Do you want to create a local WordPress site on your computer using XAMPP? Installing WordPress on your computer helps you try out WordPress, test themes / plugins, and learn WordPress development. In this article, we will show you how to create a local WordPress site Using XAMPP.
Why Create a Local WordPress Site?
Creating local WordPress sites is a common practice among developers and site owners. It allows you to test WordPress without creating an actual website on the internet.
Local websites are only visible to you on your computer. You can try different WordPress themes and plugins, test their features, and learn the WordPress basics.
If you already have a WordPress website, then you can create a local copy of your website on your computer to try out new plugin updates before implementing them on your live website.
Important: Local website will only be visible to you on your computer. If you want to build a live WordPress site, then you will need a domain name and WordPress hosting. Follow the step by step instructions in our how to start a WordPress blog guide when you are ready to create a live website.
Having said that, let’s check out how to install WordPress locally on Windows, Mac, or Linux using XAMPP.
What is XAMPP?
In order to create a local WordPress site, you will need to set up a web server software (Apache), PHP, and MySQL on your computer.
PHP is a programming language and MySQL is a database management software. Both of them are required to run WordPress.
Installing each of these software separately is quite difficult for beginners. This is where XAMPP comes in.
XAMPP makes it easy for you to build WordPress websites locally. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux based computers.
Let’s get started.
Installing XAMPP on Your Computer
First, you need to visit the XAMPP website and click on the download button for your operating system.
Depending on your operating system, your installation wizard and the application interface may differ from the screenshots here. For the sake of this article, we will show you the Windows version of the software.
After downloading XAMPP, you will need to click and run the installer.
XAMPP will ask you where you want to install the software and which packages you’d like to install. The default settings will work for most users. Keep clicking on ‘Next’ to finish the setup wizard.
After finishing the wizard, check the ‘start the control panel now’ option and then click on the finish button.
This will launch the XAMPP control panel. Go ahead and click on the start button next to Apache and MySQL.
XAMPP will now start Apache and MySQL. You may see a Windows Firewall notification, it is important that you click on ‘Allow Access’ button for both applications to run on your computer.
Once both applications are started their names will be highlighted in Green.
You have successfully installed XAMPP on your computer.
Now you are ready to create a local website and install WordPress using XAMPP.
Creating a Local WordPress Site with XAMPP
First, you will need to download WordPress. Visit the WordPress.org website and click on the ‘Download WordPress’ button.
After downloading WordPress, you need to extract the zip file, and you will see a wordpress folder. You need to copy this folder.
Next, head over to your XAMPP installation folder.
On Windows it would be C:/Program Files/XAMPP/htdocs or C:\Xampp\htdocs folder.
On Mac, it will be /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs folder.
Paste the wordpress folder you copied earlier inside htdocs.
We recommend renaming the wordpress folder to website1. This will help you easily identify your local site.
Next, you need to open your favorite web browser and visit localhost/website1. You will see a page like this:
This page will tell you that WordPress needs a database name, database username, password, and host information.
Let’s create a database for your WordPress site.
You’ll need to open a new browser tab and visit localhost/phpmyadmin/. This will launch phpMyAdmin app that comes pre-installed with XAMPP. It allows you to easily manage your databases using a simpler interface.
You would need to click on Databases, provide a name for your new database, and then click on the create button to continue.
Now that you have created a database, you can use it for your WordPress site.
Switch back to /localhost/website1/ browser tab and click on the ‘Let’s Go’ button.
On the next screen, you will be asked to provide your WordPress database information.
Enter the database name you created earlier. Your username is ‘root’ and you should leave the password field blank. For the database host field, you need to use localhost.
See the screenshot below:
Once you are done, click on the ‘Submit’ button to continue.
If you are on Windows or Linux, WordPress will now store these settings in your WordPress configuration file called wp-config.php file.
However, if you are on Mac, then it will show you the contents of the file and will ask you to create it.
You will need to create this file in your website’s root folder.
After creating the file, paste the text you copied earlier inside it. Next, you need to save the file and return back to WordPress installer to continue.
In the next step, WordPress will ask you to provide information about your website. First, enter the title you want to use for this site.
After that you need to enter a username, password, and an email address for your admin account.
Once you have filled all the information, click on the ‘Install WordPress’ button to continue.
WordPress will now run the installation and prompt you to login once it’s done.
You can login to your website by going to /localhost/website1/wp-admin page and use the username / password that you entered during installation to login.
Things to Try After Creating a Local WordPress Site
Now that you have created your local WordPress site using XAMPP, you can work on it like you would do on a live WordPress site.
Head over to Appearance to customize your site’s appearance or install a new theme. Here are some great free themes that you can try.
The next thing you would want to try is WordPress plugins. Plugins are like apps for your WordPress site and allow you to add cool features like contact form, photo galleries, eCommerce store, etc.
Need help installing plugins? See our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After working on your local WordPress site you may want to move it to a live server. Head over to our step by step guide on how to move WordPress from local server to live site.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create a local WordPress site using XAMPP. You may also want to look at alternate ways to create local WordPress sites on Windows using Wampserver, and on Mac using MAMP.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Very helpful post, thanks for this..
You’re welcome
Good evening, thanks for the great work done here. I have followed these steps and I am unable to log in to my website. All I am getting is this. I am feed up already. Connection for controluser as defined in your configuration failed.
You would want to reach out to XAMPP’s support as there are multiple possible reasons from mysql not running to needing to reinstall xampp
Your site is so much helpful, had a great lesson here
You’re welcome, glad our site could be helpful
Assalam o Alikum Sir!
Currently, I am learning WordPress and want to build different websites like membership website, LMS, e-commerce store for learning best practices.
Can we create two different websites using localhost or any other free hosting?
For a local installation, you should only need to create a new database and folder for the second site, for free hosting you may want to first take a look at our page and the warning at the beginning here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/best-free-website-hosting-compared/
I followed the steps and it worked perfectly yesterday.
This morning, trying to connect to the localhost I received the following error:
“This site can’t be reached localhost refused to connect.
Search Google for localhost wordpress jack admin
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED”
Is your XAMPP running when you try to connect to your localhost?
Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked the article
Hello there,
I’ve followed all the steps given in the article but stuck when I click “Install WordPress”, it gives me an error > “The site is experiencing technical difficulties”
after setting Site Title, username, password, email.
Can you help me, please
There are a few possible reasons for that error message. To start resolving it you would want to go through the options in our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-wordpress-white-screen-of-death/
Thank you for this article. I am on the step where I need to open up the local site in a web browser but when I do, I get an error page saying “the local host has refused to connect.” I’m guessing I messed up on one of the former steps but I don’t know which one. I’m working on a Mac.
Any guidance would be appreciated!
If you are returning to the site you would want to ensure xampp is running when trying to view your local site
Hi
Thanks for this. Installation went 100%
I am trying to test Divi which has to be loaded from a zip file
I get this when I try to install it from aperance/upload theme
The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini.
Any solutions would be great
Charlie
You could increase the maximum upload size using:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-increase-the-maximum-file-upload-size-in-wordpress/
Another option would be to add the unziped theme folder where your themes are:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-install-a-wordpress-theme/
Thanks for your reply
I cannot log in on the FTP maybe because its on a local drive
I am trying to load the theme the way you say
and still get the error.I
I bought a new domain name so will try to load it live and work on it like that
Thanks again
Charlie
On a local site, you can use your built-in file manager rather than FTP to add the folder to your WordPress site
Hi, thanks for writing this article!
I have a question though:
I am at the step where I have to fill in a site title, username, password and email address for my admin account for WordPress. May I know whether the information that I use here should be the same as the information that I would use for my actual online WordPress account? I have an existing unlaunched WordPress site through Bluehost.
Thanks so much!
It is not required but if you’re creating a local site to test then it may be a good idea to set that as the same.
Thanks for help , best artical
You’re welcome
thanks for the great video. question. am i understanding the process correctly? 1) set up a test site (mysite1) But should i also set up a database/wp install for each client website that I build (and maintain)? I’m guessing yes.
Yes, you would want a different install and database for each local site
Great job, simple, straightforward. That’s exactly what a beginner, like me needs.
Thank you, glad our tutorial was helpful
Hi,i am very glad and grateful to you for this article. It was very simple and comprehensive,the photo illustrations helped me a lot. You are a great teacher,i hope i will be able to learn and share my knowlege with others like you soon,thanks.
Happy our articles can simplify this process for you
Thanks for such a nice guideline. I have successfully install wordpress on my local computer by the help of this post.
Glad our article could help
pls how can i move my xamp wordpress site to another computer
You would need to install XAMPP on the other computer and then you should be able to use the method in our guide: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-wordpress-to-a-new-host-or-server-with-no-downtime/
I’m trying to follow these instructions, I’ve downloaded both required files, but I do not get an htdocs folder within my applications with XAMPP. Am I doing something wrong?
too sloww…. any wat to speed up.
i am using mozillla browser
Hi there WPBEGINNER SUPPORT
Great article thank you
I was wondering… is it better to develop a wp website for a client live or better to build it locally then transfer it to the hosted wp site with duplicator or something similar?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Can’t figure this one out.
Thanks
André
Hi André Bruwer,
It depends on developers own preferences. If a site hasn’t been live before then they can work on it using a maintenance mode or coming soon plugin. However, more developers prefer to work locally and then transfer a website to a live server.
pls i want to move my wordpresite from my laptop to another laptop i use xamp as a local server
I was up and running within minutes. Thank you so much!!!
Hi, I am getting following error when I connect to localhost/website1
You don’t have permission to access /website1/ on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Hi, I get the following error when I access localhost/website1 –
You don’t have permission to access /website1/ on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
your article is very helpful for wp beginner.
Thanks for the Knowledge but how can i make it live through Xampp. Let us know if theres any tutorial
yes there is a way to put your localhost online, you should redirect your domain name to your computer’s ip address
Hi,
I followed your tutorial and created a wordpress site. How can I create another local wordpress site with this setup?
Thanks. Simple and Straightforward
Hi Guy. Your tutorial is very straightforward. I liked it. Very clear and easy to follow. Tkanks
Very straight forward tutorial! Thank you.
Very helpful tutorial for me… Thank you so much
hi, i have been able to login to wordpress using xampp, but when i click on the themes area i only see three themes. when i try to install a new theme, im notified that there is an error. please i need your help.
This article was really helpful for me . Hope You will be doing good works like this for us in future ..
Thanks
Hi Team
I have problem with xampp server once installation itz working fine after shutdown if am going to using again in the xamm server buttons not working
it asking again and again tomcat file….please let me know how to fix it
you’r article was really helpful. i do have a query for you though, what should i do if i wanted to extract my wordpress live website so i could use it in future.
Hi,
Thanks for your article really helpful. Everything works fine, installation etc., but I try to install a theme on my WP and i got this message ”The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize in php.ini.” What can I do to install my theme??
Thank you to help me.
Mario Bergeron
Hi Mario,
Please see our guide on how to increase maximum file size upload limit in WordPress.
Hi ALL,
im stuck at localhost/website1 …it will give the error page
This site can’t be reached
localhost refused to connect.
Search Google for localhost website1
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED
Please help
Make sure your apache and mysql is running. Then try again
Hello WordPress, I have installed and used Xampp yesterday and it worked very fine but whike trying to open and use it today, its taking back to the installation process and asking for a new storage location. How do I go about this?
Sir , when i try opening localhost/website1
then something else opens which is not similar to yours.
that is showing index of website ..
what should i do now
Hi Ayush,
Restart XAMPP and then try again.
When I finish with a website and wish to build another different website, how do I go about it? Thanks.
Hi Stanley,
Create a new folder for your website inside htdocs folder and repeat all the steps mentioned under ‘Creating a Local WordPress Site with XAMPP’ section.
Great tutorial, and works 99% for Linux. (I had to create wp-config.php manually for some reason).
Only other issue: trying to use the Elementor Page Builder plugin, but it requires an FTP login/password. Tried starting FTP server, but can’ figure out how to configure it so that I can give Elementor FTP access/download the plugin.
(Hope this makes sense).
nice and practically perfect. can i add email functionality here installing gmail smtp or wp smtp plugin
This was so easy to follow. Thank you very much,
When I want to upload a theme in my new wordpress I get this error: ‘The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini.’
Can I do anything about this?
Hi Jane,
Please see our guide on how to increase maximum file upload size in WordPress.
Thank you! Wonderfully detailed step-by-step instructions. Was able to install WordPress on my local machine without a problem. Much appreciated.
I am having the same problem James had:
Hi! I have successfully installed my xamp server, wordpress and database. My question is, after logging in to wordpress, I cannot see any dashboard panel wherein I can edit my themes and install plugins. Please help! Thanks.
Has anyone found a solution?
Thanks!
Hi, I have issues at login, when I try to log on, wp server says its invalid, what can I do?
Hi! I have successfully installed my xamp server, wordpress and database. My question is, after logging in to wordpress, I cannot see any dashboard panel wherein I can edit my themes and install plugins. Please help! Thanks.
when I am submitting my data base name,username and password it is saying try again i have written each and every thing right name
Leave the password space blank
To anyone having an issue with the localhost/website1 link not working, how I got it to work (on mac, might work for windows) was heading over to the Network tab in XAMPP and pressing enable. Then I took the port number (in my case it was localhost:8080) and then added that to the url. It looked like localhost:8080/website1.
Good luck!
Dani, Thanks so much for your post. I was having the same issue. After reading your post, I was able to get to the next step. few!
I have set up the WordPress website, but yet i am still having issues upload some plugins that come with the themes i want to use. How do i get to correct this?
Thanks
Thanks you so much.. Your step by step contents helps me lot.
Thanks you so much ..
But i have faced one problem, after putting WordPress files into htdocs, i went to my browser and searched for “localhost/WordPress ” and i got ” error 404 Object not found ” how can i please fix that problem?
Thanks
Did you start services in your local server(xamp)? if not please navigate xamp control panel and make sure that you start apache and mysql services