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.
Olaf
I’ve used XAMPP for both Windows and Linux (Ubuntu). But your Local WP software caught my attention. I enjoy trying new things, so I’ll definitely give it a go as soon as I can and compare whether XAMPP or Local WP works better for me. What’s great is that Local WP also has an installer for Linux, specifically for Ubuntu. So, I can try it on both platforms.
Moinuddin Waheed
This is the best method for anyone who just want to learn and gets hands dirty before actually making a big debut in the WordPress industry.
I have used both the methods local by flywheel and wampserver for local installation of WordPress.
I have also used xampp server for wordpress installation and have experimented with many themes and plugins.
Konrad
Everything went smoothly, no issues with installation, thanks to the simple yet effective guide. Much appreciated!
WPBeginner Support
Glad to hear it worked for you
Admin
saajina
Hi. i am new to WordPress and i am trying to install WampServer. i downloaded WampServer from the link you mentioned above. and i tried to install after download , i choose english language after that i accepted the agreement. after that when i click on the next button to install a pop come by saying this installation can only work if the above vc++ package is installed ……. and please cancel the installation . i don’t know what to do next. please help me
WPBeginner Support
It would depend on which VC++ package is missing but you should be able to go to the Microsoft website and search for the Visual C++ library that WAMP needs to download and install it.
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
Thank you for the guide. Usually, I’ve always tested WordPress, for instance, on services like instawp.com, or I’ve set up everything myself in some virtualization tool on a Linux distribution. This looks quite simple.
WPBeginner Support
Glad you found this a helpful option
Admin
sieutonghop
Is Local WP website data guaranteed?
WPBeginner Support
I don’t think I understand what you’re asking, the files and your content are stored on your computer.
Admin
kiemtienspeed
If using Local WP, where will the website data be saved? Can you explain more clearly?
WPBeginner Support
The data would be stored in the database and the files would be saved in the site’s folder.
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
It’s practically the same as with WordPress on shared hosting. The database can then be exported via PHPMyAdmin, and data via an FTP client (FTP data is stored in a folder locally on the computer). Alternatively, a migration plugin can be used, just like on the server.
Koweh
Hi, please is the a video explainable for the above steps to install Install WordPress on Windows Using WampServer?
WPBeginner Support
Not at the moment but we will consider that for future videos!
Admin
M Sohail
this article is very helpful to me.
Thanks to all Team
WPBeginner Support
Glad to hear our post was helpful!
Admin
Danielle
Hi, very helpful article. How would you do this for an existing WordPress site? (I’m hosting on Hostinger and selected WordPress to construct my site). I already have a domain name and login for WordPress as well.
WPBeginner Support
To move a currently active site to a locally installed WordPress site, you would want to take a look at our guide below!
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-live-wordpress-site-to-local-server/
Admin
Joseph Lewinski
Fabulous instruction set. I installed WAMP Server simply and without a hitch. There was only one very minor “glitch” in your instructions, which were easy enough to figure out. When the instructions explain the installation of WordPress proper, it says, “Paste the ‘wordpress’ folder into the C:\wamp64\www folder.”, but the IMAGE shows you installing it into the C:\wamp64 folder. Like I said, easy enough to figure out (I used your WORDS, NOT the IMAGE).
THANK YOU for this! I’m subscribing NOW!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful and thank you for pointing that out!
Admin
Duncan Philps-Tate
Hi useful article. The only thing I’m aware of not seeing is anything about when to use Local WP and when to use WAMP. Now I’ve got a choice and I don’t know which is better for me.
Local WP sounds more straightforward and with less to do – but the test doesn’t say whether it also installs Apache, PHP, MySQL (which the WAMP text does say).
On the other hand, WAMP sounds like you have to do more getting it going (just compare the number of paragraphs it needs) but apart from (possibly) adding choice over Apache, PHP, MySQL, what does it give you that Local WP doesn’t?
Hope you can answer this easily.
WPBeginner Support
WAMP has been around longer and was our original recommendation, Local WP was created to make it easier for those just starting out and both will install what is needed to run a WordPress site on your computer.
Admin
Duncan Philps-Tate
Thanks – useful
Seyi
Thanks for this… really helpful
WPBeginner Support
Glad our article was helpful!
Admin
Kylie
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
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
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
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
Thank you so much! That worked perfectly and was so simple!
WPBeginner Support
Glad we could help!
Renata
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
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
Straightforward and to the point guide. Followed it and achieved exactly what I wanted. Great and helpful write-up.
WPBeginner Support
Glad you found our guide helpful
Admin
Ibrahim Yusuff
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
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
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
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
You are legend guys! Thanks.
Francis Guchie
Thank you so much for this very nice article for beginners
prakoo
api-ms-win-crt-string-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer it shows error?
WPBeginner Support
You would want to ensure you install Visual C++ Pro for the most common solution to that error.
Admin
Melissa
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
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
thanks – this was perfect advice!
Holly
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
Glad you found our guide helpful
Admin
Jules Ivan
This is awesome! Thank you for making this article!
WPBeginner Support
Glad you found our guide helpful
Admin
Ben
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
You need to install Visual C++ Redistributable that we link to in the article
Admin
Diya
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
You can certainly do that for the most common method for creating a new site.
Admin
saheed
im receiving myssqld.exe- system error. how do i fix it
WPBeginner Support
You would want to ensure you installed Visual C++ Redistributable
Admin
Tom Bauer
WAMP64 will not install on a win7 64 machine.
WPBeginner Support
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
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
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
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
Thanks for sharing what helped you with this issue
Admin
Bas
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
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
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
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
Thank you so much.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Armel
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The most common reason for that would be if you didn’t install the C++ redistributable if you have not done that.
Admin
Aminat
Thanks a lot, really helpful
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Dav
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
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
Thanks, that works
Nathan Zindikilani
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
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
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
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
I am getting “Error establishing a database connection”
Any help here please
WPBeginner Support
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
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
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