Tutorial: Install WordPress In Fewer Than 5 Minutes

WordPress is the most feature rich and extensible blogging platform. WP is easy to use and there are lot of plugins and themes available. However, newbies might find it difficult to install WordPress for a self-hosted blog.

After reading this tutorial, you will be able to install WP in one of three ways:

• Via FTP
• Without FTP
• Using Fantastico (An Automatic Script Installer)

Short On Time? Get WordPress Installed in Fewer Than 5 Minutes

Before We Get Started

Some Basic Definitions

• FTP: Stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP is used to upload/download files directly to/from a web server (your host).
• Script: In this tutorial, script simply means a package/software. For example, WordPress is a blogging script means that WordPress is software that is related to blogging.
• Fantastico: Fantastico is an automatic script installer. It can install 40+ free scripts without needing a single line of code from you.

Recommended Reading

• Why You Should Use WordPress: I listed in this post some reasons that make WordPress the best and most popular blogging platform around.
• How To Choose A Good Host For Your Blog: In this post, I give useful tips to keep in mind when selecting a good host.

Now, on to installation. I will explain each of the three methods step-by-step. You need to pick one and get started.

Installing WordPress Via FTP

FTP is the slowest method of all. If you have a good host that provides Fantastico, then there is no need to install via FTP. So skip to next section.

Tools Needed

• FileZilla: A free FTP client that lets you upload/download files to/from web host. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Download.
• 7 ZIP: A free software that can unzip archives files. It is also available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Download.
• A web browser: Any browser of your choice!

Step By Step Instructions:

1. Download WordPress from WordPress.org or click here to download the latest version.
2. Use 7 Zip to unzip the contents of downloaded files. Save these in a separate directory.
3. Log into cPanel of your web host.
4. Click on MySQL Databases icon.
5. Enter the name of database and click “Create Database”.
   

   Creating New MySQL Database in cPanel

   

   New Database is Ready

6. Click "Go Back". Now, scroll down a bit and look for “Add New User”. Enter a username, password and create user.
   

   Adding New user

   

   New User is Ready

7. Below “Add New User” there is “Add User To Database” option. Select appropriate database and username and click "Add".
   

   Adding New User To Database

8. On next screen, select checkbox “All Privileges” and click “Make Changes”. Now, the newly created database is ready for WordPress.
9. Now, connect to host via FileZilla and upload all WordPress files(unzipped) from your pc to public_html directory.
10. Once all files are uploaded, go to your website address(i.e. the domain associated with your host). Start the setup.
11. Continue with setup, nothing special to do on "step 2." On "step 3", you have to enter the database name, username and password(that you just added to DB in step 6 of this tutorial). Database host does not need to be changed in most cases. If you are getting errors, you should contact your host. You can change table prefix(default wp_) to anything else if you plan multiple installs in single database.

    Usually, name of database goes like <cpanel-login-name>_<database-name> and username like <cpanel-login-name>_<username>. For example, let’s say your cPanel login name is xyz123 and the name of database you created is WP, then the database name to be entered in database field of setup is xyz123_wp, not just wp!Also, the password you have to enter is database password and not the one you want to use for login.

    

12. Click submit. If everything is fine, you should see a screen like this saying all is okay:
13. Click Run the install. Next, you will be asked to enter blog name and your email address.
14. Click Install WordPress and sit back. In less than a minute, you will be greeted with this, 'success':
15. WordPress is installed. Click log in and enjoy blogging!

Installing WordPress Without FTP

Many people may not be comfortable with FTP clients. If you want to install WordPress but do want to use WordPress, here’s a life saver: EasyWP WordPress Install Script.

Easy WordPress Install is a small script that automatically downloads WordPress to your web server and unzips it.

Step By Step Instructions:

1. Create a new database and user as described in steps 3 to 8 above.
2. Get Easy WordPress script from download page. Unzip it.
3. Now go to cPanel, click File Manager.
4. Go to /public_html. Click Upload button near the top. Upload easywp.php file(that you unzipped in step 1) to server using web interface.

   If you want to install WordPress in a subdirectory, that is you want blog address to be my-site.com/blog, just go to /public_html and create a new folder with name blog and upload file to it.

5. Now, go to your website and add easywp.php after it. For example, if you had uploaded easywp.php to /public_html, just go to my-site.com/easywp.php. If you had uploaded it to /public_html/blog, go to my-site.com/blog/easywp.php
6. Fill out the form and hit “Go!”

Now, you can log in to your blog.

Installing WordPress Using Fantastico

If your host has Fantastico script installer, you do not need to do any of the above steps. Only thing you will need to do is follow few simple steps and fill out a simple form!

Step By Step Instructions:

1. Go to cPanel!
2. Look for a blue smiley with “Fantastico De Luxe” written below it and click on it.
3. In the left side, you will see a long list of scripts. Search for WordPress and click on the link.
4. On the next screen, click “New Installation”.
5. Enter the details and click “Install Now”. Here’s a screenshot of the form:
6. On the next screen, you will be told that Fantastico will create a new user and database for this install. Nothing to do here, click “Finish Install”.
7. WordPress will be installed. From the next screen, go to login URL and start blogging!

Which Way To Go?

It depends on what you want. Here are suggestions according to your requirements:

• Quick And Easy Installation: Use Fantastico. It is fastest method for installing WordPress.
• Quick Install On A Host Without Fantastico: Use Easy WP Install script.
• WordPress Install In Existing Database: Use anyone of the FTP or Script methods. When configuring the database, use existing username and password but a different table prefix than existing script.

That was all you need to know about WordPress install for self-hosted. Any suggestions, questions or comments are always welcome. Feel free to leave them in comments.

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Clock image from photoXpress. Some WordPress setup images from WordPress Codex.