How To Install WordPress Locally: 3 Methods

Learning to install WordPress locally lets you understand the platform better and build, test, and make changes to your website without an internet connection or WordPress Hosting. This guide will walk you through three methods to set up a local WordPress installation using XAMPP, WAMP, and MAMP. These simple step-by-step instructions will help you create a fully functional local WordPress website to help you learn, experiment, or try your hand at coding and development.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A local WordPress installation provides a secure website creation and testing environment, letting you work offline without hosting costs.
• XAMPP is a cross-platform solution for installing WordPress locally with easy configuration, making it ideal for beginners.
• WAMP offers a streamlined approach to installing WordPress locally with a user-friendly interface for Windows machines and systems.
• MAMP provides a specifically designed solution for local WordPress installs that integrates with macOS operating systems.
• Migrating from a local to a live WordPress site involves exporting your database and files, setting up web hosting, and configuring it correctly to maintain functionality, security, and performance.
• Most common WordPress local installation errors are server configuration and database connection problems that can be fixed relatively easily.

What is a Local WordPress Installation

A local WordPress installation means setting up a WordPress website on your computer or laptop. You essentially create your own private “hosting environment,” where you can build and test your site before making it live.

When you install WordPress locally, all your website files, databases, and settings are stored on your computer rather than on a hosting server connected to the internet. This means you don’t need a hosting plan or even an internet connection to access and change your site.

Having said that, because it’s a local version, everything is stored on your PC or Mac, which is great for trying out new features, designs, or code; you’ll be the only one able to see it.

Standard vs. Local WordPress Installation

A standard or remote WordPress installation is what most people think of when it comes to building a new website. It “lives” on a web server provided and maintained by a hosting company, and your website’s files and database are stored on said server.

You’ll need to sign up for a hosting plan and register a domain name, both of which come with costs. This makes a WordPress website (or any other kind) accessible to people online.

Speaking of internet connections, you’ll need one to manage your website. You’ll usually use a control panel like the ever-popular cPanel or a one-click installer from your web host to install the WordPress software and get it up and running. Any changes you make, once you publish your new site, goes live immediately unless you use a staging environment first.

On the other hand, you’ll need to do everything on your own computer for a local WordPress install. This includes installing the software to create a local server environment, database, and PHP; we’ll cover the different methods later.

You won’t need a domain or web hosting, and local installation software are usually free downloads, which can be a big plus when learning about site creation and managing content for a small business.

It is worth mentioning that a local setup can be more complicated than a standard installation, especially for WordPress beginners. Following that, when you’re ready to take your website online, you’ll have to manually migrate it to a hosting server from your local machine.

Prerequisites for Installing WordPress Locally

Before starting your local installation, check that your machine meets the minimum requirements. WordPress itself doesn’t take up much space and processing power, but WordPress themes, plugins, and media files like images and videos can add up and slow your live site down.

• Operating System: Windows 7 or macOS 10.10 or higher.
• RAM: At least 4GB or more
• Storage: Minimum 1.5GB disk space.
• Processor: Any modern dual-core or better is recommended.

Next, you’ll need the software to set up your local server stack. This includes:

• Apache or Nginx web server.
• PHP version 7.4 or higher.
• MySQL version 5.6 / MariaDB 10.1 or higher.

The good news is that you won’t need to download them separately as they’re packaged together when you install XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP. You’ll also need the latest version of WordPress from the official website (6.7.2, as of the time of writing).

Method 1: Install WordPress Using XAMPP

Step 1: Download and Install XAMPP

Visit the XAMPP website, download the version for your operating system, and run the installer. You only need to select the Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin components. Complete the installation and launch the XAMPP control panel.

Step 2: Start Apache and MySQL

In the control panel, click the Start buttons next to the Apache web server and MySQL modules. They should both show a green background, confirming they’re running.

If port conflicts happen, click Config to change the ports or stop applications that might be causing them. We’ll go into more detail in the Common Errors and Fixes section.

Step 3: Create a WordPress Database

While Apache and MySQL are running, open your web browser and enter “http://localhost/phpmyadmin/” in your address bar. This will open phpMyAdmin.

Select Databases from the menu, followed by Create Database. Type in a name for your database, for example, wordpress_local, and click Create.

Method 2: Install WordPress Locally Using WAMP (Windows)

WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) or WampServer is a local server software (like XAMP) specifically optimized for local WordPress installs on Windows systems.

Step 1: Download and Install WampServer

Go to the WampServer website and download either the 32-bit or 64-bit version, depending on your Windows system. After clicking the download button, run the installer and follow the setup wizard:

1. Accept the license agreement
2. Keep the default installation location (recommended)
3. Select your browser
4. Complete the installation and launch WampServer.

Step 2: Verify WampServer Installation

Look for the WampServer icon in your system tray in the bottom-right of your screen. The icon should be green, showing it is running correctly. Click the icon to check that Apache and MySQL services are running (see the XAMP setup above).

If the icon is orange or red, some services haven’t started, so double-check before going to the next step.

Step 3: Create a WordPress Database

Click the WampServer icon in the system tray to launch the control panel and select phpMyAdmin from the menu. Use the following to log in:

• Username: root
• Password: Leave blank (default)

From there, click on Databases in the top menu and create a new database, for example, wordpress_local, or use any other name you prefer. Finally, click Create.

Method 3: Install WordPress Locally Using MAMP (macOS)

MAMP (macOS, Apache, MySQL, PHP) works pretty much the same way as WAMP and XAMP, allowing you to set up a local WordPress site designed for Mac users.

Step 1: Download and Install MAMP

Visit the official MAMP website and download the software. You can go for MAMP PRO instead of the free version if you want additional features.

Open the downloaded disk image (.dmg), drag the MAMP file to your Applications folder and follow the installation instructions. Double-click its icon to launch the control panel.

Step 2: Configure MAMP Settings

Once in MAMP, click on Preferences, followed by the Ports tab. Here, you can use the default Apache (8888) and MySQL (8889) ports. You can also select Set to default Apache and MySQL ports to use the standard ports 80 and 3306.

Next, in the Web Server tab, check the root document is set to the default MAMP htdocs folder. Click OK to save your settings, followed by Start Servers in the main window.

Step 3: Create a Database for WordPress

With the servers running, click Open WebStart Page or go to http://localhost:8888/MAMP/ (or http://localhost/MAMP/ if using the 80 and 3306 ports (again, this is not recommended).

Click on phpMyAdmin in the top menu, followed by Databases. Add a new database named wordpress_local or similar and click Create.

Installing the WordPress Software

XAMPP, WAMP, and MAMP provide the tools and programming language (PHP) to create a “server” on your PC or laptop and create a database with phpMyAdmin. As you can see, the process in three is pretty similar.

The same goes for installing WordPress after configuring your program of choice, with a few differences depending on the one you’re using.

First, download WordPress from WordPress.org and extract the ZIP file.

Next, the extracted WordPress files must be placed in the correct directory or root folder on the local server to load and display your site. However, the directory location varies slightly depending on which one you’re using: 

XAMP: C:\xampp\htdocs\ (Windows) or /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs/ (macOS)
WAMP: C:\wamp64\www\ or C:\wamp\www\
MAMP: /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/

Create a new folder (for this guide, we’ll use your_wordpress_folder ) and copy all the downloaded files into it.

From there, open your browser and enter the WordPress installation URL. Again, this will vary slightly:

XAMPP & WAMP: http://localhost/your_wordpress_folder
MAMP: http://localhost:8888/your_wordpress_folder or http://localhost/your_wordpress_folder if you use port 80 instead of 8888.

Select your preferred language and proceed to the next screen to configure WordPress to connect your database. Enter the following database credentials:

• Database Name: The name you used in phpMyAdmin in the previous steps.
• Username: Usually, root for all three.
• Password: Leave blank for XAMPP and WAMP. For MAMP, the default password is root.
• Hostname: localhost.
• Table Prefix: If you want to run more than one installation of WordPress or WordPress Multisite (optional).

WordPress will then connect to the new MySQL database. Complete the WordPress setup by entering a site title, username (avoid using “admin”), password, and email address, and click the Install WordPress button.

Once the installation is complete, access your WordPress dashboard using the above login credentials and start building your local website.

Getting Your WordPress Website Online

After creating a WordPress site locally, you’ll eventually want to make it available online. This is where things can get a bit tricky because, unlike regular website migration, you’ll have to transfer both your database and files yourself, which needs to be done carefully. Here’s how to move your local WordPress development to a live website hosting server.

Step 1: Sign For Hosting

You must sign up for web hosting optimized for running WordPress websites. WordPress hosting is recommended not only because it is designed for sites built using the platform but also because it offers features like automatic backups and updates and enhanced security. This makes site management much easier.

Step 2: Register a Domain Name

Next, your new WordPress site will need an address. Choose a domain name that represents your brand and/or business. You’ll need to check its availability and register it. You can usually do this through your hosting provider, which makes things easier to manage because everything is under one user account.

Step 3: Export Your Local Database

1. Find and open phpMyAdmin in your local site server control panel.
2. Select the WordPress database you created during setup and click the Export tab.
3. Use the Quick Export option and choose the SQL format.
4. Click Go to download the SQL (.sql) file to your hard drive.

Step 4: Export Your WordPress Files

Go to your local WordPress installation folder and copy all files and folders to your computer or an external drive so you have a backup. Pay close attention to the wp-config.php file, which contains important database credentials.

TIP: Compressing them into a ZIP file makes for easier uploads later.

Step 5: Import Your Database to the Live Server

1. Access phpMyAdmin through your hosting account’s control panel.
2. Create a new database, name it and add an Admin user with all permissions.
3. Select the database and go to the Import tab.
4. Click Choose File, select the SQL file you exported from your local environment earlier and click Go to import the database.

Note: If your database is big, you might need to upload it using a command line tool.

Step 6: Upload WordPress Files

Use your hosting provider’s file manager to upload WordPress files in the ZIP file you exported in Step 4 to your web server. You’ll need to add them to the public_html or www directory and unzip them. Make sure you use the correct file permissions to avoid issues later:

• Directories: 755
• Files: 644

You can also use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client like FileZilla to connect to the server.

Step 7: Update Your WordPress Configuration

Now that you’ve uploaded everything, you’ll need to configure the wp-config.php file to connect to the new database.

Update the DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD (use a strong password), and DB_HOST credentials (ask your provider if you’re unsure how to do this) and save the changes.

Next, change the database in phpMyAdmin by updating the site URL and home URL options in the wp_options table to your new domain name, e.g. yourwpdomain.com.

Note: If your development site URL differs from your live URL, you may need to use a search and replace plugin to update all of them.

Step 8: Test Your Live Site

That’s it; now, let’s go test your live website by opening your browser and entering your domain name.

Test that all pages, posts, plugins and themes are working correctly. This includes checking for broken links or missing content that might affect how search engines index your site. It’s also good to see if it displays correctly on mobile devices.

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If you already have a live WordPress site, we offer free migrations, so you don’t need to worry about doing it yourself. Our expert customer service team will take care of it for you.

Common Errors and Fixes

When installing WordPress locally, you might come across some common errors. Here’s how to troubleshoot and fix them:

Apache or MySQL Won’t Start

The test site software doesn’t start after you click the Start button

The reason could be port conflicts. For example, another program might be using the required ports. To fix this, first, close any applications that might be using the ports if you changed the defaults during setup.

Alternatively, change the Apache port from 80 to 8080 or change MySQL from port 3306 to 3307

Database Connection Issues

You might see an “Error establishing a database connection” or “Cannot connect to the database message. To fix this, check these settings in wp-config.php:

Check that DB_NAME matches your database name exactly and that DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD are correct. Ensure DB_HOST is set to localhost.

The MySQL service should be active in your control panel. If not, restart it if it has stopped. You can also refer to our WordPress tutorials and Knowledge Base for additional help docs.

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