How to Install WordPress on Your Own Server + Video Tutorial

By Michael Pollock in Tutorials, WordPress

View the video tutorial:

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1. Download WordPress

The very first thing you’ll want to do is download a copy of WordPress 2.0. So, go the WordPress site here, and look for the link that says “DOWNLOAD.ZIP.” You should see it on the right side of the page with a dark blue background. When you see the link, click on it, and save the file to your desktop so it’s easy to find going forward.

2. Unzip the Folder

After you download the program, you’ll need to unzip the files into their own folder on your desktop. Most computers have a built-in zip/unzip application when you buy them, and if you’re not sure about your system, right-click on the file you just downloaded, and look for the menu option that says “Extract All …” Select that option if you see it. If you don’t have an unzip feature already installed, you can download a free program called Stuffit Expander (for PC or Mac).

3. Set Up Your Hosting Account

You may already have a web host, and if so, you can skip this section. If not, the web host I’ve been using for a couple of years is 1and1 Internet, Inc., and I recommend them highly. They offer several hosting packages, and I’d suggest the “Business Hosting” plan at $9.99 per month. You can find it on the left menu bar under the heading “Linux Hosting.”

During the set-up process, you’ll need to choose a domain name for your site if you don’t already have one you want to use. Give careful consideration to the domain name you choose. Try to make it something memorable yet easy to spell as people will be typing it into their brower to get to your site. You wouldn’t want them to have to type www.superlongandhardtospelldomainname.com. Also keep in mind, you can add on other domains very easily in the future if necessary.

4. Set Up Your FTP Program

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and an FTP program will allow you to copy files from your own computer to your web host. There are many FTP programs available, and the one I use is a free program called SmartFTP. You can download it here.

5. Get Your FTP Access Information

You’ll need to enter this information into your FTP program to access and upload files to your web host. Specifically, you’ll need to enter the the domain name, user name and password for your FTP account. You can get this information from your web host if you don’t have it already. If you have a 1and1 account, you’ll find a link on the main “Administration” page just after you log-in to your account (login page: admin.1and1.com).

6. Set Up Your MySQL Database With Your Web Host

This isn’t as scary as it may sound. Well, not if you have a good web host. Again, back to 1and1 (because that’s who I use). It’s really simple to set up a database in their control panel.

Simply log in to the control panel at admin.1and1.com, and go to the Administration page.
You’ll see a section that says “Websites and Applications,” under which you’ll see a link that says “MySQL Administration.”
Click that link, and look for a button that says “New Database.”
Enter anything you like for the description of the new database (e.g. WPBlog), then click “SetUp.”
That’s it. Your database is set up. On the following page, you’ll see the information about your new database, such as the database name, host name, user name, etc.
Keep that window open or print the page as you’ll need the database information shortly.

7. Enter Your Database Information into Your WordPress Config File

Remember when you downloaded and unzipped the WordPress program on your computers desktop? Open that folder, and you’ll see another folder labeled “WordPress.” Open that folder, and find a file named wp-config-sample. Open this file in a text editor such as Notepad or Wordpad. When you open the file you’ll see some text, much of which looks like gibberish, but it’s not. Look specifically for the lines that read:

define(’DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // The name of the database
define(’DB_USER’, ‘username’); // Your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘password’); // …and password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to change this value

This is the place to enter the database information you saved from the previous step. So whatever the database name is, enter that information in place of ‘wordpress.’ Just be sure to leave the ‘ marks before and after as it appears above. Do the same for the DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_HOST. When you’re done, save the file, but save it as wp-config.php rather than wp-config-sample.

8. Upload WordPress to Your Server

Okay. We’re in the homestretch. The next thing you want to do is copy the entire WordPress program from your computer to you host’s server. So, first, open your FTP program and connect to your host’s server. Back in step 5, you tracked down your FTP information. If you haven’t already entered it into your FTP program, go ahead and do that now. Again, you’ll need to enter you domain name, your user name and your password. After you enter the information, go ahead and connect to your host’s server.

At this point, you’ll need to make a decision about where you’ll place your WordPress program. You can put it in, either, the root directory of your host server or a sub-directory. Personally, I place mine in a subdirectory because I run several different websites on the same server, and it just makes things a lot easier by keeping them separate. After you make your decision, go ahead and upload all the files and directories located in the WordPress folder you unzipped to you desktop, excluding the folder itself.

9. Run the WordPress Install Script

If you installed WordPress in the root directory of your server, open your web browser and type the following: http://www.mydomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (replace “mydomain.com” with your own domain name).

If you installed WordPress in a sub-directory, open your web browser and type the following: http://www.mydomain.com/subdirectory/wp-admin/install.php (replace “mydomain.com” with your own domain name and “subdirectory” with the name of the sub-directory you created).

After you go to this page, WordPress will do the rest. Just follow the onscreen directions, and then you’ll be all done.

Update: You may have one final step. See this comment from Billy.

26 Comment(s)

On Feb 17, 2006, Amos said:

Nice walkthrough Michael. Can’t wait til the tweaking begins.
On Mar 25, 2006, business plans said:

Hi to everybody, my name is Sadie Kilpatrick, & I live in Atlanta Georgia. You guys have a super informative blog site, and I like it a lot.
On May 1, 2006, Glen Farmer said:

The tutorial helped a lot.
How did you get your domain name pointed to your site. I tried with mine and it doesn’t seem to work. 1and1 support doesn’t seem to have the answer either..
On May 2, 2006, Michael said:

hey glenn:

if your domain is hosted with 1and1 it’s pretty easy.

1. login to your control panel.
2. click on “Domains.”
3. click the checkbox next to the domain you want pointed at your site.
4. click on “Destimation” from the top menu bar.
5. on the following page, you’ll see a heading “Destination.” Click the “Edit” button.
6a. if you installed your Worpdress in the root directory, the box that’s titled “Home Directory *” should read “Existing Directory.”
6b. if you installed WP in a subdirectory, look for the box that says ” Existing directory *” and choose the directory where you installed WP.

if your domain is NOT hosted with 1and1, you can’t do this. in this case, my best advice is to transfer your domain into 1and1, then go thru the above process.

to initiate a transfer …

1. go to the “Domain Overview” page (click on “Domains”), and click on “New” from the top menu bar.
2. enter you domain name in the field provided and click “Check Domain.”
3. the following page will tell you the domain is already registered and allow you to initiate a transfer.

hope that helps.

best - michael
On Sep 1, 2006, Drew said:

Thanks for taking the time to write up such an effective tutorial. I am sure many people will benefit from it.
On Dec 5, 2006, John Steinbeck said:

Thanks so much for helping walk me through this procedure. I’ll buy you a beer if you’re ever down this way in San Diego!
On Mar 12, 2007, Tiffany said:

Thanks so much Michael. I went through 3 different hosts but their directions were so unclear to a low-tech person like I am. It’s the trivial steps that tech experts assumed I and others already know but really don’t. I found your videos and signed up with 1and1 as you reccommended and followed your instructions step by step. I finally got it. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
Tiffany
On Mar 28, 2007, Chris said:

Thanks for sharing, very informative step-by-step guide.
On May 11, 2007, Terry Breedlove said:

Micheal,
A great big thanks. I have been trying to install WordPress on the server of my host for a week and kept coming up short. Your explaniation while not perfect is clear and easy to follow. The gaps were easy to fill in, WordPress is on my server, and by Monday my blog will be up and running.

Many Many Thanks.
On May 16, 2007, Patsy said:

Michael,
Thank you for taking time to create these wonderful tutorials. I author a wordpress blog but had someone else setup the files on my server. With your help I will now be able to do my next install myself. Thanks again for your guidance.
Patsy
On Jun 5, 2007, Philippa said:

You seem like you really get this, so I hope you don’t mind if I ask for your help. I’ve been trying to install wordpress at 1&1 for about three days. I have uninstalled and reinstalled, and every time when I go to /wp-admin/install.php it comes up as a 404 not found. Any idea what I’ve done wrong?
On Jul 19, 2007, calvin said:

thanks!!! i was worried i couldnt use my own themes(other than 1and1’s limited ones) but im eager to try your tutorial looks very easy..thank u!
On Jul 19, 2007, calvin said:

that took like 15 minutes im all done.
just want to note for other people trying.

if you follow these “exact” steps it wont work. 1and1’s servername and all that is all defined by themselves like
1uisdfs3 so pay attention to details.

also it took forever to upload the files onto 1and1 via ftp just fyi
On Aug 21, 2007, Shawn said:

Michael, I am using your Bosco20 design/Theme, but I’m not getting anything to load on the right side of my page. I know you aren’t “technical” support, but I thought you might have run into this before. Thanks!–Shawn
On Aug 26, 2007, jane said:

A quick way to install wordpress on to your own server is to create a folder in public HTML call it wordpress, then open the folder and upload the wordpress.zip file.

Right click the zip file and click extract, job done.
On Sep 6, 2007, Billy said:

hey, michael. i followed all the steps to setup my wordpress blog as my site. ran the setup process at /wp-admin/install.php, and even logged in and posted a new blog post using the wp-admin. but when i clicked “view blog” all it would take me to was a 1and1 parking page that advertised 1and1.

so this is one other CRUCIAL step for new 1and1 users who are trying to set up wordpress on their blog as the main domain. you must use the FTP access to delete the file called index.html from your root folder [a file that 1and1 uploaded for you when you began a new account]. once this is deleted the index.php file will take over the domain. if you fail to delete this index.html file from the root directory of your web server it will continue to park the 1and1 ad page over your site.
On Sep 14, 2007, Gladys said:

Hello,

Thank you so much for this tutorial, I was completely new with 1 and 1..(i’m used to cpanel)and I was able to install my blog by following this guide.

More power!!
On Nov 1, 2007, lwean said:

Thanks for the info! I am now able to set up my wordpress blog locally…

RJ

Tutorial Blog
On Dec 7, 2007, Owen Cruz said:

Just what I’m looking for… a word press quick guide… Thanks a lot.. Wordpress is all over the blog scene!
On Dec 9, 2007, Frances Palaschuk said:

Thank you so much for this. This is perfect!
On Jan 9, 2008, Read Scott said:

Just finished the install. Perfect directions. Definitely sending traffic your way! This was the easiest and most comprehensive guide I’ve seen. Well done.
On Jan 12, 2008, Sonia Perez said:

Hi, Michael

Thank you very much for your wonderful tutorial. I have followed your nine steps and I have finally get my own wordpress.
I’m a spanish librarian, and I’ve considered to do a spanish guide to help my colleagues following your tutorial.

Thanks so much for wrinting up, and sharing such an effective guide. I’m sure it will help a lot of people.

Sonia
On Feb 27, 2008, Hafiz said:

i trying for me second website , the first one works properly but the second one is having a problem .

why i keep receive this page :

CGI Error
The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers.

when i try to do your 9th step . anybody can help me ?
On Feb 28, 2008, Dominic said:

If you are using GoDaddy for hosting, you cannot use ‘localhost’. You must use the host name set up by GoDaddy to get the install to initialize. The host name is listed under the mySQL>Details(the pencil). Once you’ve replaced ‘localhost’ with this ‘p41mysql7.secureserver.net’ or something like it, presto, you’re good to go.
On Apr 6, 2008, Romina said:

Thank you so much for this tutorial, it was very helpful!

Have a nice day :)
On Apr 22, 2008, Cherie said:

I keep getting hung up on one part of the installation. I created a folder as you did in the video, but when I attempt to transfer, either by dragging or ftp-ing the wordpress files over to it I get the error 550-no such file or directory exists. I’m at a total loss. Thanks for any help.