If you are not ready to purchase a domain name and hosting and you want to complete your website development locally before deploying to the production or live environment then you can decide to install and configure WordPress on your local system using WAMP. WAMP means Windows, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, it is free software that you can install and configure on your Windows computer that can give you the same experience as if you are in the production or live environment. This help you to make the needed adjustment and changes on your website and you will be able to view and see the behavior before deployment to production. WAMP help you to complete the development of your website and install themes and plugins, and you can test the website to confirm it is free of bug before all files are transferred to production.
Before WAMP came into existence you would need to download and configure the web server and database separately and each of them run independently before you can use it for your development. This is where WAMP comes in as it has all that you need from webserver to database into one single application.
Exploring WordPress Installation and Configuration on Windows Computer Using WAMP
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to host and build websites both on production and locally. WordPress contains a lot of themes and plugins that you can use to customize your website. Read this if you want to know How to Install and Setup WordPress into a cPanel and Configure Your First WordPress Theme, and you can read further on How to integrate WordPress site with WP Telegram, Deploy WordPress on Azure App Service: How to install MySQL Workbench on Local Computer to connect with Azure Database for MySQL, How to convert images from PNG to JPG on WordPress, Windows, and Mac, WordPress site on Azure: How to create a website hosted in Azure. In this article, I will be explaining all the steps on how to install and configure WordPress on your Windows computer using WAMP.
Now the first thing to do is to install WAMP, this Webserver will act as localhost without the need for a web host.
1. Download WAMPSERVER from Here which can both be 64 bits or 32 bits depending on your system specification and install it on your local computer.
2. The version I downloaded is wampserver3.2.6_x64.exe. Run the file and select your language.
3. After selecting your language just follow the Wizard has it guide you on the installation steps. Accept the Agreement and move on.
4. You can change the default location to install the WAMP Server
5. I will advise you select and leave the Default installation values instead of Customize installation.
6. Keep clicking the Next button and if everything looks good, click on the Install button.
7. The default browser is internet explorer and you may choose to change to another browser of your choice. But I prefer the internet explorer.
How to Install and Configure WordPress
8. The default Text Editor is Notepad and you may wish to use another Editor. In my own installation I will leave it at the default.
9. Click on Finish button after successful installation. To confirm that the WAMP have been completed successfully check the bottom right corner if you will see the WAMP icon. But if you cannot find it you can go and search for WAMP and click on it to launch it.
10. By the time you try to launch the WAMP it is very possible this error pops out.
The code execution cannot proceed because MSVCR110.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem
11. Download the MSVCR110.dll here
12. After installing the file you should be able to launch the WAMP and once the WAMPSERVER’s icon colour is green means it is ok and all services should be running fine.
13. From the image above you can check services like PhpMyAdmin, Apache, PHP, MySQL, MariaDB. It is possible for you to Start All Services, Stop All Services, Restart All Services.
To confirm if the WAMP is successfully installed you can browse http://localhost and must display the below image.
Setting Up WordPress: Download, Installation, and Folder Placement on WAMP
14. Download the latest version of WordPress from WordPress.org. After installation extract the files and copy to the root folder of the WAMP. You may decide to rename the folder but in this article the name of the folder is wordpress and will be copied to www.
15. Now confirm if all is well by typing this URL http://localhost/ “wordpress-folder” into your browser. In this article the correct URL will be http://localhost/wordpress and will display the below image. Select your preferred language and click Continue.
16. Now you need to enter the below details and to do that you will need to set-up the MySQL database
17. Setting-up MySQL database by clicking on PhpMyAdmin or browsing http://localhost/phpmyadmin. This is what you will use to configure your database.
18. Enter root as the username and make the password blank. Click Go
Setting Up a Database for WordPress Installation
19. Click on Databases and create a new database. After creating the DB you will now go back to Step 16 to enter the new DB name in otherto complete the wordpress installation by clicking Lets’s go!. In the username space enter root and leave the password space blank.
20. If all goes well you will see the below message and you will click Run the installation.
21. Setup your login details into the wordpress environment and click Install WordPress.
22. Once installation is completed you will see this Success message and you can now login. Congratulations!!!
23. Your Wordpres is Live and Ready on your local computer
I hope you found this blog post on How to Install and Configure WordPress on Your Windows Computer Using WAMP SERVER interesting and helpful. In case you have any questions do not hesitate to ask in the comment section.