Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

How to Download and Install WordPress on Windows

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system that powers over 34% of websites today. Whether you're building a personal blog, e-commerce site, or online portfolio, WordPress offers a range of features that make it easy to create, manage, and publish content online.

In this article, we'll guide you through the process of downloading and installing WordPress on your Windows computer.

Pre-requisites

Before we get started, you'll need to ensure the following software is installed on your computer:

• A web-server software package such as XAMPP or WampServer (both of these are free)
• A web browser, like Chrome or Firefox.

Step 1: Download the Latest Version of WordPress

The first step is to download the latest version of WordPress from the official WordPress website. Open your web browser and navigate to https://wordpress.org/download/ then click on the big blue "Download WordPress" button.

Step 2: Extract the WordPress Zip File

After the download completes, you will find a zip folder in your 'Downloads' folder. Extract the contents of the folder to your desired location on your computer.

Step 3: Start the Web Server

Now, we'll need to start the web server. For our purposes, we'll use XAMPP.

• Start XAMPP Control Panel by finding the location where you installed XAMPP and click on the "XAMPP Control Panel" icon.
• Start "Apache" and "MySQL" by clicking on their respective buttons.

Step 4: Create a MySQL Database

WordPress requires a database to store all of your website's content including posts, pages, comments, and more. Here's how you can create a MySQL database:

• Open your web browser and go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
• Click on "Databases"
• Give your database a name (e.g., mywpsite) and click on "Create".

Step 5: Configure WordPress

Open your web browser and navigate to the folder location of your extracted WordPress files (where you extracted your WordPress zip file).

• Rename the file "wp-config-sample.php" to "wp-config.php".

• Open wp-config.php in a text editor (such as notepad) and edit the following:

  • Change the line "define('DBNAME', 'databasenamehere');" to "define('DBNAME', 'mywpsite');" where the 'mywpsite' should be replaced with your database name.
  • Change the line "define('DBUSER', 'usernamehere');" to "define('DB_USER', 'root');"
  • Change the line "define('DBPASSWORD', 'passwordhere');" to "define('DB_PASSWORD', '');"

Save the changes and close the file.

Step 6: Move WordPress Files

Now, move all the extracted contents of the WordPress folder to the following location: "C:\xampp\htdocs".

Step 7: Install WordPress

Finally, navigate to http://localhost/wordpress in your web browser and follow the WordPress installation process.

Once the installation process has completed, you can now log in to your WordPress dashboard by going to http://localhost/wp-admin/

Conclusion

In this article, we have guided you through the process of installing WordPress on your Windows computer using XAMPP. By following these steps, you can now start building your website with WordPress.

Note: Be sure to keep your web server software, WordPress, and plugins up to date to ensure the security and performance of your website.