A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice |

A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or get convenient updates via Email . Thanks for visiting!

Step Three: Entering Database Settings in config.php

Renaming the wp-config-sample.php file

WordPress comes with a file called “wp-config-sample.php”. This file contains various settings, but most importantly, it contains the code that will make your database connection. There are some default settings in this file that we need to edit to include the settings that will enable us to connect to the database that we just created. When we’re done editing the settings, we’ll need to remove the “sample” part of the file name and save this file as “wp-config.php”.

Navigate to your WordPress files and open the “wp-config-sample.php” now in your preferred text editor. You can use something as simple as notepad (included with Windows), or obtain a free, more feature-packed text editor like what I’m using, called HTML-Kit.

Edit the wp-config.php file by adding your database settings

Now you simply enter the database settings that you specified and received from your host. Look at the very top of the page, see where it says “MySQL settings”? Now, after entering your database settings, choose “file”—>”save as” in your text editor and save this file as “wp-config.php” into the same directory.

Continue with Step Four on the next page…

Help Spread the Word:

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Categories: Featured, WordPress Tutorials
Tags: Features

40 Responses to “A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice”

Donate Pennies on Feb 13th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Wow! Thanks for such a detailed post, I will give it a shot!

Donate Pennies’s last blog post..Make a Commitment Against Prejudice
RennyBA on Feb 16th, 2008 at 6:53 am

Readable and educative post for novice and always something to pick of for everyone.

I have my blog at a web hotel and a friend of mine installed WP there. I use WP 2.2.1 and are thinking about updating, but not sure if I dare

Btw: your on my blogrool now and I faved you at Technorati too.

RennyBA’s last blog post..A culinary feast at Restaurant Eik in Oslo
WordPress Modder on Feb 16th, 2008 at 8:50 am

@ RennyBA,

Thank you for commenting, I’m glad you found this helpful. As far as upgrading your WP install…you really should update to the latest. Maybe that should be the next tutorial written here?

If you need help or advice on this, feel free to contact me. Thanks also for the add to the blogroll, I’ve added you to mine as well here: http://wordpressmodder.org/resources
Photoshop Tutorials, Flash Tutorials, Java Tutorials on Feb 25th, 2008 at 5:02 pm

Great piece, especially for me who is relatively new to wordpress.
Bubbila on Mar 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Sweet tutorial, just what I have been looking for.
WordPress Modder on Mar 20th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

@ Bubblia,

I’m really glad it helped! Stay tuned for more tutorials and theme releases.
Jason on May 3rd, 2008 at 1:14 pm

Great tutorial! I recommend wordpress to all of my seo clients. Its nice to have a resource like this to give to them so they can see how easy the process is.
Tampa Blog on May 6th, 2008 at 11:23 am

Oh thank you! This is so awesome. I want to install another one and since I didn’t do my first one, I am clueless. This is a great outline. I will bookmark this for you!

Tampa Blog’s last blog post..Feb 2008 Sales Figures Show Positive Signs
WordPress Modder on May 6th, 2008 at 11:55 am

@Tampa Blog,

Thanks, I’m glad I could help:) I will be contacting you via your blog…
Jason on May 8th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

I was wondering, do you know how to make wordpress show the code for the paragraphs in the HTML section of the posts?

Jason’s last blog post..Color Wheel Pro
WordPress Modder on May 9th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

@ Jason,

I’m using this plugin to display code in my posts:
http://thislab.com/2007/12/16/release-wordpress-plugin-syntaxhighlighter-plus/

There are many out there that will accomplish this, but I’ve found this one to work best for me.

Hope that helps!
WMGrounds on Jun 7th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

Thanks. It was very useful.

WMGrounds’s last blog post..101 Ways to increase traffic to your website
Jacky @ Promotional Items on Jun 10th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

Thank you for this great tutorial. We all here at the graphic designer room of Action Printing, Inc. enjoyed this very much.
susans home on Jun 21st, 2008 at 3:31 am

yeah good tutorial it might come in handy if i am going to move from blogger to wordpress
susans home’s last blog post..Champions of Europe - bet365 Casino
Monica Boston on Jun 27th, 2008 at 8:01 am

This is indeed a great tutorial. So many new bloggers are still lost. What a cool way to help them.

Monica Boston’s last blog post..30 year mortgage interest rates remain unchanged
WordPress Modder on Jun 27th, 2008 at 8:27 am

@ Monica,

Thanks, I try to do what I can to help because we were all noobs at some point;)

You (or the other readers here) may also be interested to know that I’ve built a project that makes it even easier for new bloggers to get up and running. It’s called IndieLab and you can learn more here http://indielab.org

Thanks for the comment!
Vikas on Jul 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 am

Thanks a lot for this tutorial. Now I can install it on my friend’s hosting.

Vikas’s last blog post..Block TCP/IP ports to increate system security
gfxstuff on Jul 9th, 2008 at 5:07 am

Wordpress is far more than a blog. With all kinds of plugins and themes, it is a CMS now. It’s nice to know that millions of people are contributing and trying to make Wordpress a better platform. I strongly recommend Wordpress to everyone.

gfxstuff’s last blog post..Pinnacle Studio Ultimate v12 Multilanguage Final
Print and Stitch on Jul 29th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

Hi, very nice tutorial. I was wondering, do you have a tutorial on how to restore wordpress data bases as well? It’s great that WP is so automated now when you create a new blog, but what happens when you’re changing hosts and you want to restore your blog?

Thanks!

Print and Stitchs last blog post..Get High Tech With Customized Electronic Mouse Pads
WordPress Modder on Jul 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

@Print and Stitch,

Sorry, I don’t have a tutorial on restoring databases, but you might want to try some of these links…

http://codex.wordpress.org/Restoring_Your_Database_From_Backup

http://technosailor.com/2007/04/06/wordpress-faq-how-do-i-move-my-blog-to-a-new-host/
antalya travel on Aug 1st, 2008 at 3:36 pm

this was really helpful
thanks

antalya travels last blog post..OLYMPOS and ÇIRALI
wesley on Aug 12th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Thank you for another great posting. I going to get off my but and upgrade to 2.6.
Custom T-Shirts on Aug 26th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Thanks for the tutorial! Wordpress 2.7 is coming out soon, hopefully they make it a bit easier to install!
jeffrey on Aug 29th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Very nice tutorial, thank you. It was very helpfull especially for a newby like me. In my opinion creating and setting up the database information is the most difficult part.
greek bookmarks on Sep 6th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

I wish i had come cross this guide a while back. Nevertheless it helped clear things out.

greek bookmarkss last blog post..Social Bookmarking and Tag Clouds-Is it going to Rain?
Victor Chen on Sep 11th, 2008 at 1:33 am

Definitely the best step by step instructions on installing Wordpress. Very clear instructions. Thanks for this!
WordPress Modder on Sep 11th, 2008 at 8:12 am

You’re welcome Victor. I’m really glad I could be of assistance:)
Voos Baratos on Sep 16th, 2008 at 10:32 am

Thanks for this tutorial! You make it look very simple and easy!

Voos Baratoss last blog post..Voos Baratos e Low Cost
Andy on Sep 19th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Great article, especially for me who is relatively new to wordpress.
thedark on Sep 19th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

I like the wordpress instalation: “expected more steps ? sorry”
Zygor on Oct 8th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

I have more than 5 wordpress blogs but believe it or not, I have never installed it. I use hosting with Fantastico Deluxe script installed. It allows me to install any blog engine and many other scripts including Joomla and Mambo in unsder a minute. =)
Best Antalya Hotels on Oct 19th, 2008 at 3:33 pm

Surely, anyone can install in a minute with fantastico software but beware that correct choice of database language is important. You don’t want your wordpress being installed in Swedish language set as default in most such scripts I prefer custom installation.

Best Antalya Hotelss last blog post..Antalya Delphin Palace Hotel Lara
Joseph Murray on Oct 22nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm

This is a very good tutorial. It would be very helpful for first-time bloggers who are just getting started. Thanks!
Used Engines on Oct 28th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

I referred a customer to this post to help him learn to do this on his own. thanks so much for the post!
Rami on Nov 2nd, 2008 at 2:40 am

Great tutorial. Is there any script out there that can install it automatically? Like with Joomla. I don’t need to install it by myself. I just upload a small script to my server and the script make all the job.
WordPress Modder on Nov 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 am

@Rami,

Thanks for the comment, although I’m not aware of a script that does exactly what you describe, I wouldn’t be surprised if it existed.

On the other hand, there are many hosts that will install WordPress for you as well.
Trackback: A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice. « Himalman’s Weblog
Feb 16th, 2008 at 4:39 am

[...] A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice. Posted on February 16, 2008 by himalman [...]
Trackback: What Will Make WordPress Easier For You? |
Feb 19th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

[...] the release of A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice, it was clear that there is a need for easy to read visual tutorials. Knowing this, we have started [...]
Trackback: A Visual Guide to Installing WordPress for the Complete Novice.
Mar 14th, 2008 at 4:30 am

[...] [...]
Trackback: WordPress Intallation Visual Guide « one cool site: wordpress blogging tips
Mar 16th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

[...] tutorial that will be of interest to brand new self-hosting wordpress bloggers. I’ve created the Visual Guide to Installing Wordpress for the Complete Novice because the tutorials and guides I’ve seen just haven’t shown as much detail as I think a [...]


WordPress	XHTML and CSS	PHP	Blogging for Profit

Download Hundreds of Complimentary Internet white papers, webinars and podcasts Download hundreds of popular Internet white papers, webinars, podcasts, and more; all available at no cost to you. With more than 600 free offers, you\'ll find plenty of titles to suit your professional interests and needs. Click Here and Sign up today!