As I have yet resisted joining the ranks of the Mac cult, we’ll be using PC server software. I am aware of XAMPP, WAMP, and I personally use VertrigoServ for no other reason than it is the only one I’ve tried. (Mac cultists can use MAMP.)

This Tutorial Is Based On VertrigoServ

They say that cleanliness is next to godliness, and in that vein let us install our server in a organized location. On my desktop, I actually use a whole separate hard drive to store my server. If you don’t have the luxury of a dedicated HDD, then your local disk or C:\ will be fine.

01. Installing The Server

Create the following directory: C:\usr\. Then run the server installer, and be sure to install the software in the C:\usr\ location. If you installed the VertrigoServ software, then the “public web” files will be located in C:\usr\www\. So let’s download and install WordPress inside C:\usr\www\wordpress\ and then be sure to fire the server up after installation.

02. Setup The Database

So we’ll need to have a database created before we can install WordPress. In your web browser, navigate to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and login. There should be the default user and password if this is your first time. Find it by clicking the VertrigoServ icon in the bottom right tray, and selecting “Help and Readme”. Be sure to change your passwords once you get in. Default login is root/vertrigo.

Now that we’re in PHPmyAdmin, let’s create a database for our local WordPress install. Type in your desired database name, and hit the “Create” button.

03. Installing WordPress

With the database created, we can now input our database details into the wp-config.php file of our WP install.

// ** MySQL settings ** //
define('DB_NAME', 'database_name');    // The name of the database from step 2
define('DB_USER', 'root');     // Vertrigo uses root as the default username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'vertrigo_password'); // the password used to get into your local phpmyadmin
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');    // 99% chance you won't need to change this value
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

Now we can pull open our browser, and navigate to http://localhost/wordpress and begin the installation of WordPress.

The http://localhost/ address looks into the \usr\www\ directory. So whatever the name of the directory we installed in, is what we’ll need to punch in after localhost/. For example, if I installed an application in \usr\cms\, I will need to navigate to http://localhost/cms in order to pull up that site.

Click the “Options” icon, and navigate to View > Show Hidden Files.