There are many reasons why you might want to install WordPress on your desktop or laptop computer.
For example, you may want to use your local installation as a safe space where you can learn more about WordPress and experiment in private — sort of like training wheels for WordPress.
Or you might want to make an identical copy of your website so you can test the latest WordPress and plugin updates before installing them on your live website. Better to break a test site than your real website.
Or maybe you’re building a new site from scratch and you don’t even have a web hosting account yet.
Unfortunately, installing WordPress isn’t as simple as installing traditional desktop software. Or rather, it wasn’t until the Local came along.
In this tutorial, I show you how to install WordPress on any PC. You can use that local installation (no pun intended) to experiment with WordPress without fear of breaking your website. Best of all, Local works with both Windows and Mac.
Local is was created by Flywheel, an advanced web hosting service that specializes in WordPress. Flywheel tells me that future versions of Local will have the ability to automatically migrate WordPress sites to their hosting service.
10 thoughts on “The Easiest Way to Install WordPress On Your Computer (Windows or Mac)”
I know you favor the Duplicator plugin but you don’t need it to make a copy of your site for Local.
Initially, (few months ago) I had problems dragging a zip file that contained the WP files and database. Somehow those issues got cleared up and creating an a dupe site on my computer is easy.
Interesting. I assume you created a SQL dump of your database first. If so, where did you position that file in your archive?
i made a new site in local (flywheel) but i used my real domain name to create the test site. now, i wanna know can i use the same domain name on the internet to run my real website? will be any problem?
Yes, you can use the same domain name on the Internet. However, you may find that your local computer connects to the Local version of your site instead of the version you’ve published online. The fix for this involves editing a text file on your computer (it’s different on Mac and Windows). In either case, it might be easiest to change the site name in the control panel.
Been using Local since it was called pressmatic. It’s so easy to use and totally worth the hype.
Thanks Kirk for this great post.
I have been wishing for this ability for a long time. I was unaware that such things existed.
Great Post, Kirk, along with an excellent training video. Can’t wait to use it!
Hi,
Just wondering if Local is able yet to automatically migrate a site to my webhost?
If not, Kirk do you perhaps have a video which will explain how to migrate a local “dev” version to my webhost?
Hi Michelle,
Yes, Local can migrate to your web host, but ONLY if you host with Flywheel (the company that makes Local). If you’re not hosting on Flywheel, you can use the Duplicator plugin to migrate your site. And yes, I do have a video demonstrating Duplicator. Check the Resource links below this video.
kb
Hi Kirk, thanks for your reply. When I click the above link for Duplicator I get redirected to this page: https://wpapprentice.com/essentials/site-management/wordpress-site-migration-with-duplicator/ where I get a “Page not found” error.
I tried to find a way of searching your blog for the post, but I can’t find any search box. Could you please send me a link to the Duplicator post (or fix the one above 🙂 )
Regards
Michelle
Sorry about that Michelle. I’ve fixed the link below this video. You can find the duplicator tutorial here: https://wpapprentice.com/essentials/site-management/wordpress-site-migration-duplicator/
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