Installing WordPress for a Test Environment

Here are directions on how to install wordpress and xampplite for a testing environment on a PC. You can make changes to your themes and plugins first in your testing environment before making the changes to your production website. Coming soon I am working on steps to backup your current production website and restoring it in your testing environment for a better testing environment.

Download XAMPP Lite (.exe is recommended) – http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#646

Download WordPress - http://wordpress.org/download/

Install Xampplite – Xampplite provides an apache server emulation. Installing xampplite on your machine will make your machine will allow you to run WordPress on your machine.
1. Drag Xampplite-w3.exe to the Virtual Machine window.
2. Double click on Xmapplite-w3.exe, extract xampplite to C:\
3. Click Extract.
4. Open the xampplite folder on your C:
5. Click setup_xampp.bat
6. Press any key when prompted.
7. Click on xampp-control.exe.
8. Click on the Start Button for Apache. Click Unblock if prompted.
9. Click on the Start Button for MySQL. Click Unblock if prompted.

Create the wordpress database
1. Open the browser in the virtual machine.
2. Type in http://localhost/xampp/splash.php for the address.
3. Click on your language.
4. On the left side under Tools, click on phpMyAdmin.
5. Look for the Create new database fields on the right side.
6. Enter wordpress for the database name.
7. Select utf8_unicode_ci .
8. Click Create.

Install WordPress
1. Extract the wordpress files from the wordpress zip file.
2. Extract the files to c:\xampplite\htdocs
3. open c:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-config-sample.php.
4. Modify the following

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // The name of the database
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘root’); // Your MySQL username
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ”); // …and password
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to

Your database name should be wordpress.
Your db_user name should be root.
The db_password should be left blank

5. Save the file as wp-config.php.
6. In the browser window go to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php
7. Enter your blog title.
8. Click Install WordPress.
9. Copy the username and password.
10. Click Login.
11. Change the password to a password you can remember.
12. WordPress is now configured.

To access your wordpress admin page go to – http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin
To access your wordpress website go to – http://localhost/wordpress

Plugins and themes can be copied to
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes