Install Joomla on Windows Computers with XAMPP

Want to install Joomla on Windows computers? Many web developers like to set up their Joomla sites locally on Windows PC for testing purpose. XAMPP is such a tool allows you to create the environment you need to run Joomla! on your local machine. In this guide, we will show you how to download Joomla package, and install Joomla to XAMPP on your Windows computers.

How to Install Joomla on Windows Computers with XAMPP?

The installation of Joomla on local PC is a breeze. Here is the to do list:

• Install XAMPP for Windows

– its integrated tools and configurability makes the setup of local Apache server and MySQL server extremely easy. We assume you have already installed XAMPP, if not, you can refer to this guide: how to install XAMPP for Windows?

• Download latest version of Joomla
• Install Joomla on Windows computer

Download and Upload Joomla Package

Joomla 3.3 is the newest version recommended for new installs. It includes the latest and greatest features of Joomla and mobile/responsive support. You can go to download Joomla below.

The Joomla 3.3 package file would be a zip file. Once you got the installer offline and saved it on your hard disk, you need to upload it to the local Apache server on your computer. To do that, go to move it from your browser download folder to your XAMPP document root folder. By default XAMPP will be installed to “c:\xampp” and all local web site folders will go into the folder “c:\xampp\htdocs”. If your XAMPP was installed to the defautl dorument root directory, go too create a folder named ‘joomla’ and unzip the Joomla package file into it, so all Joomla files can be found in the folder “c:\xampp\htdocs\joomla”.

Create Database for Joomla Installation

Run XAMPP app on your computer, you will see its control panel like this:

Start Apache and MySQL servers from the above control panel. Click the Admin button in the second row (same row with MySQL), you will open http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ in a new brwoser tab or window. See below screenshot.

Click New button on the left menu, or click Database, then you will see a Create database section. Input name for the database, click Create button a MySQL database will be created in phpMyAdmin database tool. Instead of using the default database user, you can also manually create a new user and add to database in phpMyAdmin. See this guide to create database and add user to database in phpMyAdmin.

Install Joomla on Windows Computers

It’s time to install Joomla on your PC. Visit http://localhost/joomla/ on your browser, it will redirect to http://localhost/joomla/installation/index.php and you can start installing Joomal using its web installer. See below figure.

Basically there are three steps to install Joomla onto your computer: 1) main configuratin of your Joomla site; 2) database configuration; 3) finalize Joomla installation.

• Step 1. Main Configuration
  • Select Language: Choose your own language in the drop-down menu, for example, “English (United Kingdom)”
  • Site Name: Enter the name of your site, for example, “Matt’s Local Joomla Site”
  • Description: Enter the description of your site
  • Site Offline: Choose status for your website when you access to your site: Click “Yes” for “offline” and “No” for “online”
  • Admin Email: Enter your valid email address you want to use for your site
  • Admin Username: Enter “admin” as default or a custom name
  • Admin Password: Enter your own password
  • Confirm Admin Password: Re-type your password
  • Click “Next” to continue Step 2
• Step 2. Database Configuration
  
  • Database Type: Select MySQLi
  • Host Name: Enter “localhost”
  • Username: Enter “root”
  • Password: let it blank
  • Database Name: enter the name of the database you created above using phpMyAdmin, for example “joomla” as shown in above screenshot
    
  • Table Prefix: let it generate automatically
  • Old Database Process: Click “Backup” to backup tables from former Joomla! installation, or “Remove” to delete these tables
  • Click “Next” to continue Step 3
• Step 3. Overview
  
  • Finalization: You can choose installing sample data or not, by clicking on corresponding selection.
  • Overview: This step is to review all information you configured in step 1. After checking, you click “Install”.
  • When installation finishes, you just need to click the button “Remove installation folder” button to complete the installation process. After that, you can either click on “Site” to see your newly created or “Administrator” to access the administration area.

  

Now you have your local Joomla site installed on your Windows computer successfully!