How To Install WordPress Locally On your Computer - A Beginner's Guide

Introduced in 2003, WordPress today is an extremely popular, open source content management platform used for creating websites, blog sites and even apps. Approximately 30% of the web uses WordPress. WordPress offers several important benefits for both content creators and IT administrators.

In this article i will explain how to install WordPress on your computer to use as a local development environment. This is useful for testing new features, themes, or plugins without affecting a live website. We'll use XAMPP, a free tool that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Why Even Install WordPress On Localhost and not a live server?

When you install WordPress on your computer, you're creating a "localhost" environment. This means the website runs locally on your machine using a loopback address, so it doesn't need an internet connection.

This local setup is perfect for developers and designers. It lets you build and test new features, themes, and plugins in a safe space. You can fix any issues or bugs immediately without disrupting a live website or affecting user experience.

Additionally, this is a great way for beginners to learn web development. You can practice building a site or even copy an existing one for testing, all without needing to buy a hosting plan or domain name.

How To Install WordPress Locally Step By Step

Different local server software options are available for creating a local WordPress site. In this step-by-step Guide, i will use a software called XAMPP ‒ the most popular cross-platform web server for PHP development.

DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE XAMPP SOFTWARE:

Visit the official Apache Friends website and download the latest XAMPP software version based on your operating system.

Install and Run XAMPP on Your Computer:

Run the XAMPP installer and follow the installation instructions using the default settings. If you come across a pop-up indicating that your antivirus software might affect the installation process, click Yes to continue.

After installing XAMPP completely, run the application and configure the environment. In the XAMPP control panel, start Apache and MySQL modules to perform the WordPress localhost installation

If you’re running on Windows, there’s a possibility you might encounter the localhost refuse to connect error. Temporarily Disabling your firewall or stopping the program that uses port 80 should resolve this issue immediately.

Download WordPress

Once the XAMPP server is up and running, the next step is installing WordPress. Proceed to Download the latest version of WordPress, then extract the ZIP file.

Next go to your XAMPP folder in the C drive (C:\xampp) and locate the htdocs folder. Upload the extracted WordPress folder there. I recommend renaming the WordPress folder with your website’s name to make web development on the XAMPP server easier.

Create a Local Database

Head back to your XAMPP control panel and select the Admin button of the MySQL module to launch phpMyAdmin ‒ an administration tool for managing MySQL and MariaDB databases. This will help you create a local MySQL database for the new website.

Open the Databases tab and enter the database name into the Create database section. Set the dropdown menu’s value to Collation and hit the Create button. Your new MySQL database should appear on the left sidebar of the web page.

Install WordPress on Localhost

To Finish installing WordPress locally by visiting http://localhost/foldername via your browser. Don’t forget to change the “foldername” placeholder with the folder name you chose in the third step.

WordPress requires a list of information to build the localhost site. Fill in the database information as follows:

• Database name ‒ the name of the database you created in phpMyAdmin.
• Username ‒ you can enter “root” as the default username.
• Password ‒ leave the MySQL database password field blank.
• Database host ‒ keep the default “localhost.”
• Table prefix ‒ keep the default “wp_”

That’s it – your local test site is now ready. Open a browser go to http://localhost/foldername/wp-admin and use the login credentials you created in the previous step to access the WordPress dashboard.

Conclusion

Running a WordPress installation requires a hosting plan and a domain name. However, if you only need it for testing or learning how to use WordPress, installing the CMS on localhost and storing all the data locally should meet your needs just fine.

Here’s a recap on how to install WordPress on a localhost environment:

1. Download XAMPP.
2. Install XAMPP on your computer.
3. Download the latest version of WordPress.
4. Create a local database in phpMyAdmin.
5. Install WordPress on localhost.
6. Check the local test site via your browser.

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below if you have any questions. Thank you!