1. OS X XAMPP-VM FAQs; Add-ons. Bitnami provides a free all-in-one tool to install Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress and many other popular open source apps on top of XAMPP. Visit Bitnami XAMPP or click to see full list of add-ons for XAMPP.
  2. XAMPP is by far the most popular PHP development environment, it is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl. However, over the years, I find XAMPP becomes somewhat bloated, and as a person that only focus on WordPress, anything that is light and simple is what I need.

I've covered installing XAMPP on your Mac or PC in another tutorial. If you don't already have it setup, go through that tutorial first. How to install WordPress in XAMPP from scratch: Make sure XAMPP Control is running; Create a new database; Create a folder in /xampp/htdocs/ Download WordPress to the folder.

Want to setup a WordPress site on your Mac so you can test themes, plugins and other site changes? WordPress runs on server environment that support both PHP and MySQL. If you want to create a local WordPress site on your Mac, you will need to set up a web server software (Apache) with PHP and MySQL support on your Mac. XAMPP is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl. With this open source software, you can install and use WordPress on your local machine easily. Check out the steps below.

Download Wordpress For Mac Xampp

Step 1. Download and install XAMPP on Mac

Visit XAMPP site and download the latest installation package to your Mac.

The XAMPP comes with three different versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Make sure to download the right version. The current version is more than 300 mb. It may take a while to download it to your computer. You can use a downloader software if you have. In the download page, you can find the Checksum, md5 and sha1, which you can use to verify the file’s integrity. See how to check file hash on Mac?

Install XAMPP on your Mac just like you install any other third-party software downloaded from the internet. Run XAMPP from the Launchpad. Click the Start button from its home screen, the General tab, to start the XAMPP server. This will start the Apache and MySQL services. You’ll then get the local Apache server IP address. See below screenshot.

Step 2. Download WordPress on Mac

Run Safari or any other web browser on your Mac, download the WordPress installer from its official link https://wordpress.org/download/. The WP installer, a zip file, will be saved to the Downloads folder on your computer. Access it from Finder on Mac.

Step 3. Copy WordPress to XAMPP server

In XAMPP for Mac, navigate to the Volumes tab, click Mount to mount the lampp folder on the XAMPP server. Click the Explore button to open the XAMPP directory in Finder on your Mac.

Copy WordPress installer to XAMPP directory. Unzip the latest.zip file to extract it and you will then get the ‘wordpress’ folder in the same directory on XAMPP server.

Step 4. Enable localhost access to XAMPP

Launch XAMPP from the Launchpad on Mac if not yet. Ensure that Apache and MySQL services are running in the “Services” tab of the stack manager (or start them as needed).

Switch to the Network tab of the XAMPP stackman launcher. Enable the localhost:8080 -> 80 (Over SSH) port forwarding. Epiphone pr 350 serial number. Go back to the Service tab and restart Apache service.

Step 5. Create database for WordPress site on Mac

Visit localhost:8080 in your Safari or other web browser on Mac. You will be redirected to localhost:8080/dashboard/. Click phpMyAdmin to open the database management tool for web. Alternatively, you can directly access http://localhost:8080/phpmyadmin/ in your web browser.

From phpMyAdmin, click Database, type in your database name, such as wordpress, mywordpress. Then choose utf8_general_ci or other collation you prefer. Finally hit the Create button to create the database for your local WordPress site on Mac.

Step 6. Setup WordPress database connection

Access the wordpress folder where all your site files are saved from Finder. You can find the WordPress configuration file named wp-config-sample.php in the root folder. Duplicate this file and rename it to wp-config.php. Open it with the TextEdit which is pre-installed on your Mac, or use your favorite text editor to open it. Here you need to update the wordpress database name, username and password.

We have just created a new database named ‘wordpress’ in phpMyAdmin, so use it as the database name. Use root as the database user and leave the password blank as the root user has no password by default. DB hostname is localhost, so no need to change.

Step 7. Setup WordPress on Mac

Now we come to the last step to setup WordPress site from web browser on Mac. Visit localhost:8080/wordpress/ in Safari or any other web browsers you have to pull up the WordPress web installation wizard. You can also use the local IP address of your XAMPP server to access the web installer.

Fill in your site title, admin username, its password, your email address and hit the Install WordPress button to create your local wordPress site on Mac.

Related

XAMPP can be installed on both Mac (MAMP) & Windows to enable local development of WordPress on your PC rather than a live internet server.

XAMPP is another version of WAMP which does exactly the same thing and both are open source software.

You can use either program to restore your backup files and host them on your local pc.

Its another solution that automatically sets up, MySql for databases, a local Apache server, Php and everything you need to install and run WordPress locally.

However, there’s Pro’s & Con’s to both which you can read about at the end of this post.

XAMPP Download Versions

Xampp offers different versions to choose from so you can decide on the version with an installer included or download the zip file. Downloading the Installer Version of Xampp is the easiest and fastest way to get started.

XAMPP for Windows

Download Wordpress For Mac Xampp Installer

Here’s whats included in your download:

  • Apache 2.2.21
  • MySQL 5.5.16
  • PHP 5.3.8
  • phpMyAdmin 3.4.5
  • FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.39

You’ll need all these components to setup WordPress using Xampp. The cpanel you’ll be using is a XAMPP Control Panel.

Install XAMPP Locally

After downloading Xampp to your local pc its time to start the installation. Simply click the XAMPP icon to start the installation. You’ll be presented with installation options before you start which will look like this:

Better to use the default settings when installing rather than tick the extra boxes like i have

XAMPP Control Panel

Installation may take some time as its a fairly big program. Once completed, you have access to the Xampp control panel which looks like this:

Now start Apache & My Sql if they aren’t already running green. You can then test the server by typing in http://localhost to your browser. If you get a 404 error reboot your machine and make sure you don’t have other servers installed locally.

If you get this screen after typing in http://localhost into your browser then you have completed the installion of XAMPP successfully.

Depending on your operating system, you’re now the proud owner of a WAMP (Windows users), MAMP (Mac OS X users) or LAMP (Linux users) server right there inside your computer.

Install WordPress on WAMP

Installing WordPress on Xampp is like installing WordPress manually. Its not difficult but its like taking the really long way home.

Setup a Database

Navigate to http://locahost/phpmyadmin/ in your browser and create a new database in PhpMyAdmin. If you get a password error, use the test certificate to test your connection then try again. You may need to add an exception using this screen.

Create Database Name: Click the Database tab and enter a name for your database and click create.

Create Database Username: Click the Home icon then Click Privileges and Add New User. Make sure you take note of the Database name, username and password password as you’ll need to enter these later on in the WordPress config.php file

When creating a new user you can actually create a new database with the same name at the same time

Select Check All Privileges for your user and click Go.

Download Wordpress For Mac Xampp Download

The user you created should have access to the database you created which is why its easier to create the username first and add the database using the option at the same time. Should look something like this if you have been successful.

Installing Locally

Time now to download the latest version of WordPress and install it locally.

You may also find this tutorial on installing WordPress manually helpful. I will go through the entire installation process again below.

Extract the contents of the WordPress zip file you have just downloaded to C:xampphtdocs


Should look like this

Configure My Sql Database details

Now its time to enter the Database details you created previously. You’ll need:

Download Wordpress For Mac Xampp Tutorial

  1. Database Name – haymanpl
  2. Database Username – haymanpl
  3. Database Password – 123456
  4. Database host – localhost

wp-config.php file


Add your database details to the wp-config.php file located in your wordpress folder in this directory C:xampphtdocs
The file name needs to be renamed from wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php after you add your DataBase details

Run Installation Script

Type this address into your browser http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php

This will access the installation file in wp-admin if you have setup everything correctly. If not you’ll have to go back and find the problem or repeat the process.

The WordPress Forum is the best place to find help if you get stuck as they have many years of experience with installation.

Use

Success. If you have made it this far and get this screen then you’re a legend! Enter your username, password, email and click Install WordPress and your cooking with gas!!!

Simply follow the installation instructions and here’s your access details:

  1. Your WordPress Site http://localhost/wordpress/
  2. Your WordPress Login http://localhost/wordpress/wp-login.php

Whats Next?

Grab the Free Guide To Getting Started With WordPress and build a world class website or blog using WordPress. Congratulations!

Another solution for installing WordPress locally is Microsoft Webmatrix which works on windows only but makes it is far easier to install and setup WordPress locally than XAMPP.

Conclusion:

Using XAMPP to install WordPress locally takes a lot of time and effort and isn’t recommended for beginners unless you have plenty of time & patience. Using Microsoft Webmatrix is far easier as its all automatic.

The biggest benefits of using XAMPP is that you will get to use PhpMyAdmin in the same form as whats on your live server and learn far more about the server side of things than you will with Webmatrix. Deploying WordPress to a live server is far easier with Webmatrix but you also miss out on learning.

Easiest Way To Install WordPress

Using the best WordPress web hosts is by the far the quickest and easiest way to install WordPress as they all provide ‘one click installation of WordPress’.

Note: WAMP Server & XAMPP are not the same program but are very similiar in setup and installation. If you get stuck you are welcome to contact me or try the WAMP forum.

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