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. The following installation guide will help you, whether you go for the Famous 5 Minute Installation, or require the more detailed installation guide.
Before you begin the install, there are few things you need to have and do.
Things You Need For The Installation
You need access to your site and its directory and software to proceed with the installation. These are:
When you return to the main MySQL Account Maintenance screen, cPanel will list information about the database you just created. You should see the username you just added to the database (with ALL PRIVILEGES), as well as a few sample Connection Strings for you to use in Perl or PHP scripts to connect to the database. The PHP code will have the following format:
$dbh = mysql_connect("hostname", "username", "<PASSWORD HERE>") or die ("message");
mysql_select_db("databasename");
Write down the values of hostname, username, databasename, and the password you chose. (Note that hostname will usually be localhost.)
Using phpMyAdmin
If your web server has phpMyAdmin installed, you may follow these instructions to create your WordPress username and database.
Note: These instructions are written for phpMyAdmin 2.6.0; the phpMyAdmin user interface can vary slightly between versions.
If a database relating to WordPress does not already exist in the Database dropdown on the left, create one:
Choose a name for your WordPress database ('wordpress' or 'blog' are good), enter it in the Create new database field, and click Create.
Click the Home icon in the upper left to return to the main page, then click Privileges. If a user relating to WordPress does not already exist in the list of users, create one:
Click Add a new User.
Chose a username for WordPress ('wordpress' is good) and enter it in the User name field. (Be sure Use text field: is selected from the dropdown.)
Choose a difficult-to-guess password (ideally containing a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols), and enter it in the Password field. (Be sure Use text field: is selected from the dropdown.) Re-enter the password in the Re-type field.
Write down the username and password you chose.
Leave all options under Global privileges at their defaults.
Click Go.
Return to the Privileges screen and click the Check privileges icon on the user you've just created for WordPress. In the Database-specific privileges section, select the database you've just created for WordPress under the Add privileges to the following database dropdown. The page will refresh with privileges for that database. Click Check All to select all privileges, and click Go.
On the resulting page, make note of the host name listed after Server: at the top of the page. (This will usually be localhost.)
Using the MySQL Client
If you have shell access to your web server, are comfortable with using the command line, and your MySQL user has the permissions to create MySQL users and databases, you may follow the example session below to create your WordPress username and database.
$ mysql -u adminusername -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 5340 to server version: 3.23.54
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
mysql> CREATE DATABASE databasename;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON databasename.* TO "wordpressusername"@"hostname"
-> IDENTIFIED BY "password";
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
mysql> EXIT
Bye
$
In the above:
adminusername will typically be root, unless you have another high-privileged account set up.
wordpress or blog are good values for databasename.
wordpress is a good value for wordpressusername.
hostname will usually be localhost. If you don't know what this value should be, check with your system administrator. If you are the system administrator, figure out what this value should be.
password should be a difficult-to-guess password, ideally containing a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols.
Write down the values you used for databasename, wordpressusername, hostname, and password.
Using Plesk
See: Plesk 7 at tamba2.org
Step 3: Set up wp-config.php
For the next part, the code you will be looking to change is as follows:
// ** MySQL settings ** //
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere'); // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere'); // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere'); // ...and password
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
define('DB_COLLATE', '');
// Change SECRET_KEY to a unique phrase. You won't have to remember it later,
// so make it long and complicated. You can visit https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
// to get a phrase generated for you, or just make something up.
define('SECRET_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here'); // Change this to a unique phrase.
Returning to where you extracted the WordPress package in Step 1, rename the file wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php.
Open the renamed wp-config.php file in your favorite text editor and fill in the following information, per the example above:
DB_NAME
The name of the database you created for WordPress in Step 2 .
DB_USER
The username you created for WordPress in Step 2.
DB_PASSWORD
The password you chose for the WordPress username in Step 2.
DB_HOST
The hostname you determined in Step 2 (usually localhost, but not always. See some possible DB_HOST values).
DB_CHARSET
The database character set, normally should not be changed. See Editing wp-config.php for details.
DB_COLLATE
The database collation should normally be left blank. See Editing wp-config.php for details.
Save the file.
For more extensive details, and step by step instructions for creating the configuration file, refer to Editing wp-config.php.
For information on enabling SSL in WordPress 2.6, see SSL and Cookies in WordPress 2.6.
Step 4: Upload the files
Now you will need to decide where on your web site you'd like your blog to appear:
In the root directory of your web site. (For example, http://example.com/)
In a subdirectory of your web site. (For example, http://example.com/blog/)
Note: The location of your root web directory in the filesystem on your web server will vary across hosting providers and operating systems. Check with your hosting provider or system administrator if you do not know where this is.
In the Root Directory
If you need to upload your files to your web server, use your favorite FTP client to upload all the contents of the wordpress directory (but not the directory itself) into the root directory of your web site.
If your files are already on your web server, and you are using shell access to install WordPress, move all of the contents of the wordpress directory (but not the directory itself) into the root directory of your web site.
In a Subdirectory
If you need to upload your files to your web server, rename the wordpress directory to your desired name, then use your favorite FTP client to upload the directory to your desired location within the root directory of your web site.
If your files are already on your web server, and you are using shell access to install WordPress, move the wordpress directory to your desired location within the root directory of your web site, and rename the directory to your desired name.
Step 5: Run the Install Script
Point your favorite web browser to start the installation script.
If you placed the WordPress files in the root directory, you should visit: http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php
If you placed the WordPress files in a subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php
The following screenshots show how the installation progresses. Notice in the screen, Entering the details, you enter your Weblog title and your e-mail address. Also displayed is a check-box asking if you would like your blog to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati. Leave the box checked if you would like your blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines, and uncheck the box if you want to block search engines, but allow normal visitors. Note all this information can be changed later in your Administration Panels.
Install Script Troubleshooting If you get an error about the database when you run the install script:
Go back to Step 2 and Step 3, and be sure you got all the correct database information and that it was entered correctly into wp-config.php.
Be sure you granted your WordPress user permission to access your WordPress database in Step 3.
Be sure the database server is running.
Common Installation ProblemsThe following are some of the most common installation problems. For more information and troubleshooting for problems with your WordPress installation, check out FAQ Installation and FAQ Troubleshooting.
I see lots of Headers already sent errors. How do I fix this?
You probably introduced a syntax error in editing wp-config.php.
Download wp-config.php (if you don't have shell access).
Open it in your favorite text editor.
Check that the first line contains nothing but <?php, and that there is no text before it (not even whitespace).
Check that the last line contains nothing but ?>, and that there is no text after it (not even whitespace).
If your text editor saves as Unicode, make sure it adds no byte order mark (BOM). Most Unicode-enabled text editors do not inform the user whether it adds a BOM to files; if so, try using a different text editor.
Save the file, upload it again if necessary, and reload the page in your browser.
My page comes out gibberish. When I look at the source I see a lot of "<?php ?>" tags.
If the <?php ?> tags are being sent to the browser, it means your PHP is not working properly. All PHP code is supposed to be executed before the server sends the resulting HTML to your web browser. (That's why it's called a preprocessor.) Make sure your web server meets the requirements to run WordPress, that PHP is installed and configured properly, or contact your hosting provider or system administrator for assistance.
I keep getting an Error connecting to database message but I'm sure my configuration is correct.
Try resetting your MySQL password manually. If you have access to MySQL via shell, try issuing:
SET PASSWORD FOR 'wordpressusername'@'hostname' = OLD_PASSWORD('password');
If you are using a version of MySQL prior to 4.1, use PASSWORD instead of OLD_PASSWORD. If you do not have shell access, you should be able to simply enter the above into an SQL query in phpMyAdmin. Failing that, you may need to use your host's control panel to reset the password for your database user.
My image/MP3 uploads aren't working. If you use the Rich Text Editor on a blog that's installed in a subdirectory, and drag a newly uploaded image into the editor field, the image may vanish a couple seconds later. This is due to a problem with TinyMCE (the rich text editor) not getting enough information during the drag operation to construct the path to the image or other file correctly. The solution is to NOT drag uploaded images into the editor. Instead, click and hold on the image and select "Send to Editor."
