Install WordPress locally on Windows

The own WordPress blog is created quickly, in particular the convenient 1-click installation of some hosters offers a lot of convenience. However, if you want to completely redesign your site, it is better not to work and test on the live site but on a local copy. You can find out how this works under Windows here.

preparation

For the local WordPress installation you need at least 550MB of free hard drive space, the free WAMP and the WordPress installation file. Mac users use the counterpart MAMP.

Step 1: Download and install WAMP

The acronym WAMP is formed from Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP. The software is free and you can download it here: http://www.wampserver.com/en/. Depending on the operating system variant, you download the 32- or 64-bit version. If you are not sure, then the 32-bit version, because it also runs on 64-bit systems.

Attention: Virus scanners can block changes to the hosts file. Before the setup process, you should therefore disable the backup of the hosts file in the antivirus settings.

For the setup, the antivirus must allow changes to the hosts file.

At the end of the setup process, you will be prompted to set the default browser, Internet Explorer is the default.

If you changed your antivirus settings before setup, you should reset them now.

2. Store WordPress files on the local server

You can download the current version of the German-language WordPress installation files here: http://wpde.org/download

The zip file contains the wordpress folder, which you unpack into the directory of your local web server. With us it is the directory C:wampwwwwordpress. You call this directory in the browser via http://localhost/wordpress/. You can rename the wordpress folder and adapt it to your site.

3. Create MySQL database

Open the menu via the WAMP taskbar icon and select the phpMyAdmin entry. In the following browser window you click on databases and create a new database. In this example we name the database wp_test_db.

4. Install WordPress

In the browser you call up the path of your WordPress installation, in our example this is http://localhost/wordpress/. Since the wp-config.php has not yet been configured, a corresponding message and a “Let’s go” button appear, which guides you through the next steps.

A brief warning that the setup wizard doesn’t work in every server environment – but it works with WAMP without any problems.

In this dialog you enter the previously assigned database name (in our example wp_test_db). If you have not made any other changes, the user is “root” and you delete the password field empty.

Here you set the name of your page and determine the username, password and e-mail of the admin user.

Ready. From now on you can access the page via http://localhost/wordpress/ and the login is at the usual address: http://localhost/wordpress/wp-login.php. You can work with the site as usual – plugins can also be installed.

Problem source Skype: The server does not start correctly

If the server does not start correctly, it may be due to Skype. In the program settings you remove the hook that allows connections via port 80. After you have quit Skype, you restart all services in WAMP.

Conclusion: You can quickly develop new pages on a local WordPress installation. With WAMP for Windows and MAMP for Mac computers, convenient packages are available that bring all functions.