Now That You have decided on Joomla, and checked the Joomla System Requirements. Lets get Joomla Installed, This How-To will focus on using the Official Zip file to Install Joomla onto Your own Server, virtual server, or Web Hosting Account.

Every hosting provider is a little different, but the concept is the same for all the different control panels.

Step 1:  First off Grab the Official Joomla Zip file from the Official Joomla 3.X Download Page.

Step 2:  Using the “file browser” (AKA… File Manager) option within Your Website’s control Panel, navigate to your “web” directory, and Click the upload button, then choose the Joomla Zip file that You downloaded earlier.
For Linux Users this is usually /home/user_name/public_html or /var/www/html for Microsoft IIS servers the default web directoy is LocalDrive:\Inetpub\Wwwroot .

Step 3:  Un-Zip the file, after it has been uploaded.  This will unpack Your new Joomla site!

Step 4:  Now lets kick this into high gear, and Navigate to your website.  example >>>  www.example.com

Step 5:  If everything went according to plan,  You will be greeted by the Joomla installer (pictured below). From here on out the installer is pretty straight forward. If You receive an error message, or a blank page at this point Click HERE for the Solution.

Step 6:  On the first Installer page,  You will need to fill in some info about Your site.

• Your Site Name.
• Site description.  (Keep it short and sweet.)
• Administrator UserName & PassWord (This will be the Joomla administrator account.)
• Administrator E-mail.

 

At this point, You are also able to choose whether, or not  Your site will be live immediately after the install, or to put the site in “offline mode” after the install is complete.

Once You have entered in the information, click next.

Step 7:  On to the second phase of the installer.  At this point You will need the following information.

• DataBase Name  I recommend a separate DataBase for Joomla.
• DataBase User Name
• DataBase PassWord
• DataBase Server  Name Most WebHosts use 127.0.0.1 or “localhost”

The first box on the database configuration page is the connection type. Leave MYSQLI selected.   Its better,faster, and arguably more secure.

Most of the remaining boxes are self explanatory.  The exceptions are:

 

1. DataBase Table Prefix   There are multiple reasons the Joomla dev team has made prefixes mandatory.  I will just say that this helps prevent a number of database disasters related to shared hosting.  You should leave the randomly generated prefix in the box.
2. DataBase Backup  If in doubt, do an actual Backup of Your Database. Using PhPMYadmin or other SQL BACKUP UTILITY. The installers Backup, is not a real backup.

Note:  Joomla performs a “backup” by adding a “bak” prefix to all the existing tables in your database. I repeat this is NOT a actual Backup!!

Step 8:     Finalizing the Installation

This page may look very daunting, but we will take it on step at a time.

To start with there are only 2 options on this page that you can choose. The rest is information gathered by the installer to let us know if Joomla will install correctly.

Option 1.  Installing the sample data is great to “test” out Joomla,  it is also excellent for users that are new to Joomla.  After all its hard to know what default feature are available when the database is empty.

Option 2. Email the site configuration to the admin e-mail account.  Its up to You, but I would not  Send the E-mail. It’s a security thing of mine not to have site details in my email.

Main Configuration This will display the information You entered on the previous pages (minus Passwords).  If anything does not look correct scroll to the top of the page, and use the previous button, to return to the previous config pages.  DO NOT USE YOUR BROWSERS BACK BUTTON.  If you use the browsers back button You may have to re-enter all of the information on the previous pages.

Pre-Installation Check if anything in this section is red, You need to Stop and correct it. these items are Required for the correct installation/operation of Joomla. All of the items in this section are what i consider admin responsibilities.  The main reason I consider these admin responsibilities is that most shared hosting plans make it difficult to impossible to change these items without contacting support.

The next section is a review of Your servers PHP settings.  if you have and red boxes in this area you should fix them BEFORE installation. Joomla may install if You have red boxes here but it most likely will be slow, and, or have unexplained errors with missing features.

If everything looks good, go ahead and click INSTALL.

You should now see a nice little progress bar.

Depending on Your servers hardware, and load this may take some  time. If the progress bar seem to hang or freeze at this point Click Here for the Solution.  Once everything has finished, You will be greeted with the screen below.

Step 9:  You must click the “Remove Installation Folder” Button. You will Not be able to proceed unless You click the button.

Step 10:  Checkout Your Site. The Site button, takes You to Your website’s Homepage, while the Admin button will take you to a login prompt so that You can start customizing Joomla, and adding Content.