How to Setup WordPress Locally using XAMPP Guide For Beginners

Introduction

This comprehensive guide is designed to assist beginners. Its primary objective is to provide a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough for setting up the necessary technical environment to develop your web projects.

This guide will teach you how to install and configure the essential software tools required for your no-code web development journey. The guide includes detailed instructions, by illustrative images, to ensure a smooth and seamless setup process.

Whether you're new to web development or have some prior experience, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and skills to establish a functional local development environment on your Windows PC. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a fully operational setup that will enable you to start building your web projects with confidence.

Let's dive in and get your no-code web development environment up and running!

Required Tools

To get started with the no-code web development bootcamp, you'll need to download and install a few essential software tools. The primary tools you'll be using are XAMPP and WordPress.

XAMPP is a free and open-source software stack that provides a self-contained web server environment. It includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, and other components necessary for local web development. You can download XAMPP from the official website:

Download XAMPP for Windows

XAMPP will allow you to host a website directly from your Windows PC, providing a local development environment to test and experiment with your web projects.

WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that powers millions of websites worldwide. For this bootcamp, you'll be using WordPress to build your web projects. You can download the latest version of WordPress from the official website:

Download WordPress

Once you have XAMPP and WordPress installed, you'll be able to set up a local WordPress development environment on your Windows PC, allowing you to design, test, and customize your web projects before deploying them to a live server.

By having these tools installed and ready to use, you'll be well-prepared to dive into the no-code web development bootcamp and start building your web projects with confidence.

Installing XAMPP

The first step in setting up your local WordPress development environment is to download and install the XAMPP software. XAMPP is a free and open-source software stack that provides a self-contained web server environment, including Apache, MySQL, PHP, and other necessary components.

To get started, visit the official XAMPP download page at https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html and download the Windows installer file. The file is approximately 150 MB in size, so the download may take a few minutes depending on your internet connection speed.

Once the download is complete, run the installer file to begin the installation process. You may encounter some warnings or prompts from your antivirus software or the Windows User Account Control (UAC) system during the installation. Simply click "Yes" or "OK" to continue.

On the "Select Components" screen, make sure to select the following components:

• PHP
• MySQL
• PHPMyAdmin

While you can install additional components, these two are the minimum required for setting up a local WordPress development environment. Once you've selected the necessary components, click "Next" to continue.

The XAMPP installer will then guide you through the remaining steps, allowing you to choose the installation directory and other settings. The default installation directory is usually "C:\xampp", but you can choose a different location if desired.

After the installation is complete, launch the XAMPP Control Panel to start the Apache and MySQL modules. These modules are required to run your local WordPress site. Click the "Start" button next to each module to activate them. When both modules are running, you should see their status indicators turn green.

Setting Up WordPress

With XAMPP installed and running, you can now proceed to set up WordPress on your local development environment. Follow these steps:

1. Download the latest version of WordPress from the official website: https://wordpress.org/download/.
2. Extract the downloaded WordPress ZIP file to the "htdocs" directory within your XAMPP installation folder. This directory is typically located at "C:\xampp\htdocs".

3. Rename the extracted WordPress folder to your desired site name, such as "mynocodesite-dev".

4. Open your web browser and navigate to "http://localhost/mynocodesite-dev" to begin the WordPress installation process.

During the installation, you'll need to create a new MySQL database for WordPress to use. To do this, open the XAMPP Control Panel and click on the "Admin" button next to the MySQL module. This will open the PHPMyAdmin interface in your web browser.

In PHPMyAdmin, click on the "Databases" tab and enter a name for your new database (e.g., "mynocodesite_db"). Click "Create" to create the database.

Return to the WordPress installation screen and enter the following details:

• Database Name: The name of the database you just created (e.g., "mynocodesite_db").
• Username: "root".
• Password: Leave this field blank.
• Database Host: "localhost".
• Table Prefix: "ncs_".

Click "Submit" to proceed. After WordPress verify the database connection it will guide you through the rest of the installation process, including setting up your site title, admin username, password, and email address.

Congratulations! You've successfully set up WordPress on your local development environment. You can now log in to your WordPress dashboard and start building your website.

Troubleshooting Common XAMPP Errors

During the installation or use of your local WordPress site, you may encounter some common XAMPP-related errors. Here are a few tips to help you troubleshoot these issues:

Maximum PHP Execution Time Exceeded This error can occur when a WordPress plugin or theme takes too long to execute. To fix it, open the php.ini file (accessible from the XAMPP control panel) and increase the max_execution_time value, e.g., from 120 to 440..