How to Install Joomla with XAMPP on Windows

This article describes the steps to install and use Joomla on Windows with XAMPP support.

Joomla is a free open, source, mobile-ready, and user-friendly content management software used to create many websites and applications you use daily.

From personal blogs to eCommerce to almost any type of website. To run Joomla, you must install a webserver, a database server, and PHP server scripting modules.

Joomla will usually be installed on a Linux system, including Ubuntu, with either the LAMP or LEMP stack. However, some open-source projects today enable installing Joomla 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.

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 the 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 Joomla 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 Joomla.

CREATE DATABASE joomla;

Create a database user called joomlauser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON joomla.* TO 'joomlauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Joomla Content

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

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

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

Configure PHP Settings

Now that Joomla content is in the Apache2 root directory. Go to the path below and open the PHP configuration file.

C:\xampp\php

Then right-click the highlighted PHP configuration file and edit. Then make the changes below in the file and save. You will have to scroll line by line.

Then change to the following lines below in the file and save.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 120
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Save the file when you’re done.

When done, open Internet Explorer and type the URL below to begin the Joomla installation wizard.

http://localhost

Type the database connection info and continue

Finally, install

Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Joomla on Windows 10 with XAMPP support.

Enjoy~