Learn How to Install WordPress on Your Windows PC Using WAMP
Are you a WordPress developer or a blogger who wants to test a new theme or plugin offline? If yes, then you must be looking for a way to install WordPress on your PC. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install WordPress on your Windows PC using WAMP.
WAMP is a free software that allows you to install and use WordPress on your PC without an active internet connection. So, let’s get started.
Step 1: Installing WAMP
The first step is to download and install the latest version of WAMP. During the installation process, keep clicking on the “Next” button until you see the “Finish” button. Here are some tips to keep in mind during the installation process:
– It’s better to leave the default installation directory unaltered i.e. “c:/wamp”
– During installation, a prompt will ask you for a “default browser”. It’s explorer.exe. Simply click on “Open” as shown in the screenshot.
– Click “Yes” when a prompt for “installing the new WampServer 2 homepage” pops up.
– Add an exception to your firewall for Apache HTTP Server.
– Let the SMTP and Email be set as the default values.
– Once the installation is complete, check the “Launch WampServer 2 now” box and click on “Finish”.
Step 2: Making Sure WAMP is Running
To ensure that WAMP server is running, check the color of the WAMP icon (capital W icon) in your taskbar. Here are the possible situations:
– If the W icon is Red then WAMP server is not running and is offline. You will have to restart the sever or reboot your PC.
– If it is Orange, then the server is partially running, i.e. Apache (you web server) is running and the MySQL service is booting or is offline. You should usually wait around 30 seconds and if the icon still doesn’t turn Green then you should restart the server.
– If it is Green then it means that the server is online and should be accessible from your web browser.
To test if your server’s running, open your favorite browser and enter “localhost” or “127.0.0.1” in the address bar and see what comes up. You should get a message saying “WampServer Homepage”.
Step 3: Create a New Database Using phpMyAdmin
Left-click on the WAMP server icon and select phpMyAdmin (second one from the top). A new tab/window should open up in your default browser called phpMyAdmin. Select the “Databases” tab.
Enter your desired database name under “Create a database” (e.g. “yoursitename_wp”) and click on the “Create” button. If successful, you should get a message saying “Database created”.
Step 4: Download & Extract WordPress
Close phpMyAdmin, head over to WordPress.org and download the WordPress.zip file. Once you do this, extract the contents of the WordPress ZIP archive under “C:WAMPwww”. You should find a new folder called “wordpress”. That’s the WordPress installation directory. If you want to change it – that’s fine. Your WordPress installation will be available under “http://localhost/folder-name”. Thus in our case, it’s “http://localhost/wordpress”.
Step 5: Configuring Your WordPress Installation
In this part, we shall establish a connection to the MySQL database we created in Step 3.
Open your browser and type “http://localhost/wordpress” in the address bar. Click on “Create a Configuration file”. On the next page, click on “Let’s Go”.
Fill in the details carefully:
– Database name: yoursitename_wp
– User name: root
– Password: (leave it blank)
– Database Host: localhost
– Table Prefix: xs_ (The default is wp_ but it’s a good security practice to use some other table prefix)
Click “Submit”. If the database connection is successful, then you should get a message saying “All right, sparky! You’ve made it through this part of the installation.”
WordPress then creates the necessary tables in the “yoursitename_wp” database. In the following step, enter your Site Title, Username, Password and the rest of the required data. You should leave the Privacy button unchecked (because we don’t want search engines to index our site in a developmental or experimental stage) and click on “Install WordPress”.
And you’re done! There you have it! A fully working offline installation of WordPress in your Windows PC using WAMP.
Happy offline blogging!
Leave Some Feedback
Let us know how the WAMP install went for you, or if you have any other tips or tricks, in the comments section below.
