How to Install WordPress On Localhost?
Installing WordPress on localhost is very straightforward.
The important thing to remember is that WordPress itself does not run directly on your local machine. It requires a web server, PHP, and a database (MySQL is a popular choice) for proper operations. The combination of these components creates the environment in which WordPress operates.
Typically, the process of building a WordPress environment consists of the following steps:
- Setup the environment
- Download a stable WordPress version
- Install WordPress on the localhost
Install WordPress on Windows
This section covers the WordPress installation on Windows operating system. The following steps demonstrate how to set up and configure a virtual host on Windows 10 using XAMPP.
Step 1: Download XAMPP and WordPress
Before downloading WordPress, it is important to set up the proper environment it runs in. On Windows, this is accomplished by installing XAMPP or WAMP to set up a server – database stack (the industry-favorites are Apache as a web server and MySQL as the database).
In this guide, I will be using XAMPP, downloadable from the Apache website.
You will see various options that work with different PHP versions. I selected the options that work best with the latest PHP version.
Once the download finishes, run it to install XAMPP on your local system. After installation, launch the control panel to view and set the status for Apache, and MySQL.
Starting these two services is necessary for installing WordPress locally.
Step2: Install and Setup WordPress Locally
After setting up the webserver and database, download WordPress setup from the official website.
Move the zip file to the /htdocs folder in the XAMPP directory. Unzip the file and navigate to the project directory.
IMPORTANT: Make sure Apache and MySQL services in the XAMPP control panel are up and running.
Next, visit the phpMyAdmin portal to create the database of your new WordPress site. You will most likely find the portal on the following URL (depending on your port configuration).
Once the database is created, launch the WordPress installation setup by visiting the following URL.
Select the desired language and click ‘Continue’.
On the next screen, follow the steps to add database credentials to the wp-config.php file.
Open wp-config.php file within your favorite code editor and define database credentials as follow:
Save the file and head back to WordPress installation wizard.
Enter the database name, username, and password. You may also define your own table prefix but for now, I am keeping the default value. When finished, click ‘Submit’.
The next screen will confirm the successful database configuration Click ‘Run the installation’ to begin the WordPress installation process.
In the next screen, provide information about your website and set the username and password to access the WordPress dashboard.
Once done, click the ‘Install WordPress’ button. This will show the success message and the button to launch the very well known WordPress dashboard login page.
That’s all you need to do to install WordPress locally on your Windows machine.
What are the Advantages of WordPress?
1. Using WordPress CMS will allow the web admin to edit the pages, navigate over the backend of the web page, upload new content without any high technical skills.
2. WordPress has more than 45,000 plugins for all sort of functionality.
3. WordPress keeps SEO first. It is very easy to perform SEO on WordPress with its numerous SEO related plugin.
4. Most of the WordPress templates and designs are responsive. It gives importance to mobile.
5. It is open-source software, WordPress developers can share the source code online with other programmers too. This will save a lot of time and cost.
What are the Disadvantages of WordPress?
1. Since this CMS is an open-source programme, it unlocks the room to possible hackers.
2. WordPress and its plugins give several updates. Hence, all the plugin needs to be updated manually all the time