how to install wordpress

How to Install WordPress – Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial

LWDadmin
18 Min Read 659 Views
Last Updated:September 4, 2022

WordPress is known as the most popular website builder in the world. It powers over 43% of all websites on the internet. The main reason for that is because WordPress is easy to install which makes it easy for anyone to create a website.

All best WordPress web hosting companies allow you to install WordPress with just few clicks. In most circumstances, installing WordPress is a simple process that takes less than five minutes to complete.

In this tutorial, our goal is to offer a complete WordPress installation tutorial for starters and advanced users alike.

For starters, we will show you how to install WordPress by using 1-click install scripts like Softaculous.

We will also explain how to install WordPress manually using FTP for our intermediate users.

Lastly, for our starting developer and designers, we will show you how to install WordPress on a local computer (Windows, Mac, and Linux).

Apart from showing you how to install WordPress, we will also give you tips on things to do after you install WordPress.

Things You Need Before Installing WordPress

Before you install WordPress, first you will need a domain name and a good web hosting company that knows WordPress.

We highly recommend that you use Namecheap .

The reason we recommend Namecheap is because they are one of the largest hosting companies in the world and they have the cheapest prices for domain names. They are also an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.

Since this is a very long and detailed tutorial, please use the navigation below to get to the appropriate section.

How to Install WordPress from cPanel

Cpanel is a popular software used by many web hosting companies. It provides website owners with a simple web-based interface to manage their hosting account.

It is a one-stop access to several useful utilities including auto-installer scripts that help you install WordPress.

Hosting companies select which auto-installer script they want to use. Generally, Softaculous, QuickInstall, and Fantastico are the most popular options.

We will show you how to install WordPress using softaculous. 

How to Install WordPress using Softaculous

Softaculous is a popular auto-installer script. It allows you to easily install popular web applications like WordPress with just a few clicks. Hosting companies like Namecheap  use Softaculous in their control panel.

Simply login to your cPanel account and look for Softaculous or WordPress installer icon. You will find them under Auto Installers section.

Clicking on any of these icons will launch Softaculous auto-installer for WordPress. First, you will see an overview of WordPress. You need to click on the Install tab to continue.

Softaculous will now ask you where you want to install WordPress. You need to choose http:// or http://www. as protocol.

If your site has SSL and HTTPS, then you can select https:// or https://www. as protocol.

After that, you need to choose the domain name where you want to install WordPress. Most users want to install WordPress in their domain’s root directory, like example.com. In that case, you need to make sure that the ‘In Directory’ field is blank.

Scroll down a little, and you will see the site settings section.

Under this section, first you need to provide a title and description for your WordPress site. Don’t worry you can easily change them from your WordPress admin area after installation.

Next, you need to choose an admin username, password, and email address. Softaculous will automatically fill in the username and password fields for you. It will use a non-dictionary word for username and a strong password.

You can change them if you want so that they are easy to remember for you. However, we strongly urge you to always use a strong password. See our guide on the best way to manage passwords for WordPress beginners to learn how you can manage strong passwords easily.

Make sure that you enter the correct email address in the admin email field. This is where WordPress will send notifications and a password reset link if you ever forgot your password.

Rest of the options on the screen are optional. You can now click on the install button to run the installer.

Softaculous will run the installer using the settings you provided. You will see a progress bar with installation status. It will take a couple of minutes. Do not close the window until the progress bar reaches 100% otherwise, this may affect your WordPress installation.

You will see a success message after the installation is finished. It will also show you links to your website and to your WordPress admin area.

How to Install WordPress using FTP

Manually installing WordPress is also known as the famous 5 minute install. It requires few added steps, and you will need an FTP client to manually install WordPress.

Take a look at our beginner’s guide on how to use FTP to upload WordPress files.

First thing you need to do is download the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress package comes as a Zip file. You need to unzip the file and inside it, you will find a WordPress folder. This folder contains all the WordPress files you need to upload to your web server.

Now go ahead and connect the FTP client to your hosting server. Once connected, use the FTP client to upload the WordPress files from your computer to your website server.

If you want to install WordPress on your root domain name (like example.com), then you need to upload WordPress files to your website’s root directory. Usually this directory is called /public_html/.

On the other hand, If you want to install WordPress in a subfolder (like example.com/blog), then upload it in a folder /public_html/blog/.

Once you are done uploading WordPress, go to your hosting control panel to create a database. We will be showing you how to do that using the cPanel. If your hosting provider has a different control panel then you just need to look for MySQL databases. Rest of the settings will be quite similar.

From your cPanel dashboard, click on the ‘MySQL Databases’ icon.

You will see a field to create a new database. Enter a name for your database, and click ‘Create Database’.

Now that you have created your database, MySQL still needs a username. This username will have access to perform actions on the database.

On the MySQL Databases page in your cPanel account, scroll down to MySQL Users section. Simply provide a username and password for your new user and click on the ‘Create a user’ button.

This new user still does not have access to the database you created earlier. For that, you will need to add the user to the database and give them permissions to perform all actions.

On the same MySQL Databases page in your cPanel account, scroll down to ‘Add User to a Database’ section. Select the database user you created from the dropdown menu next to user, then select the database, and click on the add button.

You will be now asked for the privileges you want to allow this user. Select all privileges and click on the Make changes button.

Your MySQL database and user are now ready, note down your database name and MySQL username and password. You will need that information later.

Simply go to to the URL where you uploaded WordPress. If it is in the main domain, then enter your domain name in the browser window, like yoursite.com or www.yoursite.com.

You will see the language selection page. You can choose a language here so that the rest of the installation is displayed in your own language. You can also use English for now and then later change the language.

Click on the continue button to proceed.

You will now see some installation instructions. Basically, WordPress will now tell you that it will need your database name, password, and MySQL host information.

Click on the ‘Let’s go’ button to continue.

WordPress will now show you a form. You need to enter the database information you created earlier.

Fill in the information and then click on the ‘Submit’ button. WordPress will connect to your database and show you a success message.

Click on ‘Run the Install’ button to continue.

WordPress will now create tables in your database and then send you to the next step of the installation.

Now you need to provide some information for WordPress to set up your site. This includes site title, username, password, and admin email address.

If you do not want your website to be visible to search engines, then you can check the box next to search engine visibility. Later when you are ready you can change this from WordPress settings. If you are unsure about what to do, then simply leave it unchecked.

Click on the Install WordPress button to continue. WordPress will set up your website and finish the installation.

You will see a success message showing your username. You can now click on the Log in button to sign in to your WordPress site.

How to Install WordPress in your Computer

Many of our beginner level users often ask us if they could try WordPress on their computer? The answer is yes, but most beginners should not do that.

The reason why some folks install WordPress in a local server environment is to build themes, plugins, or to test things out.

If you want to run a blog for other people to see, then you do not need to install WordPress on your computer. If you install WordPress locally on your computer, then the only person who can see the site is you.

If you want to make your WordPress site available to the internet (rest of the world), then you need to get a web hosting account and install WordPress by using one of the methods we showed above.

Having that said, if you are really interested in installing WordPress locally on your computer to learn more about theme development, test plugins etc, then we highly encourage you to do so.

If you are using a Windows computer, then we recommend that you download and setup WAMP. If you are using a Mac, then you need to download and setup Mamp.

After you have played around with WordPress on your computer you may want to move your local install to an actual live website. We have a step by step tutorial on how to move WordPress from local server to a live site.

How to Install WordPress in your Language

Just like Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android, you can use WordPress in your own language.

WordPress is available in many languages including English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Korean, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese (Han), Portuguese, and many others.

You can choose a language during the WordPress installation or change it by visiting Settings » General page in the WordPress admin area.

For more details, see our article on how to install WordPress in other languages.

WordPress is also used widely to create bilingual and multilingual websites. See our tutorial on how to easily create a multilingual WordPress site with TranslatePress.

How to Install a WordPress Multisite Network

WordPress comes with multisite functionality built-in. The multisite network allows you to create multiple WordPress sites using the same WordPress install. It can automatically create new sites on subdomains or in sub-folders.

This makes sense for businesses, non-profits, governments with sub-sites for different locations or regions. Many educational institutes also use WordPress multisite network to allow students to create their own blogs.

The setup for a multisite is a bit complex, but we have created a complete step-by-step tutorial on how to install and setup WordPress multisite network.

Things to do After Installing WordPress

Now that you have successfully installed WordPress, here are a few things to get started with your new WordPress site.

Choosing a Theme

The visual appearance of your WordPress powered website is controlled by Themes. There are thousands of WordPress themes available for you to choose from. With so many choices, it can become a little confusing for beginners. This is why we have put together a guide on selecting the perfect theme for WordPress.

We regularly publish lists of WordPress themes that we like in our Showcase section. Following are some of our popular theme showcases.

Installing and Using WordPress Plugins

The real power of WordPress comes from the massive collection of plugins. They are like apps for your WordPress site, allowing you to extend functionality and add new features to your site.

There are more than 59,000 free plugins available in the WordPress plugin directory alone. More plugins are available from third party websites as paid plugins.

If you are wondering which plugins to install, then take a look at our expert pick of the essential WordPress plugins for all websites. You may also want to check out the plugins we are using on this site by looking at our blueprint.

We have a beginner’s step by step guide on how to install WordPress plugins.

Start Learning WordPress

WordPress is the easiest to use CMS in the market. Millions of people from all over the world use it every day. However, from time to time you may need a little help.

This is where we can help. We are the largest free WordPress resource site in the world, regularly publishing tutorials and guides written specifically for bloggers and small businesses.

Here are some of the useful resources that you will find on our site (all of them are totally free).

  • Our Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials and guides.
  • Our Dictionary – Our WordPress glossary is the best place to familiarize yourself with the WordPress lingo
  • Our Blueprint – Check out plugins, tools, and services we use on our site.

Conclusion

We hope this WordPress installation tutorial helped you learn how to easily install WordPress. You may want to check out our list of these useful tools to help you manage and grow your WordPress site.

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