– Appendix A. How to install XAMPP and WordPress –

The WordPress manual: How to work on the EPRI website

– Appendix A. How to install XAMPP and WordPress – A guide to setting up XAMPP (a local server) and WordPress (the publishing tool) on your computer.1

Overview To build a website, EPRI needs both a server (XAMPP) and a publishing platform (WordPress).

1.

Installing XAMPP

What is XAMPP, and why do I need it? XAMPP is a local web server. In essence, a server hosts websites; EPRI’s old website uses GoDaddy as our web server. So why XAMPP? XAMPP allows EPRI to host the website content locally on an EPRI computer. This means we can develop the website offline until we are ready to host it online. XAMPP is a good choice for EPRI because it is free for commercial use, easy to install, easy to use and widely used by web developers. However, once we want to host the website online, it is not safe to use XAMPP as a server, because it does not have sufficient security. XAMPP is a tool for web development, not production. See this site for details: http://www.a3webtech.com/index.php/xampp-3.html For more info: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html A great tutorial/overview of XAMPP, with information about how to switch from local hosting (on your computer) to a live website: Part 1: http://www.a3webtech.com/index.php/xampp-2.html Part 2: http://www.a3webtech.com/index.php/xampp-3.html

How do I install XAMPP? A great guide to installing XAMPP (should be all you need): http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/xampp/  be sure to follow it all the way to the end! For more detailed information: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#646 1

Once the site goes live, we will no longer use XAMPP to host our site, because it will be hosted online (most likely with GoDaddy). However, for building the site, this is the process I have used, and I have documented it in case EPRI ever needs to set up a local server again.

A.

Download and install XAMPP Lite 1. Go to http://www.apachefriends.org/es/xampp-windows.html#4163 2. This should take you directly to a page titled “XAMPP Lite” (part of the way down a larger page on XAMPP for Windows). 3. Click on the link that says “EXE: 7-zip [MD5]”. (This is an easier installation method than the ZIP file.) 4. Download and save the file. 5. Open the file and follow the instructions to install. 6. The setup script (setup_xampp.bat) will open automatically. It looks like this:

7. 8. The setup script will ask you the following questions, and pre-supply the default answers: I. Should I add shortcuts to the startmenu/desktop? (y/n): y ( hit enter) II. Should I locate the XAMPP paths correctly? Should I proceed? (y/x=exit setup): y ( hit enter) III. Should I make a portable XAMPP without drive letters?... Your choice? (y/n): n ( hit enter) IV. XAMPP is ready to use. Press to continue. ( hit enter) V. I have set the timezone to…. Press to continue. ( hit enter) 9. The setup script will then give you five options: I. Start XAMPP Control Panel II. Relocate XAMPP III. Disable HTTPS IV. Disable Server Side Includes V. Enable IPv4 only VI. x Exit VII. Please choose : 10. Type in “1” to start the Control Panel.

B.

Turn XAMPP on. 1. In the centre of the panel, under the list of “modules”, you will see the words “Apache” and “MySql”. Each has a “Start” button to the right. Click the “Start” button next to “Apache” and “MySql”. When they are running, you will see a green box that says “Running” to the right of each name (Apache and MySql). A good explanation of this can be found at http://tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/xampp/. Apache running; need to start MySql

Now both are running

2. TROUBLESHOOTING TIP: when using Windows XP Professional (not Home), Apache will not start unless you have stopped IIS. How do you stop IIS? i. Open Control Panel and double-click on Administrative Tools. ii. Double-click on Services. iii. Scroll down the list of services until you see “IIS Admin”, and click on it. On the left half of the box, you will see three options: Stop the service, Pause the service and Restart the service. Select “Stop the service.”

Select “Stop the service”

iv. It will give you a warning that this will affect the World Wide Web, FTP, etc. – go ahead with it. v. Once you have stopped IIS, you should then be able to Start Apache. Once the green “Running” boxes are lit up next to both Apache and MySql, you’re ready to start working!

C.

Setup a WordPress database in XAMPP. 1. To do this, simply follow the instructions in the last part of this tutorial: http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/xampp/ i. Enter http://localhost/xampp/splash.php into your browser. ii. Select your language.

iii. Click ‘phpMyAdmin’ under ‘Tools’ on the left-hand toolbar.2 iv. Copy the text provided in the tutorial under “Create New Database” 1. In the first box, type wordpress 2. In the second box, select utf8 unicode ci v. Press create. Now it says, ‘download and unzip WordPress’. For more information about how to do this step, keep reading…

2.

Installing WordPress

**Note: You can only install WordPress after you have installed a local server (like XAMPP).

What is WordPress, and why do we use it? WordPress is a web application that allows you to create, publish and manage web content, also known in official WordPress terms as a “personal publishing platform”. Why is WordPress a good choice for EPRI? o It’s free. o It’s easy to use – WordPress is designed for people who don’t know anything about web design. It’s very intuitive and easy to figure out. o When you have a question or run into something to troubleshoot, WordPress has many users and very active and comprehensive support forums online – simply googling “how to make tables in wordpress”, “how to make columns in wordpress”, etc. will usually find you an answer within 10 minutes of poking around on forums. o It allows multiple users and remote access. Once the site is live, we can access and edit our site from anywhere with internet access. o We won’t lose our site if our computers crash, because the site is backed up online, not stored on our local hard drives.

How do I download and install WordPress? After you have installed XAMPP, download and install WordPress.

2

If you ever get the error message “Error: MySQL said: #1045 – Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’ (using password: NO)”, here are some links that may help troubleshoot: http://rudyegenias.wordpress.com/2006/09/15/enabling-phpmyadmin-once-you-change-permission-or-privilegeson-mysql-database/ http://www.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=41724 http://forums.techguy.org/web-design-development/682178-locked-out-xampp-mysql.html http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/resetting-permissions.html http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/resetting-permissions.html#resetting-permissions-windows

First, read these instructions: http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress . If you have downloaded XAMPP, you have met the prerequisites, so you can go ahead and scroll down to the part that says “Famous 5-Minute Install”. You can find the download of WordPress here: http://wordpress.org/download/ This website is helpful for supplementary reading about installation, and it has many useful and informative links about WordPress at the bottom: http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/bloghosting/the-complete-guide-to-your-first-WordPress-site/

3.

Just in case…

How do I UNinstall XAMPP? Essentially, you open C:/XAMPP and click on the programme called “uninstall”, then answer “y” to each question. Easy! This site explains how to uninstall XAMPP: http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=201392

Additional notes: Info about the LAN: HTTP://PORTFORWARD.COM/ HTTP://COMMUNITY.BADGER-FINANCE.ORG/FORUM/VIEWTOPIC.PHP?F=3&T=281 HTTP://WWW.QUESTIONHUB.COM/SUPERUSER/218338 HTTP://WWW.APACHEFRIENDS.ORG/F/VIEWTOPIC.PHP?P=152681&SID=27C6AAE1774DC2B72CDD0177 87BC3650 HTTP://SUPERUSER.COM/QUESTIONS/218338/TAKE-LOCAL-XAMPP-ONLINE