This tutorial will teach you how to install PrestaShop. PrestaShop is an eCommerce platform that helps you create and run an online store. You’ll be setting it up on Windows 10 using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) 2 with Ubuntu.
Why Install PrestaShop on Windows WSL?
PrestaShop is an eCommerce solution with all the features you need to create an online store and grow your business. Installing PrestaShop on Windows with Windows Subsystem for Linux lets you create your online store in your own environment with your own servers.
WSL allows you to run a complete Linux operating system inside Windows. This means you can use powerful Linux tools to build and run your online store on your Windows computer. WSL 2 also gives you better performance and works with Linux system calls, making it a great way to run Linux on Windows.
What You Need
Make sure your computer can run WSL 2 before starting. You’ll need Windows 10 version 2004 or newer.
Step 1: Turn On WSL in Windows
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
First, you need to enable WSL in Windows. Open the PowerShell terminal as an administrator. Click the Start button and type PowerShell.
Right-click on Windows PowerShell and select “Run as administrator.”
When the window opens, run this command:
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
You should see a success message like this:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Image Version: 10.0.19042.844
Enabling feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.
Step 2: Turn On Virtual Machine Platform
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
WSL 2 needs the Virtual Machine Platform feature turned on. This is different from Hyper-V. Run this command in the same PowerShell window:
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
If you’re using Windows 10 version older than 2004, use this command instead:
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -NoRestart
After running the commands, restart your computer so the changes take effect. If you don’t restart, the next command might not work.
After restarting, open PowerShell as administrator again. Then run this command to set WSL 2 as the default version:
wsl --set-default-version 2
Step 3: Install Ubuntu on Windows
Now that WSL 2 is ready, download and install Ubuntu 20.04 from the Windows Store using this link:
Get Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – Microsoft Store
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS gives you access to Ubuntu Terminal and command line tools like bash, ssh, git, and apt.
Click the “Get” button to install Ubuntu. After installing, you can launch Ubuntu from WSL.
When you first launch Ubuntu, it will ask you to create a user account. This username doesn’t need to match your Windows username.
You’ll see a prompt like this:
Installing, this may take a few minutes.
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: systemuser
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.
Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-19041-Microsoft x86_64)
* Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com
* Management: https://landscape.canonical.com
* Support: https://ubuntu.com/advantage
System information as of Mon Apr 12 17:57:37 CDT 2021
System load: 0.52 Processes: 7
Usage of /home: unknown Users logged in: 0
Memory usage: 26% IPv4 address for eth0: 192.168.1.100
Swap usage: 0%
1 update can be installed immediately.
0 of these updates are security updates.
To see these additional updates run: apt list --upgradable
If you run into problems, try these troubleshooting commands:
wsl --set-default-version 1
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto start
Step 4: Install Apache Web Server
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
Apache is the most popular web server on the internet. PrestaShop needs it to work. Run these commands to install Apache on Ubuntu:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2
After installing, you can use these commands to control Apache:
sudo service apache2 stop
sudo service apache2 start
sudo service apache2 restart
To check that Apache is working, open your web browser and go to:
http://localhost
You should see an Apache test page.
Step 5: Install MariaDB Database Server
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
PrestaShop needs a database to store all your store information. MariaDB is a free, open-source database server that works great for this. Install it with this command:
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing, you can control MariaDB with these commands:
sudo service mysql stop
sudo service mysql start
sudo service mysql restart
Next, secure your database with a root password by running this command:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Answer the questions as shown below:
Enter current password for root (enter for none): Press Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Type Y
New password: Enter a password
Re-enter new password: Repeat the password
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Type Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Type Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Type Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Type Y
To verify MariaDB is working, log in to the database with this command:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Enter your root password when asked. You should see a screen like this:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 46
Server version: 10.3.29-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 Ubuntu 20.04
Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the current input statement.
MariaDB [(none)]>
Step 6: Install PHP and Modules
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
PHP is the programming language that makes PrestaShop work. Install PHP and the modules it needs:
sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-imagick php-imap php-json php-ldap php-common php-pgsql php-ssh2 php-sqlite3 php-xml php-mysql php-gmp php-curl php-intl php7.4-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-gd php-xml php-cli php-zip
To check that PHP is installed, run this command:
php -v
You should see something like this:
PHP 7.4.3 (cli) (built: Oct 6 2020 15:47:56) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.3, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
To test PHP more thoroughly, create a test file. Run this command:
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Type this content into the file:
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Save the file. Restart Apache and then open your browser to:
http://example.com/phpinfo.php
You’ll see the PHP information page.
Step 7: Create a PrestaShop Database
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
Now you need to create a database for PrestaShop to use. Log into MariaDB:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Create a database called prestashop:
CREATE DATABASE prestashop;
Create a database user:
CREATE USER 'prestashopuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Give that user full access to the PrestaShop database:
GRANT ALL ON prestashop.* TO 'prestashopuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Save your changes and exit:
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
Step 8: Download PrestaShop
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
Download the latest version of PrestaShop. Check the PrestaShop download page to see what the newest version is.
wget https://assets.prestashop2.com/en/system/files/ps_releases/prestashop_1.7.7.4.zip -P /tmp
unzip prestashop_1.7.7.4.zip
sudo unzip /tmp/prestashop.zip -d /var/www/prestashop
Set the correct permissions so PrestaShop can work properly:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/prestashop/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/prestashop/
Step 9: Set Up the PrestaShop Site Configuration
⚙️ Requires Admin Privileges
Create a configuration file for Apache so it knows how to display PrestaShop:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/prestashop.conf
Copy and paste this content into the file. Replace “example.com” with your own domain name:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/prestashop
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/prestashop/>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file. Now enable the site by running these commands:
sudo a2ensite prestashop.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
Restart Apache to apply the changes:
sudo service apache2 restart
Step 10: Complete the PrestaShop Setup
Open your web browser and go to your domain or IP address:
http://example.com
The PrestaShop installation wizard will appear. Follow the steps to set up your store.
Enter your store information and create an admin account:
Enter your database information:
After completing the setup, your store will be ready to use. Log in with the admin account you created and start building your online store!
Summary
This tutorial walked you through installing PrestaShop on Windows using WSL 2 and Ubuntu. Here’s what you did:
- Enabled WSL and Virtual Machine Platform in Windows
- Installed Ubuntu 20.04 on your Windows computer
- Installed Apache web server to serve your store
- Installed MariaDB database to store your store data
- Installed PHP and required modules to run PrestaShop
- Created a database and user for PrestaShop
- Downloaded and installed PrestaShop
- Configured Apache to display your PrestaShop store
- Completed the PrestaShop installation wizard
Your PrestaShop online store is now ready to use on your Windows computer!
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