Continue reading, or jump ahead using these links:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What is WampServer?<\/a><\/li>\n
- Installing WampServer<\/a><\/li>\n
- Check WampServer is Running<\/a><\/li>\n
- Setting Up Your MySQL Database<\/a><\/li>\n
- Download and Install WordPress<\/a><\/li>\n
- Setting up WordPress Multisite<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What is WampServer?<\/h2>\n
WampServer is a popular Windows web development environment that allows you to create web applications with Apache2, PHP, and a MySQL database.<\/p>\n
WordPress isn’t a stand-alone application and needs server software to run. WampServer provides the necessary server environment so you can install and run WordPress on your local machine rather than on the internet.<\/p>\n
Installing WampServer<\/h2>\n
Head over to the WampServer site<\/a> and download the latest version<\/a> of the software. WampServer is an open-source project and is free to use.<\/p>\n
![\"WampServer](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/wampserver-site-700x591.jpg\")
<\/a>The WampServer site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The WampServer site offers two versions of the software – 32 BITS or 64 BITS. Click on\u00a0the version you prefer.<\/p>\n
A warning message will display. Click on “download directly,” and you’ll be taken to the SourceForge website. The download will automatically start in 5 seconds.<\/p>\n
The WampServer executable file is small at just 41.5MB, compared to XAMPP, which is 125MB.<\/p>\n
You may receive warnings about installing the software on your computer. As you would when installing any software on Windows, use your best judgment, though it’s best to ignore the warnings if you want the installation to continue.<\/p>\n
The WampServer\u00a0setup wizard will guide you through the installation.<\/p>\n
![\"WampServer](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/wampserver-installation.jpg\")
<\/a>WampServer setup wizard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The next window will ask you to agree with the software’s terms and conditions. Check “I accept the agreement” and click “Next.”<\/p>\n
![\"Terms](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/terms.jpg\")
<\/a>WampServer terms and conditions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Next, select where you would like to install the software and click “Next.” The default is c:\\wamp, which I’m going to use for this tutorial.<\/p>\n
![\"Installation](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/installation-location.jpg\")
<\/a>Choose a location for the software on your local machine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In the next window, you can choose to create shortcuts so you can quickly and easily access WampServer on your computer. I’m not going to create any for this tutorial.<\/p>\n
![\"Icons\"](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/icons.jpg\")
<\/a>Create shortcuts for WampServer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The software is now ready to install, so go ahead and click “Install.”<\/p>\n
![\"Install](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/install.jpg\")
<\/a>Ready to finish installing WampServer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Once installed, you may be prompted to choose your default browser. In my case, I chose Google Chrome.<\/p>\n
You’ll then be prompted again to specify the SMTP server and the email address to be used by PHP. These settings aren’t all that important, so just leave the defaults and click “Next.”<\/p>\n
![\"Mail](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/mail-setup.jpg\")
<\/a>Fill in your details or just leave the defaults.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Installation is now complete! Click “Finish” and the software will launch.<\/p>\n
![\"WampServer](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/wampserver-ready.jpg\")
<\/a>WampServer is now ready to use.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Check WampServer is Running<\/h2>\n
If you click “Finish” and the software doesn’t launch and you run into any errors, it might be that you don’t have the Microsoft Visual C++ libraries installed on your computer. Apache and PHP won’t run without them.<\/span><\/p>\n
For Windows 64BIT: Install the Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package x64 : VC10 SP1 vcredist_x64.exe<\/a><\/p>\n
Depending on your local machine, you may have to install one or both of these files. If WampServer still doesn’t work, try installing Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n
If you continue to have any issues, check out the WampServer forums<\/a>.<\/p>\n
If any security warnings pop up, such as firewall warnings,\u00a0be sure to allow access otherwise the software won’t work.<\/p>\n
If you click “Finish” and the software does launch, a WampServer icon will appear in the systems tray.<\/p>\n
![\"System](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/system-tray.jpg\")
<\/a>A green WampServer icon means your servers are running.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The color of the WampServer icon allows you to quickly determine the status of your servers.<\/p>\n
- \n
- If the icon is red, the server isn’t running and is offline. You may need to restart WampServer or check out the WampServer forums for more help.<\/li>\n
- If it is orange, the server is partially running, i.e. Apache may be running and the MySQL service is offline. Click on the WampServer icon and check the service status next to Apache and MySQL to see if they are running. You may need to restart WampServer, and if it still doesn’t work, check out the WampServer forums.<\/li>\n
- If the icon is green, it means the server is running and you should be able to access localhost from your browser.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
To test it, go to “localhost” in your browser.<\/p>\n
![\"Localhost\"](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/localhost1-700x517.jpg\")
<\/a>Check that localhost is working by typing “localhost” into your browser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Setting Up Your MySQL Database<\/h2>\n
Before we install WordPress, we need a database.<\/p>\n
Click on the WampServer icon in your system tray and then click on phpMyAdmin.<\/p>\n
![\"phpMyAdmin\"](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/phpmyadmin.png\")
<\/a>Let’s create a new database for your WordPress installation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n A new browser window will automatically open with the phpMyAdmin interface.<\/p>\n
![\"XAMPP](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/xampp-phpmysql.jpg\")
<\/a>Click “phpMyAdmin” or go to “localhost\/phpmyadmin” in your browser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Click on \u201cDatabases\u201d near the top-left and you\u2019ll be prompted to create\u00a0a new database. I\u2019ve called mine \u201cWP\u201d.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019ve entered a name, click \u201cCreate\u201d and close the window.<\/p>\n
![\"XAMPP](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/xampp-database.jpg\")
<\/a>Quickly and easily set up a new MySQL database for WordPress.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Download and Install WordPress<\/h2>\n
Download\u00a0<\/a>the latest version of WordPress.<\/p>\n
In order to get WordPress working with WampServer you\u00a0need to unzip WordPress to the right folder. Extract WordPress to the\u00a0C:\/wamp\/www\/ folder.<\/span><\/p>\n
You can rename the WordPress folder whatever you like. I’m going to keep it as “wordpress.”<\/p>\n
![\"WordPress\"](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/wordpress.jpg\")
<\/a>Extract the latest version of WordPress to the “www “folder in “wamp.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Next, open your WordPress folder, find the\u00a0wp-config-sample.php<\/em>\u00a0file and\u00a0rename it\u00a0wp-config.php<\/span><\/em>. Open the file and scroll down until you see the following lines:<\/p>\n
![\"wp-config](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/wp-config-database-details1.png\")
<\/a>Update your wp-config.php file with your database details.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n These lines of code define the login details for your database. Replace\u00a0\u201cdatabase_name_here\u201d<\/em>\u00a0with the name of your database, which in my case is \u201cWP.\u201d<\/p>\n
Replace\u00a0\u201cusername_here\u201d<\/em>\u00a0with\u00a0\u201croot”\u00a0<\/em>and leave\u00a0“password_here”\u00a0<\/em>blank.<\/p>\n
Save the file and close it.<\/p>\n
Now we can get on with installing WordPress.<\/p>\n
Open your browser and go\u00a0to\u00a0http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/<\/span><\/p>\n
You should see the welcome screen for the famous five-minute WordPress installation process.<\/p>\n
![\"Famous](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/five-minute-install.png\")
<\/a>Set up WordPress using the famous five-minute install process.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Enter your details and click \u201cInstall WordPress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Your WordPress installation is now complete!<\/p>\n
Setting up WordPress Multisite<\/h2>\n
Setting up Multisite on localhost provides a quick and easy way to test\/develop themes and plugins away from a live site.<\/p>\n
Open your\u00a0wp-config.php<\/em>\u00a0file again and add\/edit the following lines to activate Multisite\u2019s installation mode:<\/p>\n
![\"Activate](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/edit-wpconfig.png\")
<\/a>Activate Multisite installation mode.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Click on the\u00a0WampServer icon in your system tray and ensure your Apache and MySQL servers are running.<\/p>\n
Login to your localhost site in your browser and under \u201cTools\u201d you will now have a new option, \u201cNetwork Setup.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Network](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/multisite-network-setup-700x462.png\")
<\/a>Enabling Multisite will add a new “Network Setup” sub-menu item to WordPress.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Enter a name for your network and your email address, then click \u201cInstall.\u201d<\/p>\n
WordPress will prompt you to edit your\u00a0wp-config.php<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0.htaccess<\/em>\u00a0files.<\/p>\n
Following the onscreen instructions, open\u00a0wp-config.php<\/em>\u00a0and add the following lines underneath your previous edit:<\/p>\n
![\"Multsite](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/multisite.png\")
<\/a>Edit your wp-config file to get Multisite up and running.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Next, open\u00a0.htaccess.<\/em> If you can\u2019t find it, make sure hidden files are displayed on your computer.<\/p>\n
Your\u00a0.htaccess<\/em>\u00a0file should look like this:<\/p>\n
- Installing WampServer<\/a><\/li>\n
![\"Edit](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/htaccess-edit.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Multisite](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/multisite-network.png\")
<\/a>