Al Williams posted on June 30, 2008 09:59
I put together this article to assist anyone wanting to work with the Joomla! Open Source CMS on their Windows PC. Feedback on this article is appreciated.
1. Joomla! is a PHP web application that uses MySQL as the database. PHP can run on either a Windows or Apache platform There is a free product called WampServer that will install MySQL and Apache as a bundle on your Windows PC. It is a simple install and it gives you everything you need to get started. To download WampServer, go to:
Run the installation and use the defaults. By default WampServer will install to c:\wamp
2. Next, you'll have to download the latest Joomla 1.5x stable release. I downloaded the zip file as illustrated below.
3. If you are running IIS on your development PC, now is the time to shut it down. We'll be using the Apache server installed with WampServer for this tutorial.
4. Start WampServer.
5. You will notice an icon for WampServer in the system tray.
6. Click on the WampServer icon and select Start All Services - this will start the Apache and MySQL services.
7. To ensure Apache is running, select the Apache/Service node. If Start/Resume Service is greyed out - then the Apache service is running.
7. To ensure MySQL is running, select the MySQL/Service node. If Start/Resume Service is greyed out - then the MySQL service is running.
8. Create a folder in c:/wamp/www named JoomlaDemo
9. Copy the Joomla install file downloaded in step 2 to this folder. Extract all files in c:\wamp\www\joomlademo
10. Files have been extracted successfully.
11. Open your browser (Firefox in this example) - and navigate to
http://localhost/joomlademo You will begin the installation wizard. Select your language and click Next.
12. The next step is the Pre-installation Check. The critical aspect here is to ensure that all of the criteria tested in the first section have a Yes beside the criteria listed. If everything looks OK, click Next.
13. Next, accept the license by clicking Next.
14. The database configuration is the next step. Complete this form as shown below:
15. Nothing needs to be done on the FTP Configuration page - click Next.
16. You need to give your site a name and assign an administrator password. By default the administrative User Name is Admin.
Important: I highly recommend installing the Sample data as shown below if you are new to Joomla!.
17. At this point the installation is complete - and you are notified to delete the installation folder
18. Delete the installation folder under the root of the website.
19. Click the Site button
20. The Joomla! site is up and running on localhost !
21. To access the administrative functionality (referred to as the "back-end") - use the url:
22. To view the core Joomla! tables, use the PHPMyAdmin interface (available from the WampServer menu) - and click on the database used for this installation - joomlademo