Do you want to install WordPress on your Windows computer locally?
Working with WordPress on your computer allows you to test new WordPress features, learn how to develop with WordPress, and make websites before migrating them to the live server.
In this article, we will show you how to properly install WordPress on a Windows computer using two different methods. This will work on Windows 8, Windows 10, and other versions of Windows as well.
Why You Should Install WordPress on Windows?
Installing WordPress locally on your computer gives you a testing environment that doesn’t affect your live website or blog. A WordPress install on your computer is also referred to as a local server or localhost.
Normally, WordPress developers use local WordPress install to develop their WordPress plugins and themes.
Beginner users can also install WordPress on their computers to learn WordPress, test new WordPress themes and plugins, and experiment without affecting a live website.
Note: If you install WordPress locally on Windows, then the only person who can see that site is you.
If you want to make a website that is available to the public, then you need to have a domain name and web hosting. We recommend that you follow this guide on how to start a WordPress blog.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to properly install WordPress on a Windows computer. We’ll show you 2 easy ways, so you can click the link below to jump ahead to any section you’re interested in:
- Method 1: Install WordPress on Windows Using Local WP
- Method 2: Install WordPress on Windows Using WampServer
Install WordPress on Windows Using Local WP
Local WP, formerly known as Local by Flywheel, is a local web software that lets you host a website on your computer instead of a staging or live server.
First, you need to download and install the Local WP software on your Windows computer. Simply go to the Local WP website and click the ‘Download for Free’ button.
After that, a popup window will appear where you’ll need to select your platform.
Go ahead and choose ‘Windows’ from the dropdown menu.
Next, you can enter your details like first and last name, work email address, and phone number to download the software.
Upon entering the details, simply click the ‘Get it Now’ button.
After that, you can download the software on your computer. Once it’s downloaded, go ahead and launch the setup wizard.
Now you’ll need to select whether you’d like to install the software for all users or only you. Once you’ve selected an option, click the ‘Next’ button.
In the next step, you can select the ‘Destination Folder’ where the software will be installed.
Simply click the ‘Browse’ button to set the path and then click the ‘Install’ button.
The Local WP software will now install on your Windows computer.
Once it’s done, you can check the ‘Run Local’ checkbox and click the ‘Finish’ button in the setup wizard.
The software will now launch on your Windows device.
The next step is to add a new local website. To do that, simply click the plus (+) button at the bottom.
After that, you can create a site in the Local software.
Go ahead and select the ‘Create a New Site’ option and click the ‘Continue’ button.
Next, you can enter a name for your local website like wordpresslocalsite.
There are also advanced options where you can enter the local site domain and local site path. If you’re just starting out, then we recommend keeping the default settings.
Once you’re done, simply click the ‘Continue’ button.
After that, you will need to choose an environment for your local website.
You can use the ‘Preferred’ environment where the software will automatically select the PHP version, web server, and MySQL version. On the other hand, you can also select ‘Custom’ and enter the environment details.
For this tutorial, we’ll use the Preferred settings and click the ‘Continue’ button.
Next, you can enter a WordPress username and password for your local website. Plus, there’s also an option to choose a WordPress email address where you’ll receive all the email notifications.
There’s also an advanced option where the software will ask whether you have a WordPress multisite network.
After entering these details, simply click the ‘Add Site’ button.
The software will now install WordPress and set up your website.
To launch the local website, go ahead and click the ‘WP Admin’ button in the software.
Next, you’ll see the WordPress admin login page.
Simply enter the username and password you entered earlier when setting up the local website and then click the ‘Log In’ button.
You can now edit your local website on your Windows computer.
When you’re done, don’t forget to stop the website from the Local WP software by clicking the ‘Stop site’ button.
Install WordPress on Windows Using WampServer
WampServer or WAMP is a compilation of Apache web server, PHP and MySQL bundled for Windows computers.
All of them are separate open-source software. However, installing them separately is not quite easy even for experienced users. Software like WampServer allows you to easily install them and have a working local environment within minutes.
First, you need to download the WAMP software and install it on your computer. Simply go to the WampServer website and click on the ‘Start Using WampServer’ button.
It will take you to the downloads section. You’ll see two versions here: WampServer 32 bits and WampServer 64 bits.
You need to select the WampServer version that matches the operating system type of your Windows computer.
To find out whether you are using a 32 or 64-bit operating system, simply search for ‘Control Panel’ in the search bar in the Start taskbar.
After that, you can go to System and Security » System on your computer. There you will be able to see your System Type.
Now that you know your Windows operating system type, simply select the correct WampServer software version.
When you click the download button, a form will open asking for your personal details. If you don’t want to provide this information, go ahead click the ‘you can download it directly’ link.
Once downloaded, you can click on the WampServer execution file to run the installation.
Now select a language from the dropdown menu and click the ‘OK’ button.
In the next step, you’ll see the License Agreement.
Go ahead and select the ‘I accept the agreement’ option and click the ‘Next’ button.
After that, the setup wizard will show information about the WampServer installation.
You can simply click the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Next, you can select the destination location where the software will be installed.
To change the default location, go ahead and click the ‘Browse’ button and choose your preferred folder. When you’re done, click the ‘Next’ button.
The setup wizard will ask you to select different components you’d like to install. These include the PHP versions, MySQL versions, and more.
You can also keep the default options and click the ‘Next’ button to move forward.
Next, you can select a start menu folder. Go ahead and click the ‘Browse’ button to choose a different folder.
Once you’ve selected a folder, click the ‘Next’ button to continue.
The software will now be ready to install. You can see a summary of the destination location, setup type, selected components, and more.
Go ahead and click the ‘Install’ button.
During the installation process, you need to define the location of the web browser. By default, it will be Internet Explorer.
You can change that to Google Chrome or any other web browser by locating it in the Program Files of your computer.
Similarly, it will also ask if you’d like to use Notepad when using WampServer.
After that, the setup wizard will show information about how WampServer works.
Go ahead and click the ‘Next’ button.
You’ve now successfully installed WampServer on your Windows device.
Simply click the ‘Finish’ button to exit the setup wizard.
Once installed, you can launch the WampServer from your desktop shortcut or from the destination location where you installed the software.
The next thing you need to do is to create a blank MySQL database.
On launching WampServer, you’ll see a green icon at the bottom right corner of your screen along with other icons. Simply left-click on it and then click on phpMyAdmin (a web-based application to manage MySQL databases).
Note: If the WampServer icon is red or yellow, then it means the services (Apache, MySQL, PHP) are not running. You need to start the services by clicking on the icon before setting up the database.
It will take you to the phpMyAdmin login screen on your web browser.
Simply enter the username: root and leave the password field blank. These are the default credentials to login into your localhost phpMyAdmin.
Click on the ‘Go’ button to continue.
Once logged in, you need to click on Databases in phpmMyAdmin to create a new database for WordPress.
It will ask you to choose a name for your new database (we named ours test_db). After that, click on the ‘Create’ button.
Your database is ready which means you can now install WordPress on localhost.
The next thing you need to do is download the latest version of WordPress from the WordPress.org website. It will download as a zip file.
Next, you need to extract the zip file and copy the ‘wordpress’ folder.
For this tutorial, we are using WinRAR to unzip the file. Simply click the ‘Extract To’ option at the top.
Now you need to navigate to the folder where you installed WAMP.
In this tutorial, we installed WAMP in C:\wamp64, so we’ll refer to that folder going forward. However, keep in mind that it may be different for you depending on where you installed the program.
Paste the ‘wordpress’ folder into the C:\wamp64\www folder.
You can rename the ‘wordpress’ folder to anything you want, such as mysite, testsite, etc. This will be the URL of your local WordPress site, so be sure to choose something you’ll remember easily.
For the sake of this tutorial, we renamed the folder from wordpress to mysite.
Next, you can open the web browser and go to http://localhost/mysite/ and click on ‘wordpress’ folder.
First, it’ll ask you to select a language and then show you the database setup information.
After selecting a language, click the ‘Continue’ button.
Next, you’ll see a welcome to WordPress notice.
Once you have read it carefully, go ahead and click on the ‘Let’s go’ button to continue.
After that, you need to enter your database details like database name, username, password, host, and table prefix.
The database name will be the one that you entered in the previous step. In our case, we called it ‘test_db’. The username will be ‘root’, and you can leave the password field blank. You can also leave the database host and table prefix as-is.
Next, click on the ‘Submit’ button and WordPress will create a configuration file for you in the backend.
On the next screen, you will see a success message stating that WordPress is connected to your database, and you can proceed with the installation.
Go ahead and click on the ‘Run the installation’ button to continue.
It will take you to the welcome screen for WordPress. You need to add a title for your new WordPress website, choose an admin username, enter a strong password, and provide an admin email address.
Once you’re ready, click on the ‘Install WordPress’ button.
After the installation process is complete, you’ll see a success message. In the background, WordPress has created new tables in your database and it’s ready to use.
You can then proceed to your WordPress dashboard by clicking on the ‘Log In’ button.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed WordPress on a Windows computer using WampServer.
Simply login to your WordPress admin panel and start editing your site in a local environment.
Enabling Pretty Permalinks in WAMP
The new version of WordPress doesn’t break your local site by changing the permalinks setting.
However, if you still see the ‘page not found’ error on your pages after changing the permalinks from Settings » Permalinks in WordPress, then simply follow our guide on how to enable custom permalinks in WAMP.
Bonus: Migrating WordPress from Local to Live
We’ve also written a separate guide on how to move WordPress from local server to a live site. Hopefully, you’ll find it helpful when you are ready to deploy your local site to production.
Having a local server environment is great for learning and testing purposes. However, if you want to start a WordPress blog for other people to see, then you do not need to install WordPress on your computer. You need to install WordPress on a WordPress hosting provider.
We hope this article helped you learn how to install WordPress on a Windows computer. You may also want to see our guide on WordPress SEO and how to start an online store.
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.
Kylie says
I have installed wampserver and have a green light. When I right click I can not find any button called phpadmin. And when I type localhost/phpadmin in my browser I am getting this message.
The requested URL was not found on this server.
Apache/2.4.51 (Win64) PHP/7.4.26 Server at localhost Port 80
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to left-click on WAMP’s icon for phpmyadmin, when you go through that route it should show what your URL is set to if it is not properly set under localhost.
Admin
Layla says
I’ve done this and started work on one pc but this now needs to go for repair and will be away a while. If I am to install this on a second pc, what files do I need to transfer over so I can continue working on the same website on the other pc? Feeling a bit dumb here that I can’t figure it out myself.
WPBeginner Support says
We would recommend following our guide below for transferring your site to a different computer to continue working on it. While the article is for live sites, the method should still work for your local installation.
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-live-wordpress-site-to-local-server/
Admin
Layla says
Thank you so much! That worked perfectly and was so simple!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad we could help!
Renata says
I installed Wamp Server and C++ Redistributable 2012, 2013 and 2015 but when I try to open it it opens 4 black windows and then it shuts down. What should I do
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to check in the bottom right with your hidden icons, WAMP does not have a window pop up by default but would add an icon there for your options with WAMP
Admin
Hosea says
Straightforward and to the point guide. Followed it and achieved exactly what I wanted. Great and helpful write-up.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you found our guide helpful
Admin
Ibrahim Yusuff says
Thanks for this invaluable guide. The issue of having is with the wamp download. The language is in French and each time i try to change it it goes back to french which i do not understand. i filled all the necessary information but to click on download it changes back to french. pls help me out on this
WPBeginner Support says
They currently have a popup that is French when selecting the file to download but at the end of the first paragraph you should see a link to download directly without having to deal with the popup
Admin
prilla kobugabe says
hello, i need some help. when i put this localhost/mysite/ in my web browser it responds negatively saying
“The requested URL was not found on this server.
Apache/2.4.41 (Win64) PHP/7.3.12 Server at localhost Port 80”
WPBeginner Support says
If you have restarted your computer since installing WAMP you would want to ensure that WAMP is running as that is the most common cause of that specific error.
Admin
Ronnie Ferrer says
You are legend guys! Thanks.
Francis Guchie says
Thank you so much for this very nice article for beginners
prakoo says
api-ms-win-crt-string-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer it shows error?
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to ensure you install Visual C++ Pro for the most common solution to that error.
Admin
Melissa says
Hi – I have WAMP installed locally on my Windows 10 machine running PHP version: 7.3.12. I want to upgrade to PHP 7.4 – do I need to reinstall WAMP or can I update PHP separately?
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to click on the WAMP icon, and check under PHP, Version and depending on when you installed WAMP there should be the option to change versions by clicking on the version you want to use.
Admin
melissa says
thanks – this was perfect advice!
Holly says
Thanks for this article! It is the best and most straight-forward one I’ve come across, it’s very helpful and detailed. Keep up the great work! As a beginner, I really appreciate it.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you found our guide helpful
Admin
Jules Ivan says
This is awesome! Thank you for making this article!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you found our guide helpful
Admin
Ben says
While installing, I got a System error that says ”The code execution cannot proceed because MSVCR120.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem'”
How can I get this done please
WPBeginner Support says
You need to install Visual C++ Redistributable that we link to in the article
Admin
Diya says
I have installed wordpress in wamp and completed my first website. I have got another project now. So for the second website how should I start?Should I install wordpress again in a second “mysite2” folder?
WPBeginner Support says
You can certainly do that for the most common method for creating a new site.
Admin
saheed says
im receiving myssqld.exe- system error. how do i fix it
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to ensure you installed Visual C++ Redistributable
Admin
Tom Bauer says
WAMP64 will not install on a win7 64 machine.
WPBeginner Support says
Unless we hear otherwise, you can install it on Windows 7 still, depending on the error you are running into, you may need to reach out to WAMP’s support.
Admin
Paul says
Great instructions, thanks.
Everything installed fine, just have a problem this morning in trying to log into the browser. Every setting I have tried hasn’t worked.
I know I am being thick but could you confirm what I should be typing in the browser to access the program.
Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
As we state in the article, it should be something similar to localhost/mysite. You would also want to ensure WAMP is running for the most common reason for that issue.
Admin
Peter says
I was having similar issue as others. All went well until I got to the point with Apache not running. The issue was with Port 80 it was used by something else (not skype) so I went to Tools > Use other port than 80 I added the port 8080. Then it all worked however then when you want to access your website you can’t use localhost/mysite/ but localhost:8080/mysite/ since you changed the default port.
I didn’t find this in the comments. Maybe it will help someone.
WPBeginner Support says
Thanks for sharing what helped you with this issue
Admin
Bas says
Hi, thanks for the tutorial. I completed it, and it works like a charm. But now my question is: how do I get my “real” live website data in the local test environment? Is there some way to export that and import it into the local test environment?
WPBeginner Support says
For that, you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-live-wordpress-site-to-local-server/
Admin
Mahima Pandey says
here i have downloaded the wordpress file and done everything according to the given instruction . but lastly stuck in the localhost address bar
localhost/servername in the internet explore has to be typed to get to wordpress. but what to be type for google ,firefox. pls lhelp me with this its really urgent.
WPBeginner Support says
You should be able to type that same address on any internet browser to see the site on your local computer. If you wanted to have your site found online, you would want to look into a domain and hosting provider.
Admin
Konstantinos Paturas says
Thank you so much.
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome
Admin
Armel says
Thanks for this useful article. I successfully installed WordPress using Wamp. But, I get this message. “Installation failed: there has been a critical error on your website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions. Learn more about debugging in WordPress.”
Please, how can i fix it ?
WPBeginner Support says
For that error, you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-wordpress-white-screen-of-death/
Admin
Hoat Le says
Dear WPBeginner Support;
I read your tut very carefully, and didn’t see you mention about VirtualHost in WampServer, so I don’t know if I have to create a Virtual Host for my test site.
WPBeginner Support says
It can make URLs closer to what you would expect from a site but it is not a requirement and can be difficult for beginners to set up.
Admin
Shani says
Hello,
Thank you so much for this article!
You’ve really helped me!
I’m interested to know now how to login to my site when I go on wordpress.
WPBeginner Support says
If you can navigate to your WordPress site then you would add /wp-admin to the end, we cover a few more options in our article below that you can also try:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-find-your-wordpress-login-url/
Admin
mimi says
I followed the process accordingly but when i click on the green WAMP icon in order to create a blank MySQL database nothing pops up
WPBeginner Support says
The most common reason for that would be if you didn’t install the C++ redistributable if you have not done that.
Admin
Aminat says
Thanks a lot, really helpful
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome
Admin
Dav says
Hi,
I have installed as per instructions but I am getting an error trying to log into
ERROR: Failed to set session cookie. Maybe you are using HTTP instead of HTTPS to access phpMyAdmin.
What am I doing wrong?
WPBeginner Support says
That is likely a hiccup with either your browser cache or a browser addon, we would recommend clearing your cache or trying to use an incognito browser to see if that helps resolve the issue.
Admin
Dav says
Thanks, that works
Nathan Zindikilani says
Hi, thank you for the article. when i try to open my local host site i get the following error; There has been a critical error on your website.this is after pasting ‘wordpress’ to www folder. how may i solve this
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to ensure the file is unzipped, if it is you may want to try reading a fresh WordPress download to the folder to see if there was a hiccup with your download.
Admin
Spyros says
Hi, i need your help please, i follow all the steps in your detailed article but i saw a message “can’t select database We were able to connect to the database server (which means your username and password is okay) but not able to select the test_db database and some other that i believe you know”.
Thanks in advance!
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to ensure there are no typos in the database name you set, it looks like it is not able to find a database with the name given.
Admin
Raheel says
I am getting “Error establishing a database connection”
Any help here please
WPBeginner Support says
For common solutions to that error, you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-error-establishing-a-database-connection-in-wordpress/
Admin
Steve says
Hi,
I have installed WAMP and created a WordPress site on my computer – thanks for your excellent guide. I used “mysite” as in your example to stay consistent with you as I built my software kingdom. Now that things are looking good, is it possible to simply rename the “mysite” folder (which is inside “www” to my preferred name, or is it more complicated than that? I’m trying to avoid starting over. Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
We would recommend staying with the format you’ve set up already if possible and once you have hosting ready we would recommend taking a look at our guide below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-wordpress-from-local-server-to-live-site/
Admin
Francesco says
Hi,
Can I use this system to test a previous back up I did via the server control panel?
I have a zip file which is a mirror of my directory on the server, including database and WP-admin file.
I would line to test if the backup I have works fine and possible run it on a precioys version of the WP
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to check with the tool you are using for the specifics but it should allow you to do what you’re wanting.
Admin
Melissa T says
Installed WAMP and WordPress – thanks for the wonderfully detailed instructions! So now it’s time to create the web site — is there a guide on wpbeginner for that?
thank you!
WPBeginner Support says
There are many different types of sites so there is no complete guide but for a starting point you may want to take a look at our article below. Step 3 and beyond in the guide should help.
https://www.wpbeginner.com/guides/
Admin
kwestyon says
First, thank you so much for the guide! It’s working. Second, is there a way wherein after you create the website, would there a way to view the site after you clicked the published button. Sorry for the dumb question.
WPBeginner Support says
If you are logged in, in the top right you should be able to open the dropdown that has your site title, and there you should find a link to view your site.
Admin
Yomi says
Hello,
If I install WordPress on a localhost based on the content of this blog, will I be able to use plugins like woocommerce, elementor, astra & kadence?
Thank you.
WPBeginner Support says
Yes, installing locally you would be able to use plugins and page builders like those on your site
Admin
Lisa says
Hi,
I am at the point where I would put localhost/mysite/ in the browser. I am getting the “404 not found error”.
I named the copy of wordpress to wamp the same and have double checked the address to see if it’s typed in correctly. This still happens, what am I doing wrong?
Thanks!
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to ensure you’re not running into the Skype error where it is trying to use port 80 while WAMP is.
Admin
WPBeginner Support says
Currently, the WAMP website is down which is why we’ve added a different link and included a note above and are working on updating this article as quickly as we are able
Admin
mark says
WAMP link redirects to a different site.
Faten says
Hi team,
I followed the guide but when I go to local host/my site/ I have this error: your don’t have permission to access my site on this server.
Can you please help?
My folders are in this order: c/wamp/www folder/mysite, is that correct?
WPBeginner Support says
That is the correct location, you would want to ensure WAMP is running when you see that specific error message.
Admin
Sam says
Our published website was created using an older versions of WP, themes, and plugins. I would like to test against the latest versions of WP, themes, and plugins on a local PC installation.
If I backup the website data from the live online WP account using UpdraftPLus, can I restore the files on the local installation to test against the latest versions of WP, themes, and plugins?
If not, what is the most effective method to do so?
Thank you so much!
WPBeginner Support says
You can do that or you could create a staging environment here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-staging-environment-for-a-wordpress-site/
Admin
Jerelyn says
Hi, the WampServer link (website) has not been working the past few days. Is there an alternative place to get it? Thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
Not that we would recommend at the moment, hopefully, the issues on the site at the moment are resolved and the site starts working again soon.
Admin
Harry says
I am trying to do the localhost/mysite/ part but every time I search this it says url not found how do I put the WordPress folder with the WAMP folder
WPBeginner Support says
You would go to where you installed WAMP on your computer, and place the mysite folder inside the www folder
Admin
Jyoti says
I installed WAMP and able to see a GREEN icon in system tray.
But i am not able to see anything when i click on that icon.No PHP database nothing at all.I uninstalled and reinstalled but didn’t work.
Would you please help?
thank you so much.
WPBeginner Support says
You would normally want to enter localhost in your browser while the green W is in your icon tray to find that
Admin
Pete says
I installed WampServer, but it wouldn’t run. All I saw was a couple of windows with command prompts briefly appear and then disappear.
WPBeginner Support says
You should see the WAMP icon if you expand your icon tray in the bottom right
Admin
HSM says
it happened with me, and solved it like that:
when entering the database name, and user name,
you may forgot and left the default password as written “Password”
(as happened with me)
without change it to a private password or at least remove the word “Password” and keep the field of password blank,
WPBeginner Support says
Thanks for sharing the issue you ran into should others have this issue
Admin
Tracy De says
Thanks for this. I was having trouble at this point. Have reinstalled everything and couldn’t work out what I was doing wrong.
Bain Dom says
Can I install WordPress plugins in this WordPress on Windows 10 environment?
WPBeginner Support says
Unless the plugin specifies otherwise(mainly plugins that connect to 3rd party services), you would be able to use plugins on a local installation
Admin
Chloe says
Hi, I followed this guide a few weeks ago and set up the very beginnings of a test site. I now can’t remember or work out how to get back to editing the site! It’s maddening as I can launch WAMP, go to localhost/testsite/ and view the site I made but please can someone let me know how to enter editing mode!! Many thanks
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to add /wp-admin to be able to log into your local installation of WordPress to be able to start editing it again
Admin
Kathleen says
Thank you!!! Exactly what I needed to develop before making a site live
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Kathleen says
Installed Wamp with no trouble thanks to your concise directions. However, after creating my database and starting the WP install I get this message:
“We were able to connect to the database server (which means your username and password is okay) but not able to select the ericajlester database.” I have been over and over checking everything to make sure the information is correct, but WP will not connect to the database. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you for such great information and support!
WPBeginner Support says
The most common reason for this would be a typo in your database name, you would want to ensure the database information and prefix are both correct compared to what you have set
Admin
Alexis says
Thank you so much!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome
Admin