How to Install WordPress Manually [A Full Guide]

About WordPress

WordPress (WP, WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS.

There are two useful features in the WordPress theme: plugin architecture and the template system. You can use it to customize any website to fit your business, blog, portfolio, and online store.

One thing you need to pay attention to is that WordPress must be installed on a web server to function, either part of an Internet hosting service like WordPress.com or a computer running the software package WordPress.org in order to serve as a network host.

How to Install WordPress?

There are several ways to get WordPress. The easiest is through a hosting provider, but sometimes, if you want a more technical option, you can try downloading and installing it yourself. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Download the WordPress from the official website and then unzip the WordPress package on your computer.

Step 2. Create the database and a user. If you are using a hosting provider, you may already have a WordPress database setup for you. If there is not, you can use Plesk, cPanel, and MySQL Client to create it. I use cPanel as an example below.

1. Log in to your cPanel.
2. Click MySQL Database Wizard icon under the Databases section.
3. In Step 1. Create a Database enter the database name and click Next Step.
4. In Step 2. Create Database Users enter the database user name and the password. Make sure to use a strong password. Click Create User.
5. In Step 3. Add User to Database click the All Privileges checkbox and click Next Step.
6. In Step 4. Complete the task note the database name and user. Write down the values of hostname, username, database name, and the password you chose. (Note that hostname will usually be localhost.)

Step 3. Set up wp-config.php. The wp-config-sample.php file contains the database information and tells the WordPress application from which database to pull data. So, you can do as follows to configure it:

1. Log in to cPanel.
2. Select File Manager and then click the File Manager icon.
3. Click on the public_html from the left-hand menu.
4. Then click on the Settings button.
5. In the pop-up window, check the Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) box, then click Save.
6. Find the wp-config-sample.php file from the right-hand panel of the File Manager.
7. Right-click on this file and select Rename from the menu.
8. Change the file name to wp-config.php and then click the Rename File button to save the change.
9. Right-click the wp-config.php file again and select Edit.
10. Click the Edit button from the pop-up window.
11. After the file is open, find “/** The name of the database for WordPress */ define( ‘DB_NAME’, ‘database_name_here’ ); ” and replace database_name_here with the name of the database you created.
12. Find “/** MySQL database username */ define( ‘DB_USER’, ‘username_here’ );” and replace username_here with the username of the database you created.
13. Find “ /** MySQL database password */ define( ‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘password_here” );” and replace password_here with the password of the database that you created.
14. Once done, click the Save Changes button on the top right, and then Close to exit and return to the File Manager.

Step 4. Upload the files. You can choose to the root directory of your website or a subdirectory of your website.

Step 5. Run the installation on your browser.

• 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

Step 6. Select your preferred language and click the Continue button. Then you will enter the “Welcome to the famous five-minute WordPress installation process!” page, you need to fill out the information this page needs.

Step 7. Click the Install WordPress button to complete the installation.  After that, you can click the Log In button to log in to the WordPress Admin Dashboard to begin building your site!

Bottom Line

This post introduces what WordPress is and how to install WordPress manually on your computer. After reading this post, you may already know how to do it.

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