Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

How to Download XAMPP and Start Using WordPress Locally

Are you interested in building your own website or blog using WordPress, but don’t want to spend any money on hosting just yet? Then you may want to consider downloading XAMPP to get your site up and running locally.

XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server solution stack package created by Apache Friends. It is used to develop and test PHP and other websites and applications on your computer before you deploy them to a live server. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to download XAMPP and install WordPress on your Windows or Mac computer.

Step 1: Download XAMPP

Head over to the XAMPP download page and select the version for your operating system. Make sure you download the version that includes PHP and MySQL to ensure compatibility with WordPress. Once the download finishes, double-click the installation file and follow the instructions to complete the installation.

Step 2: Start the XAMPP Server

After the installation, open XAMPP and start the Apache and MySQL services by clicking on the Start button next to each of them. You should see a green checkmark indicating that each service has started successfully.

Step 3: Download and Install WordPress

Now that XAMPP is up and running, you can download WordPress. Head over to the WordPress download page and click on the Download WordPress button. This will download a compressed file that you’ll need to extract to the htdocs folder within XAMPP.

To access the htdocs folder, go to the XAMPP Control Panel and click on the Explorer button. This will open the XAMPP installation folder in File Explorer. From here, navigate to the htdocs folder and extract the WordPress files in this location. Make sure to give your WordPress folder a name that you can easily remember and access later.

Step 4: Configure the WordPress Database

In order to start using WordPress, you need to create a database. Go back to the XAMPP Control Panel, and click on the Admin button next to MySQL. This will open phpMyAdmin, a web-based database management tool used to create and manage databases.

From here, click on New to create a new database. Name the database something memorable and click Create. Keep this database page open, as you’ll need these details later.

Step 5: Install WordPress

Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost/your-wordpress-folder-name. This should take you to the WordPress installation page, where you’ll need to enter some basic information. Select the language you want to use for WordPress and click Continue.

WordPress will then prompt you to enter your database details. Use the database name, username, and password you created in step 4 and click Submit. WordPress will then install and create the necessary tables in your database.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have now successfully downloaded and installed XAMPP and WordPress on your computer! You can now start developing and testing your website or blog locally. Once you’re ready to go live, you can use a hosting service to deploy your site to a live server.