You don’t have to be a geek to install WordPress on your own computer because the process is as simple as installing any other native Windows Application (e.g. Microsoft Office).
Before we get into the actual installation process, let’s look at some reasons why you may want to install a copy of WordPress on your local computer:
#1. You have to buy a web domain and space on a web server to host your WordPress software online. These are however not required if you decide to run WordPress in a local environment.
#2. Even if you have a website and web hosting space, you may still want to run a copy of WordPress on the local computer as it will help you test out new WordPress themes, plug-ins and other tweaks much faster.
#3. Most WordPress hosts offer Linux based servers but with WordPress installed locally, you can try out the features of this powerful blogging software in a more familiar Windows environment.
How to Setup WordPress on your Computer
Though it takes only a couple of easy steps to install the main WordPress software, it can be a bit tricky to install the different services that are required to run WordPress – these include PHP and MySQL. And then you have to manually edit a few files in order to get everything to work.
Luckily, there’s a much simpler solution in town. You can use Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer and, with a few clicks, you will be running a full WordPress install on your computer without doing any complex stuff.
Microsoft Web Platform Installer is a free product designed to make it easy for you to develop and run websites on your Windows PC. It provides a simple wizard where you select the software that you wish to run on your computer, and the installer will automatically select the other programs that are necessary to run to software you just selected (in our case, WordPress). The installer is web-based and it will only download the stuff that you want.
To install WordPress, run the Web Platform Installer, click the “Web Applications” tab on the left side, and then select the “Blogs” tab underneath it. The entries are listed by default in alphabetical order, so you can scroll down to the bottom to find WordPress.
Once you have selected WordPress, click “Install” at the bottom of the window, and all the other tools needed by WordPress such as PHP and MySQL will be automatically added to the install list.
You will now be presented with a window that shows everything that will be installed, and how much data needs to be downloaded; it should be under 70 Mb for a WordPress install. Click “I Accept,” and then you will need to put in a password for your MySQL database for WordPress. Click “Continue” and the programs will be automatically downloaded and installed.
Once the basic installation is done, you will be asked for specific information about your website. On the first screen, you may simply leave the default values, or if you have specific needs then you can change then as your needs require. On the second screen, you will be asked to enter passwords for the database administrator and the WordPress database.
You also be asked to enter passphrases to make your passwords more secure, though you don’t have to. The default options, again, are usually correct, but you can change them if you would like. Click “Continue,” and the Web Platform will finish the instillation.
Create a New WordPress Blog on your Computer
When everything is installed, you can click the link at the top that says “Launch WordPress,” and your fresh WordPress install will open in the default browser.
Now enter a name and password for your website, and click the “Install WordPress” button. WordPress will assign a new username (admin) and random password to you – copy this password to the clipboard and then click “Log in.” Enter your username (which is admin by default) and the random password from the clipboard, and log in. WordPress will show you a reminder to change the default admin password, and you’re done!
You can now free to tweak WordPress as much as you like. To access your local WordPress site in the future, simply enter “http://localhost/wordpress/wp-login.php” in the address bar of your favorite web browser.
So long to the days of installing numerous services and configuring complicated files to install WordPress. Now WordPress is almost as easy to install as Microsoft Office! And if it wasn’t for the download time, it just might be a true 5 minute install!
Related: Things to do After Installing WordPress
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/software/install-wordpress-on-computer/10343/
Tags: Archives, How-to Guides and Software Tutorials, windows, wordpress, Software
Reader Comments
Amit,
Nice tutorial. I always have a copy of my blog on my local machine so that I can test themes and plugins before I put them into production. Plus, you can tinker a lot whithout worrying about breaking your site.
Nice tips.
Chris Masiello
Written by Christopher Masiello on 10.03.09
Thanks a lot Amit. It was a breeze. One question, I usually install plugins on my webhost through FTP server. How do I check the install of wordpress on the computer (like a file manager)?
Thanks again.
Written by Chris on 10.03.09
Thanks so much for this, Amit. I only wish I could just use this automated install method for a web server – is there a way to do so? Or rather, is Wordpress’s 5-minute install for real?
Written by Abhimanyu Ghoshal on 10.03.09
Hi, Thanks for your article. I have setup WP installation on my webhosting server(I am with Godaddy) but unable to figure out how to remove “index.php”. When I open any article, it is giving index.php in URL and I want to get rid of it. Let me know if you have any suggestions for me.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks,
Sitaram
Written by Sitaram on 10.03.09
@Chris If you used the default settings when you installed Wordpress via the Microsoft Web Platform Installer, then your wordpress should be installed on your computer at “C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wordpress\” so you can put plugins at “C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wordpress\wp-content\plugins”. If you want to install themes, they are in the same “wp-content” folder under “themes.”
Hope this helps!
Written by Matthew Guay on 10.04.09
Faster, easier, simplier way :
1. Download WordPress Framakey Webapps
2. Unzip
3. Run
It works even on a USB stick :)
Written by pyg on 10.04.09
Hi Amit,
I was excited about this new tool since I just openened a Wordpress blog and need to run some test. So I downloaded the Web Patform Installer but it did not display the Web App link that you wrote about. So I connected to The Web Platform Installer’s website again and tried to load the wordpress from there : it did not work ! I get a message saying that my system is not configured for that loading..
I’m on windows Vista and I use IE8. Any idea what could be the problem ? Any solution ?
Thank you for your help ;)
Written by arnaud on 10.04.09
there is better way to test your blog.
Buy a a info domain name for $1.99 and host in your own shared hosting and do whatever you want to test any theme any plugin
Written by Cini on 10.04.09
Never tried it, but I guess you can also use WAMP server in Windows and then install Wordpress.
Written by Vijeesh on 10.04.09
This is a really good post. A lot of money can be saved by this. But, you will have to keep your computer secure and take all the security measures yourself to keep it safe!
Written by Siddharth Vaid on 10.04.09
Can u explain how to insert google ads in wordpress.I am running wordpress in their domain itself
Written by jude on 10.04.09
So, once again, as a Mac user, I’m screwed….
Written by Matches Malone on 10.05.09
Is there any tool to install blogger blog locally so that I can test my themes offline?
Written by raj on 10.05.09
Is there any tool to test blogger blog themes offline similar to wordpress
Written by Raj on 10.05.09
Can we test run wordpress mu too on this platform?
Written by Bhavya Kamboj on 10.05.09
Be careful about making a local hosted wordpress blog public. Not only can it be a security risk, it is a violation of many ISPs terms of use to have a server running. Depending on how much access you have on your web server, I prefer something like testarea.servername.com. Then I know when I move it to link there won’t be any differences in the operating system, PHP or MySQL versions that could cause unexpected results.
Written by Josh on 10.05.09
This is interesting. I have been using LAMP/XAMP environment to have my wordpress blog locally.
I will try it and update, thanks
Written by opentube on 10.05.09
Hi
I tried installing the web platform installer from the link in your blog and got the message that .Net is a prerequisite for the microsoft web platform installer to work. I am using php so I don’t need .Net. So how do I install the web platform installer??
Written by thelittlemermaid on 10.06.09
opentube i think you dont have .net framwork installed on your computer , download .NET 2.0 framewok and then try to download the web platform installer, it will work.
Written by geek blogger on 10.08.09