To install WordPress locally, you must set up a WordPress environment on your PC. LocalWP installs all required software and is safe, stable and easy to use.
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Installing WordPress Locally
To install WordPress locally, you must set up a complete WordPress development environment on your PC. The purpose could be for many reasons, such as learning and testing new Themes or features. A web developer could use it to build client sites and later upload the finished site to a hosting environment.
There are several ways and apps to set up WordPress locally on your PC. These include:
- LocalWP
- WAMP (Solution stack for Windows)
- MAMP (Mac or Windows Solution)
- XAMPP (Open-source solution consisting mainly of the Apache HTTP Server and MariaDB database)
- Install all the components separately, including PHP, MySQL, WordPress, and Apache.
I have tested a few other solutions, but I found that LocalWP is the easiest, cleanest, and most stable.
Reasons to choose LocalWP over other solutions
Here are some distinguishing reasons that make LocalWP the more complete and better choice for hosting WordPress locally.
- LocalWP is more straightforward to install, set up and maintain and has an easy, user-friendly interface.
- LocalWP has a built-in staging environment unavailable in XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP.
- LocalWP is up-to-date with the latest versions of WordPress and PHP, MariaDB, and Nginx, making it more compatible with future environments.
- LocalWP supports managing multiple WordPress sites separately or using WordPress Multisite in a more stable and better way than other products.
- You will join 800,000 other WordPress users who have downloaded LocalWP.
What is LocalWP
Local is a free application that lets you set up a WordPress environment on your local computer, regardless of your skill level or experience.
FlyWheel runs LocalWP. WP Engine, an American web hosting company, acquired FlyWheel. Its headquarters are in Austin, Texas, and it provides WordPress hosting for 1.5M websites.
LocalWP provides a one-stop packaged installation of all the components needed, including WordPress. Best of all, it’s free.
Download LocalWP
Go to the Local website https://localwp.com/.
The download files are available for Windows PC, Mac or Linux.
Select download and choose your platform. I chose Windows.
You need to provide an email account and name. You don’t need to give them a phone number. There is nothing further with this.
There are some initial installation steps before you can install Local.
Setting up your New Environment
Now Local will step you through setting up your new site. First, it will ask you for your site’s name. I have entered “New Site”.
It will ask you to set up your environment. Local will default to the following preferred settings.
You can choose a different Web Server. The options are Nginx 1.16.0 or Apache 2.4.43. You can decide what database to use with either MySQL or MariaDB.
Next, enter a Username and Password for WordPress. In advanced options, there is a choice for WordPress Multisite. Select No. LocalWP allows you to create separate instances of WordPress.
Press Add Site to create your WordPress local instance. When finished, you may get a couple of pop-ups from Window Defender. You can allow access.
Setup your WordPress Local Site
The main Local admin screen shows all the components of your environment. Here the software versions are displayed, and you can change them from the drop-down. Note: Update the WordPress version to the latest.
Turn One-click Admin on, as this saves having to re-enter the password.
Use the Admin button on the top right to open the WordPress admin panel. The + button on the bottom left creates another instance of WordPress. It displays your WordPress site at the top left and whether it is running.
Click on the Admin button and go to your WordPress Dashboard. That’s it! You can start setting up WordPress.
You now have the usual WordPress Dashboard. Ensure that you have the latest version of WordPress. Only upgrade WordPress from the LocalWp admin panel.
In the WordPress dashboard, go to appearance and select Themes. You can now add the Theme you want to use and get started.
Use Live Link to share a Link with others to your Local site
LocalWP has specific functionality to enable your locally hosted WordPress to be shared with specific other people via provisioned site tunnels from your Local account.
Live Link turns your local Development site into a working test environment from which you can send direct links to your clients. Users can view or review your site on multiple device types.
Live Links connects directly to your PC and enforces privacy mode and HTTPS to keep it safe from malicious bots and search engines. There are no complicated terminal commands, instead just some simple clicks.
You get a single temporary but continuous and persistent URL that you only send once.
