Installing Joomla Locally with XAMPP on Windows 11

Why run Joomla locally?

Running Joomla on your computer lets you build and test your website privately. You can experiment with designs and features before you ever go live on the internet.

What happens when you are done?

Once finished, you will have a fully functional Joomla website running on your machine. You can access it through your web browser to create content and manage your site settings.

Install XAMPP

XAMPP bundles all the necessary software into one package. If you haven’t installed it yet, follow these guides:

Install XAMPP on Windows 11

Install XAMPP on Ubuntu 24.04

Create a Joomla Database

Your Joomla site needs a place to store all its information, and creating this database with XAMPP on Windows 11 is easy. You’ll set up a database named ‘joomladb’ and a user called ‘joomladbuser’ using simple commands in the XAMPP shell.

Open the XAMPP Control Panel and click the ‘Shell’ button to open the command window. (Requires admin privileges)

We will create a database named ‘joomladb’ and a user named ‘joomladbuser’. Use the following commands:

mysql -u root

CREATE DATABASE joomladb CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;CREATE USER joomladbuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';GRANT ALL ON joomladb.* TO joomladbuser@localhost;FLUSH PRIVILEGES;exit

Remember to replace ‘your_password_here’ with your own secure password. If you prefer not to use the command line, you can click the ‘Admin’ button next to MySQL in the XAMPP Control Panel to use the phpMyAdmin web interface instead.

Download Joomla Files

Next, grab the Joomla files and put them where your web server can find them. Go to the 📁C:\xampp\htdocs folder on your computer and make a new folder called copy‘joomla’. Then, download the Joomla files and extract them right into this new ‘joomla’ folder.

1. Navigate to C:\xampp\htdocs on your computer.
2. Create a new folder named joomla.

Download the Joomla files from official download page and extract them directly into your new C:\xampp\htdocs\joomla folder.

Next, open the C:\xampp\htdocs\index.html file in a text editor to update your redirect settings. Replace the contents with the following code so your browser opens your site automatically:

<?php if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && ('on' == $_SERVER['HTTPS'])) { $uri = 'https://'; } else { $uri = 'http://'; } $uri .= $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']; header('Location: '.$uri.'/joomla/'); exit;?>

Save the file. Go back to the XAMPP Control Panel and stop and start the Apache server to apply these changes.

Finalize the Setup

Finishing your Joomla installation on Windows 11 with XAMPP is done right in your web browser. You’ll set up your site’s name, your admin login details, and then enter the database information you created earlier: ‘joomladb’ for the name, ‘joomladbuser’ for the username, and your password.

Follow the on-screen instructions to set your site name, admin username, and password.

When asked for database details, enter the database name (joomladb), the username (joomladbuser), and the password you created earlier. Click “Install Joomla” to finish.

Your site is now ready to use!

Summary

You’ve successfully set up Joomla locally on Windows 11 using XAMPP by creating a database, adding files, and running the installer.

[joomla]

[C:xampphtdocsjoomla]