How to install Wordpress

I have seen many people asking for help on the internet on how to install Wordpress so I thought that I would create a post that would hopefully be a good enough explanation for first timers.  This blog assumes that you already have hosting and a domain name setup.  If you don’t, we can help with that.  Just send us a request for hosting and/or domain name and we can set one up for you.  Before we get started there are a few tools that you need.

• FTP client – I recommend FileZilla.  It’s best feature is how easy it is to use.  It works on multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X).  Also, it’s FREE!!!
• Text editor – I recommend Notepad++ for this.  It understands many programming languages and can help with syntax highlighting.  Also, it’s FREE!!!
• Zip extractor – I recommend 7-Zip.  Also, it’s FREE!!!

There are 3 main steps to setting up your Wordpress site:

Step 1 – Create a database

Login to the control panel of you hosting provider and select the option to create a new MySQL database.  Setup a userid to have full access to this new database.  Depending on the provider your web server may be able to access the database by the host name of “localhost” or it may have to use the full name like “mysql123.hostingcompany.com” (this will be important during the next step).  Make sure to take note of the Database Name, username that you gave full access to, password of the DB user, and the hostname of the DB server because this information will be used in step 2.

Step 2 – Upload the Wordpress code

You can get a copy of the latest version of Wordpress here.  You will need to download this to your local computer and then unzip the contents to it’s own folder using 7-Zip mentioned above.  Once 7-Zip is installed you can just right-click on the zip file and there will be a new 7-Zip option, then choose ‘extract here’.

Next, find the wp-config-sample.php file and rename it to wp-config.php.  Edit this file with Notepad++ mentioned above and modify the following lines:

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘dbname‘); // The name of the database
define(’DB_USER’, ‘dbusername‘); // Your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘dbpassword‘); // …and password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to change this value

Replace the variables ‘dbname‘ with the name of the database, ‘dbusername‘ with the username that you gave full access to the database, ‘dbpassword‘ with the password of the DB userid you created, and ‘localhost’ only if your web server needs to access the database remotely (you might have to ask your provider).  Note: do not replace the tics ‘ marks on either side of the variable.

Now your ready to upload the files, but where you put them depends on whether you are planning on using Wordpress for your entire website (http://www.example.com) or install Wordpress as a subsection (http://www.example.com/wordpress).  Most people just use Wordpress for their entire site, which I also recommend.  If you want Wordpress to be your main site just upload the content to the root of your domain.  So, the directories in your root should be wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes, along with other numerous files and any other files/folders that were provided by default by your hosting provider.

Step 3 – Finish the install

Hang in there, you’re almost done.  Now, you need to open the browser of your choice (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) and go to http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php.  Of course, replace “yourdomain.com” with the name of the domain where you are installing Wordpress.  It’s amazing, but that’s all there is to the install.  Make sure that you write down the password that presented at the end of the install so because that’s the only id/password to manage the install.  If, for some reason, you didn’t write it down or lose it later you can always go into the MySQL database and change the password.  I wrote a blog How to recover lost Wordpress Admin password or E-mail.

Post setup steps

I have written a few blogs about some additional steps that most installations will need after the first login.  I will list some of them below.  I will also be adding more to the list over time.

• Using permalinks to make your posts SEO friendly
• How to change “posted by admin” in your Wordpress theme
• How to widgetize your Wordpress theme

Filed Under: Wordpress