How to Install WordPress with XAMPP on Windows

This article describes the steps to install WordPress on Windows with XAMPP support.

WordPress, the most popular content management system, can create all kinds of websites, from personal blogs to eCommerce to almost any type of website.

To run WordPress, you must install a webserver, a database server, and PHP server scripting modules.

99% of the time, WordPress will be installed on a Linux system, including Ubuntu, with either the LAMP or LEMP stack.

However, some open-source projects today enable installing WordPress on Microsoft Windows desktops and servers.

One such project is XAMPP. XAMPP is an entirely free, easy-to-install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl.

How to install WordPress on Windows with XAMPP support

As described above, 99% of the time, WordPress will be installed on a Linux system, including Ubuntu, with either the LAMP or LEMP stack.

However, some open-source projects today enable installing WordPress on Microsoft Windows desktops and servers.

Below is how to install WordPress on Windows.

Download XAMPP Package

To install XAMPP on Windows, download the Windows version to the Apache Friends website.

Install XAMPP

After downloading the Windows version, you should be prompted to install the package. Next, you’ll need to install Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Perl, as shown in the image below. Complete the installation and continue to the next step.

Accept the default installation directory: C:\xampp.

Configure XAMPP

Now that the package is installed, open XAMPP and start up Apache and MySQL services, as shown in the image below.

After starting Apache2 and MySQL, these servers should be running. To test whether Apache is running, open Internet Explorer on the host machine and type the URL below:

http://locahost

This should bring up the Apache XAMPP default page.

To validate that MariaDB is installed and functioning, open the Shell command prompt on the right of the XAMPP Control Panel. This should launch the command shell. Then type the commands below:

mysql

This should get you onto the MariaDB database server.

To secure the MariaDB database server, open the Shell command windows again, then type the commands below.

perl\bin\perl.exe mysql\bin\mysql_secure_installation.pl

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Create WordPress Database

While still in the Shell command windows, type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB database server. Type the password you enter above when prompted.

mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called wpdb

CREATE DATABASE wpdb;

Create a database user called wpuser with a new password

CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON wpdb.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download WordPress Content

Now that the WordPress database has been created download WordPress content from its download page.

After downloading the WordPress file, extract it into the C:\xampp\htdocs

You can delete all the files and folders and extract WordPress content from that folder. The htdocs should look like this:

When done, open Internet Explorer and type

http://localhost

This time you should see the WordPress default setup page.

Type in the database connection info and continue

Create a WordPress admin account and continue

After installing, log on to the WordPress admin dashboard.

~Enjoy!