If you are new to the WordPress ecosystem and you still need to test WordPress for yourself without spending any money on it, then you should install WordPress on your Laptop or PC. (Or even mac). This simple guide on How to Install WordPress on Windows 10 is all about helping you learn the process in the simplest way possible.
If you already know what WordPress is and it’s real potential, you should start reading this article I wrote on Installing WordPress on cPanel.
WordPress is a must if you run a dynamic website. If you need a static website, then this guide will help you set up a modern static website with a few clicks and without writing a single line of codes.
This will be a noob-friendly guide on Installing WordPress on Windows 10.
Therefore expect a guide with lots of walkthrough images and properly elaborated step by step guide.
Okay, then, let’s get you started on how to Install WordPress on Windows 10.
Table of Contents
Step 1: You need XAMPP or WAMP
For this guide, I will be using XAMPP, and you can do the same with WAMP as well. Either XAMPP or WAMP are both web development platforms or in simple words web servers. And they will allow you to create a web-hosting environment on your local PC/Laptop. That is why we need XAMPP in the first place.
You can download XAMPP from this link.
XAMPP is a cross-platform software. XAMPP supports Windows, Linux, or OS X (Apple).
Before downloading the XAMPP package, you should select the right platform you are on. Since this guide is about installing WordPress on Windows 10, then you should download XAMPP for Windows.
Step 2: Then You need WordPress installation package
As we are going to do an offline installation of WordPress, we need to download WordPress.
Go to the link below and download the WordPress installation package. Click on the ‘Get WordPress’ button on the top right.
Once you click on ‘Get WordPress,’ you will have to select the type of package you need. Well, don’t worry about it. Just click on the big blue button saying download WordPress with its current version number.
You don’t need a tar.gz package.
This WordPress package will be in zipped form. That means you are going to need software to unzip the package. I recommend you use WinRar for that. You can download WinRar from the link below. Download the free version, and you don’t have to buy it unless you really want to.
Step 3: Installing XAMPP on your Windows 10
Let’s start the Installation of the XAMPP on your local machine. The process is almost self-explanatory. If you are new to such installations, follow the screenshots provided with this guide, and it is highly unlikely that you are going to fail the installation process 😀
Double click on the XAMPP package you downloaded, and it will start to run. In some cases, you will get this notification.
If that happens, select yes. You don’t have to worry about this. Because this package downloaded directly from its publisher, and the installation package is undoubtedly clean.
Once you click yes, the installation will start almost-immediately. Click next to proceed.
In the next step, you will see there are few options, and all options are selected by default.
So don’t change anything. Keep the default settings and hit next
And you will be able to choose the location where you need to install XAMPP.
I recommend you leave it as it is. By default, XAMPP will install in your C drive where Windows installed.
After this step, there’s nothing to select just hit next whenever you get a new screen.
So it will continue the process, and finally, XAMPP will start the installation process
Once the installation is finished, you can hit finish.
But, there you will see a checkbox, and it is checked to open the control panel now, and you should leave it as it is.
Once you click on the finish, it will open the XAMPP control panel.
In some cases, before opening the control panel, you will have to select the language.
I’m not sure why it has 2 languages. Either English or Dutch. Select the one you prefer and click on save.
Done!
The XAMPP control panel will open, and it should look like this
Congratulations, you just Installed XAMPP server on your Windows 10
Before starting Apache and MySQL, above is how your XAMPP control panel looks
You should make sure to click on start both Apache and MySQL.
When they are running correctly, they should be highlighted in green.
If not, you may not start a local hosting environment.
Step 4: Installing WordPress on your Windows 10
First, you should locate the downloaded WordPress installation package.
It should be in Zipped format.
1. Extracting WordPress installation package
Once found, you should right-click on the file. And when you do this, you should have to have WinRar installed on your computer. And Windows 10 has built-in Unzipping tools. But, I prefer WinRar over anything else.
When you right-click on the WordPress installation package, you will see a few options on a new menu. Click on the option saying ‘Extract here.‘
Once extracted, you will see a folder named ‘wordpress.’ We need the files inside of this folder for our WordPress installation
This is how it looks if you check the inside of the WordPress folder. Do not change anything of these files or folders.
These are the core files we need to proceed with installing WordPress on windows 10 computer.
2. Creating a folder in htdocs
Don’t worry about if you don’t know what htdocs really is.
It is a folder inside of your XAMPP installation, and we should place our WordPress files inside of this htdocs folder.
If you don’t know how to find the htdocs folder, check the below gif, and it will guide you in the process.
And if you are still wondering, this would be the path of your htdocs location.
First, you should create a different folder inside of the htdocs folder
In this example, I have created a folder named ‘amigoreviews’ in the htdocs folder. You can have whatever the name you like as the folder name. There are no restrictions at all. Chose whatever you like.
3. Copying the files from extracted ‘wordpress’ folder to the newly created folder in htdocs
This step is important and super easy. All you have to do is copy the core WordPress files and past the files in the newly created folder in htdocs. (In this example I will have to copy the files from wordpress folder and paste them in the ‘amigoreviews’ folder)
First, you should go to the wordpress folder and select all the files. You can simply select all the files by hitting Ctrl+A in your keyboard and right-click on any file and select copy.
Then go to htdocs and open the folder you created (amigoreviews in my case) and paste the files you copied.
4 . Start Installing WordPress via the Web browser
Now you are all set to start installing WordPress on your Windows 10. What you should do next is open your web browser and in a new tab type this
i.e., The folder I created is amigoreviews and what I should write on my web browser’s address bar is
If you created a folder named ‘test’ in your htdocs folder, then you should write
Again, make sure to write the correct name of the folder you created in htdocs where you pasted the WordPress files. If you di the incorrectly, you won’t be able to install WordPress on your Windows 10
Once you type the correct path, you can hit on the Enter key. This will start the process.
First, you will see the dialogue box for a WordPress installation.
Here, you can select the language you need your WordPress to work on. If you prefer English, leave it as it is and click on continue
In the next step, WordPress will remind you of what you need to proceed with this installation.
As per the instructions provided by WordPress, we need
- Database name
- Database username
- Database password
- Database host
- Table Prefix
Well, for now, we can ignore the last 3 items. But, we need a Database name and username. (In this kind of local installations, we leave the Database password ‘empty,’ and it still works without a password)
5. Creating a Database via phpMyAdmin
To get a Database name and a Username, first, we should create a database. It is super simple, and anyone can do it. Just follow the steps.
The first thing you should do is open a new tab on your web browser and NEVER close the tab where your WordPress Installation is.
So go ahead and open a new tab and type the following code/path in the address bar of the newly opened tab.
Localhost/phpMyAdmin
This is how your phpMyAdmin looks
Creating a database in phpMyAdmin is easy.
All you have to do is click on ‘new’ or ‘databases’ as in the below image.
No matter what you click on, it will allow you to create a new database
When you click any of the two options mentioned above, then you will be able to create a database.
First, give your database a name. As far as I know, database names can not have spaces. So make sure to give a name without spaces.
In my case my database name is amigoreviews_db
And then click on Create.
And I highly recommend you save this information on a different file. (Maybe on a notepad, that is what I usually do)
Congratulations, you just created a database!
Go ahead, and the rest is easy.
Now you know the name of the database (amigoreviews_db is mine), and then you need to know the username and the password of the database you just created.
Remember, we haven’t defined a password for the database we created. But it has a name. You should find it and write it down.
To find the username of the database, first, you have to click on the name of the database you created and then click on the ‘Privileges’ tab. See the screenshot below. It will guide you.
Once you click on the ‘Privileges tab,’ you can easily find the username of the database.
If you did not change anything when creating your database, your username should be ‘root’ by default.
Now we know 3 things that we need to proceed with WordPress Installation
- Database name: amigoreviews_db (Whatever you called your Database)
- Database username: root
- Database password: ‘We haven’t defined a password.’ Leave it blank when asked
6. Resuming the WordPress installation
Now we have the required database and the information ready.
Go back to the tab where you were continuing the WordPress installation and click on, let’s go!
Then it will resume the WordPress installation process on your windows 10 pc.
In the next step, you will have to enter the information on the database you created.
All you have to fill or think about the highlighted 3 sections.
- Database Name: amihoreviews_db
- Username: root
- Password: No password leave it empty
Once you fill out all the info, you can click on submit.
You should not change the Database host or table prefix.
Once you click submit and if you have entered all the information correctly, then WordPress will confirm that it can communicate with the Database you created. If not, you will have restart the process and check where you made a mistake.
Once WordPress confirmed the establishment of communication with your database, you will have to click on ‘Run Installation.’
7. Finalizing WordPress installation
When you hit run installation, in the next step, you will have to define a few things. Remember, these are not the ones you set when you were creating your database.
i.e., In this step, you will have to add a username for your WordPress site.
And that is not the username you defined when creating your database. Use a different one as your WordPress username.
- Site Title: Give your site a friendly little title. A short one will work.
- Username: Define your username to access WordPress installation here. I created a username for me ‘nimesh’
- Password: WordPress itself will generate a strong password. If you are not okay with it, you can type your own password there.
- Your Email: add your email here
- Search Engine Visibility: Since we are installing WordPress on our Windows 10 PC, this search engine visibility is not a problem. Because Google will not index this. But of course, you can tick the option not to index your site if you wish.
Once all the fields are completed, you can click on ‘Install WordPress,’ and it will do the final touch-ups.
When you successfully installed WordPress on your Windows 10, WordPress will confirm this installation.
Click on ‘Log in,’ and a new login screen will appear.
In the new login screen, you will have to enter your username and the password for your WordPress site. (Not the ones you set for your Database)
In my case, my username is nimesh, and the password is p%9)k1hz4UWRpk6XbC
Once the password and username entered, click log in.
Congratulations, you just installed WordPress on your Windows 10 computer.
FAQs: How to Install WordPress On Windows 10
Conclusion: How to Install WordPress On Windows 10
WordPress powers more than 30% of the websites, and it shows how powerful, how useful WordPress is. That being said, learning how to build websites on WordPress is a better time investment. But, if you are on a budget, it is hard to buy a web hosting service and Install WordPress and learn.
But if you could run WordPress locally/on your computer, then you don’t have to spend money on purchasing web hosting services or domain names.
If there’s a possibility to learn WordPress without spending money on it, then installing WordPress on your computer is the best answer.
This guide on How to Install WordPress On Windows 10 is for you who are looking for ‘newbie’ friendly guide to learn the process. Because WordPress is not a software package that can install directly on your computer. To Install WordPress on your computer first you are going to need to install a software that turns your computer into a server. You can either chose XAMPP or WAMP. I prefer XAMPP as it is powerful and lightweight and it provides everything we need to host our website locally.
This guide on How to Install WordPress On Windows 10 written based on XAMPP and if you need to learn and practice these simple steps, I recommend you install XAMPP.
Don’t stop after installing WordPress, then start fine-tuning and ‘messing around’ with your fresh WordPress installation. In my opinion, that is the best and most effective way of learning not just WordPress, but also anything in the world.
If you find any difficulties in the above process on How to Install WordPress On Windows 10, feel free to leave a comment, and I will try my best to help you out.