How to Install and Test WordPress on localhost

WordPress is the number one content management system (CMS) in the world, and if you’re like me and love trying new things on WordPress, then it’s always a good idea to install WordPress locally on your system.

You can use it to try out new WordPress plugins, change themes, and perform more tasks.

We have talked about self-hosted WordPress many times, but many BlogSpot users still feel that WordPress is a strange platform because they are not familiar with it.

To get familiar with WordPress, you can start by creating a free account at WordPress.com, or you can install WordPress on your computer to test it in a local environment.

Benefits of installing WordPress locally:

1. Familiarity with WordPress
2. Familiar with database
3. Make changes locally and then on the live site
4. Local testbed as staging site

How to create a localhost WordPress installation:

There are several ways to install WordPress on your localhost for offline use.

Let's start with WAMP

How to install WordPress locally on WAMP:

To start a local installation of WordPress, you will need to download a piece of software called WAMP . Also, download the latest version of WordPress .

So, let’s get started with installing WordPress WAMP

1. Install WAMP on your local host

In the PHPmail options when installing WAMP, leave it as is

2. Now extract wordpress.zip. Create a folder in C:\wamp\www and name it WordPress . Copy all the files and folders in the WordPress folder in C:\wamp\www
3. Start WAMP and start all services by left clicking on the taskbar.
4. Open http://localhost/
5. Click on PHPMyAdmin and create a database for your WordPress installation.

(Alternatively, just click on the WAMP icon on your desktop and then click on the PHPMyAdmin option as shown in the screenshot below)

The screenshot given below depicts how to create a database within the PHPMyAdmin page.

6. Open http://localhost/wordpress and click Create Profile.

7. Click on the “Let’s Go” option to continue.

Now enter the details as stated.

• Database Name: The name of the database you created (WordPress)
• Username: root
• Password: Leave blank
• Database host: Keep the default (Localhost)
• Database Prefix: Leave the default (wp_)

You can also observe the following screenshot to refer to this.

7. Click Submit. On the next screen click Run Setup.
8. On the next screen add your blog title and email. Since we are working in a local environment, search visibility is not important here.

9. On the next page, you will receive a message that WordPress has been successfully installed. Click “Login” to continue.

Voila! You have just created a local WordPress testing environment using WAMP.

How to Install WordPress Offline Using XAMPP

1. Download Xampp for Windows from the official website Apachefriends.org[](https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html)

2. Install Xampp with Apache and MySql services.
3. After the installation is complete, run the Xampp control panel and start the Apache and MySql services as shown in the following figure.

4. We need to configure the MySql database, open your web browser and go to http:://localhost.

Select the language you want, then go to http://localhost/security/index.php and change the MySql database password.

In this tutorial, I specify the password as test . (The password is case sensitive)

5. Now we have to create the MySql database tables for your WordPress installation.

To do this, go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and log in using root as the username and test as the password, or use the password you provided in the previous step.

Create a new database through the PHPMyAdmin interface. Give the database a name and do not change any other settings (see the image below).

6. Now, download the latest version of WordPress from www.wordpress.org[](https://wordpress.org/download/)

After downloading, go to the folder where you installed Xampp, you will find a folder called htdocs there , open it and extract the latest version of WordPress there.

7. Open the WordPress folder(the one you extracted in the previous step), you will find a file called wp-config-sample.php , open that file using notepad++ and edit the data according to the image.

Save the file and rename it to wp-config.php.

8. Now go to http://localhost/wordpress and install WordPress!

Now just go to wp-admin and start using your offline WordPress blog. You can do all sorts of things with your local WordPress blog as you can try out changes locally before doing anything on the online server. Most WordPress developers install WordPress on their personal laptops/computers to make changes quickly.

LocalWP：

LocalWP is a local WordPress development app by Flywheel, a popular web hosting service among developers and agencies. You can read my Flywheel review to learn more about them.

Flywheel offers a software called “ LocalWP ” that provides local WordPress installations on Windows and Mac.

You can create unlimited WordPress development environments.

Moving on to the last method…

Offline WordPress Installation with InstantWP

How to Use WordPress Offline

This is another popular alternative to WAMP and XAMPP for WordPress localhost installation. This is a downloadable file that can be used by non-developers who want to use WordPress offline.

You can also install WordPress offline using XAMPP, but I prefer WAMP over XAMPP. If you are setting up a test server for your team, you can get unlimited web hosting like SiteGround and install more blogs in subdomains or subdirectories and use that for testing.

• 3 Best Ways to Create a WordPress Test Site

If you get stuck anywhere or find issues installing WordPress using WAMP, let me know via comments.

You can also refer to our WordPress guides for more tutorials like this. If you found this guide useful, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

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