How to Setup and install WordPress

WordPress is well-known for its ease of installation. Under most circumstances, installing WordPress is a very simple process and takes less than five minutes to complete. If you are a Windows Server user keep on reading.

Things to Know Before Installing WordPress

Before installing WordPress, you need to check that your web hosting provider fulfils the necessary software and conditions. Also, you must have access to the server and some tools.

Requirements on the server side:

  • PHP 7.4 or greater
  • MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.3 or greater
  • HTTPS support

Requirements on local:

    • Login Account (user ID and password) to the server via FTP or shell
    • Text Editor
    • FTP

You will need to know how to use a text editor to edit the main configuration file. If you are a Windows user, Notepad will do. If you’re an OS X user you can use TextEdit. Later, you will likely want to edit your Template Files (see Templates for some references). You can do this through the WordPress Administration Screens, but using a good text editor is highly recommended. For more information on this, see Editing files. You will need to be able to use an FTP program to upload files and set file permissions (optional). You could choose FileZilla for this task. 

Basic Instructions and Step-by-Step Guide
  1. Download and unzip the WordPress package from gb.wordpress.org/download if you haven’t already.
  2. Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a (MySQL or MariaDB ) user with all the privileges for accessing and modifying it.
  3. Find and rename the wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php. If you know how to add the database name, username and password information. 
  4. Upload the WordPress files to the desired location on your web server so they look something like you see in the image below.

Note: If you are not comfortable with renaming files, step 3 is optional and you can skip it as the install program will create the wp-config.php file for you. Just follow the step-by-step guide below.

Windows Server and Internet Information Services 

If you have a Windows Server and are using Internet Information Services follow the step-by-step guide below on how to add a site to IIS or Internet Information Services. First of all, you will need to log in to your server and then open Internat Information Services and then right-click on Sites and then click on Add Website as seen in the image below.

Now you want to add all the details in all the boxes making sure the file path is correct for all the files for your WordPress website. If you using an SSL certificate select https and port 443 in the Binding boxes. You will also need to know the IP address of the server. This will normally be shown in the dropdown menu under the IP address. This is usually a local IP address the server obtains from your router and should be set as static in the internet setting of your server to prevent conflicts from other devices connecting to your router. Next, select the certificate from your server via the SSL certificate box at the bottom. If you are running your Domain name through Cloudflare and have a certificate with them that Encrypts end-to-end, using a self-signed certificate on the server you should see https://yourdomain.com in your browser but you will still need one of the server certificates automatically generated by the Windows server. Once you have completed all the steps as seen in the image below click on OK and your website will start.

The next thing to do is open your browser and type in the domain name of your website and you will see a WordPress setup screen like in the image below. Once you have read the information click on the Let’s go! button.

Now you will see a page where you need to enter all of the details for your Database, Username, Password, Database Host and Table Prefix. You will need to make sure you have all of this with you. Just enter the details like in the example below and click on the Submit button.

You will then be taken to the next page which is an installation screen. Just click on the Run the Installation button.

You will now see a Welcome page as seen in the image below where you will need to add the Site Title, Username, Password and Your Email. If you are doing this in a room with a lot of people make sure to click the Hide button to hide your password as you type it in because this information is used for logging into the website and your information is for the admin page and you do not want anyone else having those details. Once you filled in all your details click on the Install WordPress button to be taken to the next page.

Now you will see a Success page with your Username and Your chosen Password as you see in the image below. Just click on Log In to be taken to the login page which should be yourdomain.com/wp-login.php 

The login page should be yourdomain.com/wp-login.php and look like the page in the screenshot below. Just enter your Username or Email Address and then your Password and click on the Log In button to go to the welcome screen and admin panels.

This is what the Dashboard will look like in the image below once you have logged in to your website. There are other pages within the admin area for adding pages, posts, themes and users. You can also add a plugin via the plugin page and more with WordPress. Everything is free or you can if you need more from the plugin and theme pay for the premiums but most people will start with the free version then if they need more for business needs will upgrade the themes and plugins to the premium versions.

In the image shown below is the plugin page and there are a lot of plugins. You can browse and install plugins from the plugins page or go to the WordPress website and have a look at the plugins page on the website and download them from there. You will then have a zip file. Just click on Upload Plugin and select the zip file and you are all done.

In the image shown below is the themes page and there are a lot of themes. You can browse and install themes from the themes page or go to the WordPress website and have a look at the themes page on the website and download them from there. You will then have a zip file. Just click on Upload theme and select the zip file and you are all done.

That is it you are now all done and have your website up and running. If you like the tutorial then why not have a look at the guide on how to set up a WordPress Multisite or a Subdmain?

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