How to set up a local Wordpress website, so you can develop for free before you upload to a web server!
This video will show how to set up a local Wordpress website on Windows 10 using XAMPP.
XAMPP is a free software that includes many important options for hosting a website, including Apache and MySQL (now MariaDB). It can be downloaded from:
https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html
After downloading, just run the installer and make sure to leave the Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, and phpmyadmin options selected, and then leave everything else as default. You may want to change the default installation path from C: xampp to something else, but it is suggested that you avoid installing to the program files folder to avoid UAC (User Account Control) triggers.
Once it's installed, open the control panel and start the Apache and MySQL services. You can now see an active webserver at localhost, or the IP Address 127.0.0.1 (local IP Address).
Now you will need to download Wordpress itself. You can download a zip of the newest version at:
Once it is downloaded, right click and extract all. Then copy the Wordpress folder, and paste into the XAMPP installation, in the htdocs folder. This folder is what is served up to the web browser. So by default it brings you to the dashboard folder. To access Wordpress after you paste it into the folder, in your web browser go to http://localhost/wordpress Feel free to change the name of the wordpress folder to access it at a different address.
Now it will ask for a database, database username, and database password. This is something you will need to create in phpmyadmin. To do this, head to http://localhost/phpmyadmin
Once here, click on the new option on the left to create a new database. Give it a relevant name, something different preferably than just wordpress. Then choose the Collation, which is utf8_general_ci
After the database is created, click on it on the left and choose the privileges tab. Here you can create a user that has privileges to add data to the database, which is how Wordpress will access the database and store data.
Again it is recommended to choose a relevant username here, and a strong password. The hostname should also be changed to localhost, as this is a local install. Then hit the go button at the bottom.
If you get an error stating Show Plugins soname like '%_password_check%' then it's easy to fix. Just go to your xampp folder, and then the mysql folder inside. Here, right click and create a new folder, and name it lib. Then go in the newly created lib folder and create another folder, called plugin. You should now be able to create a new user just fine.
Once the user is created, go to http://localhost/wordpress and input the new database you created, and the user info.
The next information Wordpress will ask for is the site title, and a user to login to Wordpress. I would suggest something different than just administrator, and to use a strong password. At this point your wordpress installation is ready to use.