Kobashi Computing

Have a local WAMP server setup and need to make Wordpress run on it? Here are some useful tips to make this run as smoothly as possible.

Install Wordpress In A Separate Folder

Best practice says that you should install Wordpress in it's own separate folder. This gives you more leeway to install other web software on your server and keep it better organized.

1. Download Wordpress
2. Follow my instructions on Setting Up Virtual Hosts On Wamp Server to get domain name resolution setup properly
3. Copy the Wordpress file to the c:/wamp/www/iYourSite.com folder
4. Extract it to a wordpress folder
5. Install Wordpress

Modify index.php

First, copy and move index.php to the document root for the domain. Then, edit index.php and make the following change:

require('./wordpress/wp-blog-header.php');

Wordpress URL Settings

In your General Settings, there are two URLs that describe to Wordpress your site address and the location of Wordpress itself.

Wordpress Address (URL):    http://www.iYourSite.com/wordpress
Site Address (URL):               http://www.iYourSite.com

Wordpress Directory Structure

If you did everything right, your directory and file structure should look like this:

index.php
/wordpress
  /wp-admin
  /wp-content
  /wp-includes
  .htaccess
  etc.

You should now be able to use your browser within your local area network on any computing device and access your website via http://www.iYourSite.com and http://iYourSite.com.

You can also connect remotely to your WAMP server too! Obtain the IP address of your WAMP server by firing up a browser while connected to it and heading to WhatIsMyIP.com. Note the IP address. Then, while you are on the road, you can access your private Wordpress blog by typiing in:

  http://123.456.789.123/iYourSite.com

The beauty of this is that if you have business presentations or would like to take notes and journalize them with Wordpress, you can do so easily.