If you don't have hosting yet, you can install WordPress on your computer. So if you don't have the capital to buy hosting, you can try and prepare an offline version of the website first. Prepare the appearance of the theme, plugins and contents of the article until they are complete, then when they are ready they can be online & published to the virtual world. See also Opening XAMPP via HP .
In order to create an offline website on a computer, you need a local server or localhost. One of the popular local server applications is XAMPP (Xross Apache MySQL PHP Perl platform). XAMPP acts like a hosting server in hosting services. With XAMPP you can create any website, not limited to wordpress. But the most important thing is that with XAMPP we can test the CMS, learn how to install it, and back up data.
Download & Install XAMPP Portable
XAMPP is available as an install version on Windows and a Portable version without installation. So that you don't need to install XAMPP again if Windows is reinstalled, I will explain how to download XAMPP portable only.
- Visit the official XAMPP download page . There is the latest version of XAMMP, but it's the install version.
- To get the portable version, click the "More Download" menu.
- Click XAMPP for Windows.
- Check out the latest version of XAMPP, for example version 7.4.10.
- Choose the file, it's up to the type .7z or .zip. For example “xampp-portable-windows-x64-7.4.10-vc15.7z. x64 means your Windows must be 64 bit. Then vc15 means that the computer must have Visual C++ 2015 installed. Then download it until it's seeped.
Note: XAMPP version PHP 7.4.xx and above sometimes requires Visual Studio C++ for visual studio 2019. If the installation fails or is not correct, download VS C++ Redistributable 2019 here.
Move the downloaded XAMPP portable file to a special folder, for example on partition / drive D. Try not to save it on the hard disk partition C, so that if you have a Windows error you don't have to install it again. Extract XAMPP and follow how to install XAMMP below:
- Open the “xampp” folder and look for “setup_xampp.bat”.
- Right click then run as Administrator , wait a moment for it to finish. Note: sometimes this method doesn't work, but you just have to click twice to open (not as Administrator).
- Doubleclick or immediately run "xampp-control.exe", select English then Save.
- Press the "Start" button on Apache and MySQL. If there is a "Windows Security Alert" pop up window, allow it by clicking "Allow Access".
- To run XAMPP in the future, every time you turn on the local server / localhost, just repeat step 4 above.
To test whether it has been successful or not, try testing the local server by opening a browser. Then type http://localhost or just "localhost", enter. So now you have your own server on your computer.
Install WordPress on XAMPP and Hosting
Hosting users if they don't use Cpanel & Softaculous can install WordPress manually (upload themselves). There is almost no significant difference between manual WordPress installation on XAMPP and Hosting. The only difference is the creation of the database. The rest of the installation steps are exactly the same from A to Z. The detailed steps can be seen in the following video and transcript of how to install WordPress:
1. Download the WordPress CMS file first, download the latest wordpress . Usually the name is “latest.zip”.
2. Save this latest.zip file in the htdocs folder (for XAMPP). Upload / upload latest.zip to the public_html folder on the hosting.
Location of root folder (main folder):
XAMPP = htdocs
CPanel / hosting = public_html (public) or htdocs (rare)
3. Extract or unpack the latest.zip file earlier, by default the “wordpress” folder will appear. Then specify the location / website address:
Temporary hosting users:XAMPP =>
If the address wants "http://localhost/wordpress" then let the wordpress folder
Folder order = htdocs/wordpress
If the URL address wants "http://localhost/blog" then just change the name of the "wordpress" folder to "blog" and so on.
Folder order = htdocs/blog
If the shop link is "http://localhost" then the contents in the wordpress folder are moved to htdocs (not recommended, it will confuse the position of the data)
HOSTING =>
Install at the main address: "https://mywebsite.com" then the contents of the wordpress folder must be moved to the root (public_html)
Order of folders = public_html/isifolderwordpress here
Install at the address "https://mywebsite.com/blog" then rename the "wordpress" folder to "blog" and so on.
Folder order = public_html/blog (rename wordpress to blog)
If installed on the subdomain "https://sudomain.websitesaya.com" then move the contents of the wordpress folder to the folder used by the subdomain.
4. Visit the http://localhost/wordpress address from a browser (XAMPP). Or open http://mywebsite.com (hosting) with a record of adjusting the address you created.
5. Select the language and click “Continue” / Continue.
6. After the database information page appears, click “Let's go!” / Start.
7. Create database , XAMPP user:
- Open the PHP MyAdmin page, type http://localhost/dashboard then click the PhpMyAdmin button on the right.
- Click the "Database" menu => in the database name column, type for example "wordpress".
- Click the create button and it's done
As for hosting users:
- Enter the hosting control panel / Cpanel and look for the "MySQL Database" menu.
- Type a new database name (eg xxxxx_wordpress) and click the Create Database / Create Database button.
- Create a new database user, for example xxxxx_wordpress (just make it easy). Type in the name and password then click the "Create User" / Create User button.
- Scroll down and add database user to database name.
- In the "Manage User Rights" section, don't forget to check all rights. Then click the Save Changes button / Make Changes.
8. Back to the wordpress installation page. Enter the database name, username and password that you created earlier. Especially for XAMPP users, leave the password completely blank.
9. The host database in XAMPP uses "localhost". Included in the average hosting using the name "localhost". But sometimes it varies depending on your hosting party, please look for the account details or ask the hosting party you rented.
10. Table Prefix , as much as possible replace the name with a unique word. The name “wp_” is too common to be easily guessed by hackers.
11. Click the “Submit” button / Continue to “Run the Installation” / Run the Installation.
12. Fill in the website title as you wish.
13. The Username / username field must be filled in Safely. This username will later be used as the main administrator account . That is the account that manages your website, so use your secret username, nickname, cool name or nickname.
Avoid using the words Admin, Administrator, administration, because these words are too easy to guess. So that people who casually damage the site don't easily break into your wordpress.
14. Enter the original and active email, installation information and wordpress updates will be sent there.
15. Don't check "Discourage search engines from indexing this site". If it is checked, it is likely that your website will not be indexed and enter the Google search page. Unless you are making a temporary site, just trying out WordPress, or waiting for your website content to be complete.
16. Finally, click “Install WordPress” and wait a few minutes for it to finish.
Visit your finished website page, set article content, display design, plugins and more via the admin page. The next step is to complete and enrich the content of the website. This is a process that is actually more challenging. What you fill, of course, must be interesting, unique and useful for visitors later.
For hosting users can be directly accessed and exhibited. Show your friends, co-workers, friends or family that you can make a website. But for XAMPP WordPress users, it can be enriched first until it's ready to be published later, and can be published to a live website.