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.
Syed Balkhi says
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Pulkit says
Thank you so much for this tutorial, it will surely help me a lot
Dubba Ramesh says
Very nice tutorial.
its very use full to me..
thank you very much…..
Pradeep says
Thank you very much. I was facing trouble earlier doing it and here detailed yet simple steps lead me to finish it. Great work keep doing it.
alex says
hi
i do it like u.
but when i fiill everu thing and wana to go to next page to finish set uo the page is wite and dosnt show any thing !!!
i can see the admin page : 127.0.0.1/wp-login.php but the username and password dosnt work !!
what do i do ??
thx
Yvonne says
Need help please….
I’ve downloaded wamp and did some set up (followed other instructions on youtube), it is now “online” but when I tried to access phpMyAdmin, it says “#1045 – access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’, can anyone give me some advice, please?
Thank you so much!!!
sarvesh maurya says
I have install wamp server and my wordpress also works very well,
But,
When i going to install any theme or plugin to my wordpress it doesn’t install properly and showing error message in table form which is not understandable for me…………
solve this problem please…….
it is very important……
REPLY FAST PLEASE….
WPBeginner Support says
What error message do you see?
Admin
Skippy McGregor says
If you’re having issues with this, run WAMP as an administrator (right click from start menu > run as administrator). The icon in the notification area needs to be green.
John says
Thank you, I am using Sitegorund servers, but it was very nice to learn how to work offline!
Marcia says
Three years ago, I spent days of my life trying to get WordPress running on my computer. I managed to make it work, but the process was very, very painful.
This time around, I followed your concise, clear and excellent instructions. The result: quick and pain-free success. Thank you !!!
WPBeginner Support says
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you found this helpful.
Admin
Wayne says
Hi there, Worked great. I did find that I was getting a 404 when trying to view the site localhost/mysite/ but when I tried in Chrome Incognito it worked fine. Also, it appears that the configuration file is now created automatically while using WordPress 4.4.1.
Thanks for the tutorial.
Andrew says
I’ve installed wordpress into the www folder, Apache is running but when I try with localhost/worpress/ we get a 404 error, how can we fix this?
Tunde says
Thank you very much for this tutorial. It works perfectly.
René Rijlart says
Helpfulllllll
Chris says
I hate this open source garbage. I can never get it to work. I follow the freaking examples perfectly, and I get all kinds of errors and stuff doesn’t work… WordPress and WAMP is freaking CRAP!!!
Peter says
Funny comment … Just followed the instructions, downloaded WordPress, and reached the Dashboard. Everything worked smoothly and quickly — five minutes at most. And I am 80 years old — by rights I should be the one to have been lost …
samar says
thanks
it’s helpful
Ryan says
Sorry, I need a wp-config-sample.php file to work from. Please re-upload this file to your WordPress installation.
How can I resolve this. I have edited and renamed the wp-config.php file but things cant just work for me. Its been two days now. I cant make progress
WPBeginner Support says
Download a fresh copy of WordPress to your computer. Unzip the file and then go to WordPress folder. Inside the folder you will find wp-config-sample.php file. You can now upload this file to your website using an FTP client.
Admin
Chris says
Hi guys, I also had an issue with the getting a 404 error and permission error. I misinterpreted the text so in case anyone else has done the same let me paraphrase the following paragraph:
“Download a copy of WordPress from WordPress.org. Extract the zip file and copy the wordpress folder. Go to C:\wamp\www and paste wordpress folder there. You can rename the wordpress folder to anything you want for example mysite, wpbeginner, etc”
1) After installing WAMP, in the windows GUI navigate to ‘C:/wamp/www’
2) The drop the extracted WordPress folder (not just the loose files).
I was doing it wrong; I was dropping the loose files from inside WordPress into the www folder and changing the name. It seems this is incorrect.
Enjoy!!
Chris says
I installed WAMPServer, clicked on phpMyAdmin, then in the browser I got:
Server Error in ‘/’ Application.
Access is denied.
Description: An error occurred while accessing the resources required to serve this request. The server may not be configured for access to the requested URL.
Error message 401.2.: Unauthorized: Logon failed due to server configuration. Verify that you have permission to view this directory or page based on the credentials you supplied and the authentication methods enabled on the Web server. Contact the Web server’s administrator for additional assistance.
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.34274
tomi says
Hello
When I run http://localhost/mysite/ I get a 404 error. I have no idea how to fix it and could use some help:)
Screenshoted issue: http://prntscr.com/9ft5z6
Thanks in advance!
WPBeginner Support says
Make sure apache is running on your computer. If you are using Wamp or Xamp then you can see apache status in your taskbar.
Admin
Sohail Nawaz says
thankyou very much.
Soph Desharnais says
Great tutorial. No issues and was set up in less than 10 minutes. Thank you.
Tasneem says
Hi
Thank you sooo much for this awesome tut, I also have the followup one bookmarked for moving localhost site to live. I am now all set up with my test site on my local server. No more building websites with a maintenance plugin needed!
My question is, do I have to create a new database and new wordpress site for every new site I build, or can I just clean out and reuse this same test_db and localhost/testsite that I created if I don’t need it anymore? what do you guys do?
WPBeginner Support says
It is better to create a new test site for any new project.
Admin
Nadia says
Hello, thank you for that great tutorial! It works almost perfectly for me. The only problem I have is that I am not allowed to upload images by grad and drop in the media library. I’ve got javascript error “Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property ‘appendChild’ of null – load-scripts.php:22”
That said it’s not a problem of the upload itself because I am able to upload images via “Media” > “Add New”.
Is it only my problem? I’ll be really grateful for any assistance with it. Thanks!
WPBeginner Support says
Please try deactivating all plugins and then adding an image using drag and drop. If this resolves your issue, then one of the plugins installed on your site is conflicting with WordPress core.
Admin
Nadia says
Thank you for the prompt reply! NO plugins at all, fresh wp 4.3.1 installation
Nadia says
I resolved this by installing XAMPP instead of Wampserver. I had issues with XAMPP as well, and learned to run it as administrator in my Windows 8. It fixed the issues and maybe there was the similar one with the Wampserver.
Anwar Manha says
Hi
I tried the exact step but thrown by the below error, could you please advise
( ! ) Warning: require(C:\wamp\www\test1/wp-includes/load.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\wamp\www\test\wp-settings.php on line 21
Call Stack
Daniel says
Hi, i have made a website using the WAMP-server.
When try to acess the website from my phone to check the responsivness, all i get is the the text from the website. No styling or pictures are shown.
Is there any type of settings that i have to enable?
John van Rems says
Maybe I’m stupid but after installing the Wampserver I try to open phpMyAdmin to setup a database but instate of getting a page like the example the browserpage is empty… Logic I guess because Apage doesn’t run so I can’t see php pages on a local machine.
I try to run it on Windows 10 Can you tell me what’s wrong?
John
John van Rems says
Problem solved by correcting te Windows 10 Internetport to 8080
Now to find out how to connect the php db to my wordpress
tsega says
hi
Nice post. I find it helpful but i wonder how can i use my own them. Can you give as your expertise on that ?
Keith in Winchester says
A full day of headbanging and I was just about to give up when I found this invaluable site. Could not have been made easier. Follow the well laid out instructions and you will find it a breeze. Great work and Many Thanks.
Medha says
Thank you so much, this really helped!
John says
Hi,
I followed all the instructions up to the point where i go through my web browser to localhost/mysite. I get the error “wp-seetings.php is missing” however the link you provided to create a configuration file is empty. How do i create “wp-settings.php”?
Thanks
Ahsan says
Thanks guys, it was surely a great help!
sandeep says
thank you so much. very good tutorial.
Mike says
This is a real beauty! Thanks so much. I know HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, a very little MySQL — no genius at some of it, but I know what I’m doing. But an organization I’m involved with may wind up using WordPress and I’ve never liked these WYSIWYGs. Since I do want to learn the stuff, though, I wanted to give it a swing on localhost rather than messing up my own GoDaddy- and Netfirms-hosted domains.
Just follow your directions and this installs beautifully. One question, though. Is there any particular book you’d recommend? I was particularly looking at the Dummies All-in-One and the Missing Manuals books. Is one better than the other? Or do you recommend a third alternative? I don’t want to buy a whole library full of this stuff for a technology I may never use that much except for helping this organization with upkeep.
WPBeginner Support says
Check out WordPress Books section on our website.
Admin
Liana says
after I click on the phpadmin all I get is a blank page with nothing on it :/
raydy says
Hi There, Thanks for the tutorial
however, i encounter with this problem for localhost/mysite/
Not Found
The requested URL /mysite/ was not found on this server.
Apache/2.4.9 (Win32) PHP/5.5.12 Server at localhost Port 80
Alok says
Hi,
I am also facing the same problem…Did you get the solution? Can you please help.
Regards,
Alok
Mike says
Thumbs up mate,
Great guide…it was very helpful!
Julian says
Please help. This is what I get:
“Not Found
The requested URL /mysite/ was not found on this server.
Apache/2.4.9 (Win64) PHP/5.5.12 Server at localhost Port 80”
I took my wordpress folder and dropped it in the wamp folder, C:\wamp\www. I renamed my wordpress folder to: “mysite”. I then went to Chrome and searched: “localhost/mysite/”. And I get:
“Not Found
The requested URL /mysite/ was not found on this server.
Apache/2.4.9 (Win64) PHP/5.5.12 Server at localhost Port 80.”
Kyle says
Burnt out. Seriously. Help.
No manner of step by step instruction is working and I’m pulling out my hair. What am I missing?
“Download a copy of WordPress from WordPress.org. Extract the zip file and copy the wordpress folder. Go to C:\wamp\www and paste wordpress folder there. You can rename the wordpress folder to anything you want for example mysite, wpbeginner, etc. For the sake of this tutorial, we renamed our wordpress directory to mysite. Now open a web browser and go to:
http://localhost/mysite/”
C:\wamp\www ???
First off, there is no folder titled “www,” so maybe you’re implying the website name take that place? I don’t really know.
Still, I tested all methods. I tried creating a folder called ‘www,’ I tried simply C:\mamp\sitename, But when I type in the “localhost/sitename” absolutely nothing happens.
I have experience doing website redesigns and all I want to do is clone this site to my local host and I am baffled at how I’ve spent 2 whole days just trying to get WordPress isn’t even installed on my local host.
Thank you in advance.
Composed under duress.
Captain says
Hello Kyle, sorry for your sad experience.
You said you don’t see a folder called “www” on C:\wamp.
Can you check to confirm that you have wampserver installed on your computer?
Also, it could be it’s installed but not on the C drive.
Do get back when you confirm; cos the tutorial was quite straight and worked really well for me.
aman says
After installing WAMP server and clicking on phpmyadmin there is an error that says Access Denied and no other option is displayed. Please Help me
DutchLuck says
Great tutorial, sweet and simple!!! Thanks!!!
Karthikeyan says
Good Example.Its working fine for me.
Thank you all..
Janvi says
hi
i m not getting create configuration file option
WPBeginner Support says
Your WordPress folder may already have a wp-config.php file. This file may not have correct information for your WordPress database settings. Please see our guide on editing wp-config.php file in WordPress.
Admin
Samantha T says
Sooooooooooooooooooooo… I uninstalled everything and reinstalled. Now I have an orange light on the Wamp, and when I open phpMyAdmin, I get “Access denied”: MySQL said: Documentation
#1045 – Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’ (using password: NO)
phpMyAdmin tried to connect to the MySQL server, and the server rejected the connection. You should check the host, username and password in your configuration and make sure that they correspond to the information given by the administrator of the MySQL server.
*sigh*
Joe says
OK, how do you do that?
odion says
After installation of wordpress in my computer, I did not receive a success message but a blank white page and am not able to login into the wp-admin.
odion ikhidero says
Pls I got. The following errors after installation
Sansun says
I already have MySQL server running in my local 3306 port, how do I install WAMP in my case?
Aamir says
Thanks for the help.
I have been taking help from your immensely helpful site. It is a great service that you guys are providing.
Jim14409 says
Hi,
)
Thanks for your site and all the help you offer. I installed WAMP and everything went perfectly until I reached the part where you said:
“WordPress will inform you that it can not find a wp-config.php file.”
Well WP never said that :0 but sent me directly to a Directory of “JimSite” with links there to Parent Directory and a link to WordPress. Finally clicked the WordPress link and now it seems we are heading to the config-php setup. (I’ll holler back if the trail dead-ends
Thought you might want to amend your guide with a note about this possibility for some users so as to save them the confusion and frustration I’ve had the past half hour. Might have something to do with my using Vista64, I’m not sure.
Thanks again and for your nice email when I signed up.
Jim
Markus says
Thanks for this nice tutorial. Its really helpful, and works like a charme to set up.
The skype addition about the port issue with wamp helped me also – sometimes wamp just wouldn’t work and I didn’t know why. (I’m using skype just once in a while..)
I’ve got another question though: How to move a live website to localhost for development.
I’m not really sure how to go about it. Copy everything (including db) and change the settings in the config file of wordpress. or install wordpress and then migrate the database somehow, and add the other special content…
WPBeginner Support says
See how to move a live WordPress site to local server.
Admin
Samuel says
Thanks
But I have an issue. After installation, I got a prompt “The program can’t start because MSVCR110.dll is missing from your computer, Try reinstalling the program to fix the problem”
What do I do?
Dev Enthusiast says
Hi Samuel,
The error that you received can be fixed by downloading and installing the following from Microsoft:
Visual C++ Redistributable
Give that a try!