Want to create a website or blog in WordPress, but don't want to do it directly on the server? The al­ter­na­tive is to install WordPress in XAMPP. Read on to find out how to set up a WordPress in­stal­la­tion in a few steps.

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WordPress XAMPP in­stal­la­tion

With XAMPP you can quickly and easily set up your own web server on your local computer. The letters in the name represent its core com­po­nents:

  • X stands for the different operating systems like Windows, Linux, or Mac that XAMPP is com­pat­i­ble with.
  • A stands for the cross-platform Apache web server.
  • The M indicates the included MySQL/Maria database.
  • The two Ps in the name stand for the scripting languages Perl and PHP.

Thus, you have all the important com­po­nents in one program to install WordPress with XAMPP locally.

Ad­van­tages of a local WordPress XAMPP in­stal­la­tion

Whether it's a new site or changes to an existing site, it’s always rec­om­mend­ed to modify your website in a local test en­vi­ron­ment. If the WordPress in­stal­la­tion is im­ple­ment­ed locally in a test en­vi­ron­ment with XAMPP, ad­just­ments can be made and viewed before the website goes live. Even if you’re making updates to plugins or WordPress itself, a separate en­vi­ron­ment is ad­van­ta­geous. If a website no longer functions due to an update, you can find and fix the source of the error.

Tip
Should you make ad­just­ments directly on the live server, don't forget to enable WordPress main­te­nance mode during the website edits.

Another advantage is that you can easily modify WordPress offline and on the go thanks to XAMPP. All changes are made in the browser, which means you don't need an Internet con­nec­tion.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, an in­stal­la­tion of WordPress in XAMPP offers the pos­si­bil­i­ty to export pages and posts as static HTML pages. This not only protects the ad­min­is­tra­tion area from potential hacker attacks, but also ensures an improved load time of your website. With plugins like Simple Static or Export WP Page to Static HTML/CSS you can quickly and easily convert your website into a static page.

Tip
To protect your website and settings from hackers, it is advisable to rename the login URL wp-login. The default URL with /wp-admin is a popular target for attackers. By renaming it you can avoid potential attacks.

WordPress & XAMPP: re­quire­ments for a local in­stal­la­tion

The re­quire­ment to install WordPress in XAMPP is a local AMP stack on the hard drive – AMP stands for Apache, MySQL, and PHP. All these com­po­nents are already included in XAMPP for WordPress in­stal­la­tion which speeds up the setup.

Tip
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How to install WordPress with XAMPP – step by step

Find out how to install WordPress with XAMPP in our step-by-step guide below.

Step 1: Download and install XAMPP

Download the ap­pro­pri­ate version of XAMPP download for your operating system free of charge from the Apache Friends website. Depending on your operating system, click on the .exe or .dmg file and begin the in­stal­la­tion. The pre­s­e­lect­ed com­po­nents will be suitable to install WordPress in XAMPP.

Note
You can find detailed step-by-step in­struc­tions on how to install XAMPP in our XAMPP tutorial.

Step 2: Launch the module

Start XAMPP in the user interface in the “General” tab by clicking on the “Start” button.

Image: User interface with XAMPP settings
Click on “Start” in “General” to activate XAMPP.

The com­po­nents you need to install WordPress with XAMPP are located in the “Services” tab. Launch the modules MySQL and Apache for the ap­pli­ca­tion here.

Image: User interface with the installed XAMPP modules
In­di­vid­ual modules can be launched directly via the “Services” tab.

Step 3: Change MySQL/MariaDB password

The MySQL/MariaDB in­stal­la­tion in XAMPP comes with an empty password. To close this security gap, assign a password. This way the database for WordPress in XAMPP is protected from potential attacks. To do this, simply click on “Open Terminal” in “General”.

Image: XAMPP user interface with the “Open Terminal” button
The “Open Terminal” button launches a new terminal window.

A new terminal window will open where you can enter the following code:

/opt/lampp/bin/mysqladmin --user=root password "newpassword"

Enter your chosen password for new­pass­word.

Step 4: Activate and call localhost

From the “Network” tab, enable a localhost address. To do this, select the cor­re­spond­ing localhost and click the “Enable” button.

Image: User interface of XAMPP to active the localhost
Use the “Enable” button in the “Network” tab to activate the cor­re­spond­ing localhost URL.

Once every­thing is set up, access the page at the ap­pro­pri­ate localhost URL. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, you can click “Go to Ap­pli­ca­tion” in the “General” tab in XAMPP and reach the cor­re­spond­ing URL.

Image: “General” menu in XAMPP
Al­ter­na­tive­ly, you can reach the XAMPP URL via the “General” menu by clicking the “Go to Ap­pli­ca­tion” button.
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Step 5: Create MySQL databank with ph­p­MyAd­min

Even if you install WordPress in XAMP, the content man­age­ment system needs a MySQL database. To set up the database, call the menu item “ph­p­MyAd­min” via the localhost URL.

Image: XAMPP page with menu item “phpMyAdmin”
Via the menu item “ph­p­MyAd­min” you can access the database setup to install WordPress with XAMPP.

In the “ph­p­MyAd­min” area you can create a new database for WordPress in XAMPP. The name of the database is freely se­lec­table, but should not follow a standard scheme, otherwise it is vul­ner­a­ble to attacks by hackers.

Image: phpMyAdmin interface
To perform the WordPress in­stal­la­tion in XAMPP, create a database in ph­p­MyAd­min.

Step 6: Download and install WordPress

To install WordPress, download the latest WordPress version. Unzip the ZIP file and click the “Explore” button in XAMPP from the “Volumes” tab.

Image: XAMPP interface and “Volumes” menu
Use the “Explore” button to access the XAMPP folder on your computer.

The XAMPP folder will open. Navigate to htdocs and create a subfolder to install WordPress with XAMPP. Move the unzipped files into this subfolder. We named the subfolder wp_local.

Image: WordPress setup page in XAMPP
You can reach the WordPress setup page using the URL with the directory name.

Use the URL "https://localhost:8443/VERZE­ICH­NIS­NAME" to access the setup page for WordPress in XAMPP. In our example, the address is "https://localhost:8443/wp_local".

Follow the in­struc­tions on screen and enter your chosen database name, your WordPress username (usually “root”) and the database password.

Once you are done with your website or cus­tomiza­tions in the local test en­vi­ron­ment, you can migrate the site to the server in WordPress.

Tip
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