This article describes steps one can take to install and use Joomla on Windows with XAMPP support.
Joomla is a free open source, mobile-ready and user-friendly content management software use to create many of the websites and applications you use every day.
From personal blogs to eCommerce to almost any types of websites. In order to run Joomla, you’ll need to install a webserver, a database server and PHP server scripting modules.
Majority of the time Joomla will be installed on a Linux system, including Ubuntu with either the LAMP or LEMP stack. However, there are some open-source projects today that are making it possible to install Joomla on Microsoft Windows desktops and servers.
One such project is XAMPP. XAMPP is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl.
Download XAMPP Package
To get XAMPP installed on Windows, head over to Apache Friends website and download the Windows version
Install XAMPP
After downloading the Windows version, you should be prompted install the package. You’ll need to install with Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl as shown in the image below. Complete the installation and continue to the next step.
Accept the default installation directory: C:\xampp
Configure XAMPP
Now that the package is installed, open XAMPP and start up Apache and MySQL services as shown in the image below.
After starting Apache2 and MySQL, these servers should be running. to test whether Apache is running, open Internet Explorer on the host machine and type the URL below:
This should bring up Apache XAMPP default page.
To validate that MariaDB is installed and functioning, open the Shell command prompt on the right of XAMPP Control Panel. This should launch the command shell. then type the commands below:
mysql
This should you onto MariaDB database server.
To secure MariaDB database server, open the Shell command windows again, then type the commands below.
perl\bin\perl.exe mysql\bin\mysql_secure_installation.pl
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Create Joomla Database
While still in the Shell command windows, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB database server. type the password you enter above when prompted.
mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called joomla
CREATE DATABASE joomla;
Create a database user called joomlauser with new password
CREATE USER 'joomlauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON joomla.* TO 'joomlauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download Joomla Content
Now that Joomla database has been created, go and download Joomla content from its download page.
After downloading the Joomla file, extract it into the C:\xampp\htdocs
You can delete all the files and folders in there and extract Joomla content that that folder. the htdocs should look like this:
Configure PHP Settings
Now that Joomla content is in the Apache2 root directory. go to the path below and open PHP configuration file.
C:\xampp\php
Then right-click the highlighted PHP configuration file and edit. then make the changes below in the file and save. you will have to scroll line by line.
Then make the change the following lines below in the file and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 120 max_input_vars = 1500 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Save the file when you’re done.
When done, open Internet Explorer and type the URL below to begin Joomla installation wizard.
Type the database connection info and continue
Finally, install
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Joomla on Windows 10 with XAMPP support.
Enjoy~
