /**#@+ * Authentication Unique Keys. * * Change these to different unique phrases! * You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ WordPress.org secret-key service} * * @since 2.6.0 */ define(‘AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); define(‘SECURE_AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); define(‘LOGGED_IN_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); define(‘NONCE_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); /**#@-*/ /** * WordPress Database Table prefix. * * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique * prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please! */ $table_prefix = ‘wp_’; /** * WordPress Localized Language, defaults to English. * * Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the chosen * language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install * de.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to ‘de’ to enable German * language support. */ define (‘WPLANG’, ”); /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ /** WordPress absolute path to the Wordpress directory. */ if ( !defined(‘ABSPATH’) ) define(‘ABSPATH’, dirname(__FILE__) . ‘/’); /** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */ require_once(ABSPATH . ‘wp-settings.php’); ?>
i installed WPMU on my WAMP.
So, how should i mange URL here which are managed by htaccess file ?
hey Anurag
I have not tried WPMU on Wamp.. Let me give it a shot sometime soon and I will come up with answer…
Hmm and i am still having issues with this. Is it possible for you to hit me up on mail. I already wrote you on twitter.
Its very clear and simple explanation. I have tried and now installed the wordpress on my computer offline. Thank you for your guide.
great tutorial. i was able to get everything installed with ease.
how do i get WP to recognize the new Pages I created on the localhost. i’ve published the new Pages via the Pages dashboard, but when I reload the site in a separate browser tab i get an error that the link is broken. Am I missing something?
Thanks Mr. Harsh .I find this article very helpful.
Finally after so many efforts I got WordPress Installed on my PC.
Thanks Harsh , am already using LAMP on my ubuntu system , now just istalled wordpress using WAMP in my windows
Thanks for the nice and easy tutorial, work perfect first time, like all good tutorials and do not leave having to guest any of the stages, again like a good tutorials.
Thanks.
I’m short of words. But you’re the BOMB!!! You just saved me many years of confusion trying to install Wordpress locally. All these while, someone would help me with the installation. But now, I’ve done it myself for the first time, after about three years. In fact, you’re the man! I feel like I’m flying over the moon! Thumbs up for the expert! CCChhHeeEEEEErrrrRRRRRRRsssssS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was trying to follow someone else’s install tutorial for the last few hours and no success. Tried yours and all went fast and smooth.
From extreme frustration to bliss in about 5 minutes.
Many thanks.
Thank you soooo much! my friend, i have tried to install wordpress using wamp but invain for two weeks man!
Most advice could not work but you know the secret. To leave out the password blank and username: root.
Now i shoutyouloud, Yeeee!
That was it.
regards
Godfrey
I tried to install WordPress on Locally on WAMP but received the error message “Error establishing a database connection”.
My default web browser is Mozilla Firefox.
Please advice.
I have WAMP & a locally hosted blog. I can view my blog in WAMP, through localhost but I cannot update the theme and until I deleted my .htacess file, I couldn’t see images either. This has led to me needing to upload the blog live, which as you can imagine isn’t idea, especially when I have a copy on my hard drive.
Please help and thanks in advance.
can you explain how to do the same on Linux ?
@Sreekanth You can find tutorial for all popular OS’s here: http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Installation_Techniques
I have to give you props man. This is the easiest and most simple install to do. I used to do a lot of my testing just using a sub domain but this makes things a lot more clean and does not hog my hosting servers. Plus, there is no rush to get a project done. I can work on it in more detail.
Total install took less than 4 minutes.
Harsh Try this
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/duplicator/
This plugin you don’t need to do any of this if cloning just create package of live website download it and run step by step of php script and your site will be cloned on local in a minute. I tried it and works for me. Let me know if works for others.
@Rajesh
Just saw the video demo of this plugin, and it looks impressive. Will give it a try