Installing WordPress locally is usually meant for development or testing purposes. These instructions will help you create a server environment for your website and develop it on your computer.
One of the most used tools for setting up your server environment is MAMP. Setting MAMP it up is just a matter of a few clicks and it is available for both Mac and PC.
Let’s start with installing MAMP and starting our local server.
Download MAMP from the official site https://www.mamp.info/en/downloads/ and install it on your computer.
Once installed you will be able to locate the MAMP folder at:
C:\MAMP – for Windows
MAMP in the “Applications” menu – for Mac
Start MAMP by pressing the “Start” button.
The launcher window displays the root folder for your server, the type of server that you can run, and the PHP version. There are a few additional functions provided at the top bar. Preferences – provides additional settings for MAMP (Ports, Server, Cloud configuration). Cloud – opens up the cloud functions, that option is available only for the Pro version. WebStart – opens the WebStart page in your default browser. Start / Stop – start or stop the Apache/Nginx and MySQL services.
Once active the WebStart will open up in your default browser. You can access all sites using the localhost address followed by the port.
http://localhost:8888
The WebStart displays server related info such as PHP and MySQL. You can also access phpMyAdmin from the Tools menu.
Now that we have our MAMP server up and running we can install WordPress. Navigate to the htdocs folder which is located in your MAMP folder. Upload the latest version of WordPress and configure the wp-config.php file. You can then open the website in your browser and proceed with the installation.
After finishing your website you can migrate it on a web host using a migration plugin. You can learn how to migrate your site by checking our “How To Clone A WP Site With Duplicator” article.