Note: The following post is outdated. Click here to download our free WordPress Installation Tutorial where we guide you step-by-step how to install Wordpress manually.

Installing WordPress manually is not as simple as WordPress installation via cPanel & Fantastico, but is not a rocket science, too. The process is a little bit longer since it involves database configuration, uploading of files and changing file permission (CHMOD). If you’re new to any of these, don’t worry. I’ll show you how to do it. just follow the following step-by-step instruction.

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD WORDPRESS

First you need to download a copy of WordPress. Go to http://www.WordPress.org (not www.WordPress.com) and download the latest version. (If you wonder what’s the difference between these two, WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress where you can run a WordPress blog without installing it on your server, while WordPress.org is the site where you can download WordPress to install on your own site.)

Click Download WordPress.

The download page will be displayed. There are 2 formats for you to download. I recommend you download the zip format.

Click Download WordPress. You’ll see a dialog box prompting you to open or save the file.

Click Save.

In the dialog box that appears, choose a location in your computer to save the file, and click Save. (I normally choose Desktop.)

After a while, you’ll see the downloaded file in your computer.

STEP 2: SET UP YOUR WORDPRESS DATABASE

WordPress is a PHP web application that uses MySQL database. Before you can install WordPress you need to set up your database first.

You can prepare a database for WordPress using your web hosting control panel. In this tutorial, I use cPanel version 11. If you’re using cPanel version 10, the process is not much different. However, if you use other control panel, please consult your web host on how to do this.

First, open your cPanel. Look for the Databases section, and click on MySQL Databases icon.

MySQL Databases page will be displayed.

Now, we’ll create a user for the database.

Go to the MySQL Users section, add a username, and a password. If you wish to let the server create a password for you, click Generate Password. Otherwise, insert your own password.

In this example, I use user as the username, and password as the password.

Insert the same password again for verification, and click Create User. The username and password will be created.

Click Go Back to return to the MySQL main page.

Next we’ll create a database for WordPress.

Go to the Create New Database section, enter a name for your database, and click Create Database. In this example, I create a database called wordpress.

The database is created.

Click Go Back to return to MySQL page for the final step.

Now we’ll add the user to the database.

Go to the Add User to Database section. Select the username you just created, link it to the database name, and click Add.

Note: cPanel automatically add a prefix to the username and database. This prefix is normally your webhost account username. In this example, my MySQL username I created before is user, and netinfo_ is my webhost username. So my new MySQL username is now netinfo_user. The same goes to the MySQL database, which is now netinfo_wordpress. The password for the username remains the same.

Next, you’ll need to give certain privileges to the user. Just click All Privileges and the rest of the checkboxes will be selected.

Click Make Changes. The process is now complete.

Don’t forget to write down your database username, database name and password because you’ll need them later for WordPress installation.

STEP 3: UPLOAD WORDPRESS TO YOUR WEB SERVER

The zip file you’ve just downloaded in step 1 actually contains many files. So the next thing you need to do is to open the zip file and extract the files inside it, and upload them to your web server. Actually there are 2 options for you to do this:

1. Extract the files first, and upload them to your web server.
   I used to do it this way, but the problem is it will take too much time uploading the files. It’s not a problem if you have very fast Internet connection.
2. Upload the zip file first, and extract it later on the server using my web hosting control panel.
   This is my preferred way, because it saves time. To do this, you need to make sure that your control panel has the feature of extracting zip file. If you’re using cPanel, you can use this method.

Let’s look at the second option first as it’s the easiest among the two.

First, upload the zip file to your root folder of your web server. You can do this using your FTP software or your web host control panel.

Here’s how to do it using your FTP software. (In this example, I use FileZilla Client.)

If this is the first time you use FileZilla, you need to add your site first to FileZilla’s Site Manager.

Run FileZilla, and click File=>Site Manager.

In the Site manager, click New Site, and name the site. (in my case, it is netinfo.com.)

Next, enter your domain name, or you web server IP address in the Host field, change Logontype to Normal, enter your web host username in the User field, and password in the Password field, and click Connect.

Now you’re connected to your web server.

To begin transferring the file, click on the plus symbol next to the folder with backslash (/) symbol.

You’ll see a list of available folders inside the (/)folder. Click on public_html folder. This is the folder where you’ll upload the zip file. You can also click on www folder. (It is actually a shortcut to the public_html folder.)

Now, locate the zip file in your computer. In this example, it is on the Desktop.

Next, right click the zip file, and select Upload.

FileZilla will start transferring the file. This will take several minutes depending on your Internet connection speed.

Once the upload process is complete, you’ll see the zip file in your public_html folder.

Done.

You can also upload the file using your control panel. Here’s how to do it using cPanel.

In your cPanel, look for File Manager. If you’re using cPanel 11 like me, there are 2 file managers. One is the new version, and the other is old version (Legacy File Manager). In this example I’ll use the old version so those who are still using cPanel 10 can follow.

Click on Legacy File Manager.

A new window will open. Make sure you are in the /public_html/ folder.

Next, click Upload files.

In the Upload files page, click Browse, and locate the zip file in your computer. Next, click Open, and click Upload.

After a while, the file will appear in File Manager.

The upload process is complete.

Now, we need to extract the files inside the zip file.

To do this, you need a web host control panel that allows you to extract file. cPanel allows you to do this using File Manager.

While you’re still in the File Manager, click on the WordPress zip file, and click Extract File Contents.

File manager will start extracting the files.

Once the extract process is complete, a new folder called wordpress is created. You can see the folder by clicking on /public_html/.

STEP 4: INSTALLING WORDPRESS

- this page is still being published -

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Note: The following post is outdated. Click here to download our free WordPress Installation Tutorial where we guide you step-by-step how to install Wordpress using cPanel & Fantastico, as well as manual installation.

This is perhaps the easiest way to install WordPress, via Fantastico.

In order to follow this tutorial, you need a webhost with cPanel. Click here for our webhosting guide to learn more about webhosting.

First, login to your cPanel. The URL is http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel.

You’ll be prompted with a login box. Enter you username and password.

Here’s how the look of cPanel. (I’m using cPanel version 11. If yours is version 10, it might look a litle bit different)

Scroll down and look for Fantastico. Click on the icon.

Fantastico page will be displayed.

Fantastico is actually a tool you can use to automatically install some popular web applications. As you can see, WordPress is among the scripts supported by Fantastico.

Click on the WordPress link, and you’ll be taken to WordPress installation page.

Note: The version of WordPress in your Fantastico might not be the same as the current release. In my case, my web hosting is able to provide the latest version of WordPress. (At the time of this writing, it’s version 2.6)

If you’re ready to install WordPress, click New Installation.

Fill up the fields, and when you’re finished, click Install WordPress.

Here Fantastico displays some information about your WordPress database and WordPress link. Just click Finish Installation.

Done. Installation completed. You can now login to your blog administration area by clicking on the admin link, using the username and temporary password given by Fantastico. (You can change this later in the admin area)

So, as I said, this is probably the easiest way to install WordPress. But if you really want to experience the enjoyment of installing WordPress (and you should), visit my WordPress manual installation page.

[Back to WordPress Installation]

Before you sign up for a webhosting account, you need to know here are many types of webhosting. You need to choose wisely coz moving from one hosting to another is very stressful, especially if you have a lot of sites, and deal with databases!

Basically when it comes to web hosting, you need to choose either Linux hosting or Windows hosting. SInce many of you are familiar with Windows, you might end up with a Windows account. But let me tell you something. Don’t let the word Linux frighten you.

Only choose Windows account if you want to use Microsoft’s web technology like ASP.NET on the server. Otherwise, if you plan to use php scripts, which is the programming language for WordPress, just choose a Linux hosting. (This is my personal opinion, okay.)

Now, assuming you are choosing Linux. Choose a webhosting account that comes with cPanel. cPanel is basically a control panel for your hosting account. The current version of cPanel is cPanel 11. It has got video tutorial in it so you don’t have to worry too much.

Inside cPanel, you’ll find Fantastico, which is a tool you can use to install many web application, including WordPress, with a single click.

Web hosting is very cheap. However don’t go for a company just because their hosting fee is very low. You should go ask around for their support as well.

Now, let’s look into hosting plan.

If you only want to have one website, go for shared hosting. but if plan to have more websites later, go for reseller account, where you can add as many domain names as you want without having to pay additional fee.

Previously I had a account with HostDime.com. A reseller account. Then I upgraded to Virtual Private Server (VPS). I was paying $50 per month for my VPS. Due to a reason I won’t mention here, I moved to another company. Now I’m with Kiosk webhosting, a web hosting company that understand Internet marketing. So far I have no problem with them. They are having a $1 trial for the first month, and I suggest you check them out.

http://www.FairuzTalib.com/recommends/Kiosk

Okay, once you have got yourself a hosting account, the next thing you should do is pointing your domain name to your hosting account by changing the nameserver in your domain name registrar with the nameserver provided by your hosting company. For more info, please consult your hosting company.

Now, you’re ready for WordPress installation.

[Back to WordPress Installation]

To register a domain name, just go to any Domain Name Registrar and purhase the domain name for 1 year or more. I use NameCheap.com for all my domains. I’ve also tried GoDaddy, but I like NameCheap more.

nowadays domain name is very cheap. You can get one for less than $10 per year. I still remember when I first got started in 1999, I was charged $35 per domain!

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