It can be useful to install WordPress on your computer if you are new to WordPress or even an experienced WordPress Web Designer.
Normally you would purchase a domain name and a web hosting account to set up WordPress, but both of these elements cost money.
Setting up WordPress locally is cost-effective as you are not paying for any third-party services.
I often install a WordPress website on my local computer where I can experiment with new plugins, themes or custom web development.
WordPress thankfully can be installed on your local computer using a few simple steps.
Install WordPress Locally
In this article, I will show you how to install WordPress on a local Windows 11 computer, but the same process can be used to install WordPress on a Linux PC or Apple Mac.
Note: This process outlined in this article will allow you to install multiple WordPress websites on your local computer, and best of all it’s 100% free! You can use the Local installations to run both standard WordPress websites and WooCommerce projects.
Table of Contents
Step 1 - Download and Install Local Pro Flywheel
The first step in getting WordPress installed on your local computer is to Download Local Pro Flywheel.
Click the download button located in the top right of the website.
Select the correct operating system from the drop-down menu, in this article I will be selecting Windows.
Complete the form fields and select the “GET IT NOW” button.
Note: The total download file size is 595 MB.
Open the downloaded file to start the installation process.
Select who can access the software and then select the “Next” button.
Enter a Destination Folder for the installation of the software and then select the “Install” button.
Note: I suggest leaving the default installation folder.
Let the installation complete and then select the “Finish” button.
Note: If you leave the tick box “Run Local” activated then the application will launch after selecting the finish button.
After the application launching, you need to accept the Terms of Service and select the “I agree” button.
Confirm if you would like to turn on Error Reporting.
Select the “Create a free account button.
The local Hub page will load into your web browser, and complete the form processing to set up a free account.
Note: After you complete the form processing you will get an email verification to confirm your email addresses. Check the email you entered during the free account form processing sign-up.
Note: You can access your account online to download the latest version of Local Pro Flywheel.
Congratulations – The installation process is completed.
Keep reading this article to learn how to set up a WordPress website using Local Pro Flywheel.
- Custom web design
- Secure and fast website solution
- Full management training
- Take control of your website
- SEO optimisation
- Reliable web hosting and emails
Step 2 - Install WordPress Locally
Now that you have the Local Pro Flywheel application installed on your computer, you can start the process of installing WordPress.
Open the local Pro Flywheel application on your computer.
Select the green “Create a new site” button.
Enter a name for your website and then select the “Continue” button.
In the example below I have used “Development Site 1”
Note: You can also change the local site domain name and the local site path by selecting the advanced options. For now, I suggest you leave them as default values.
Chose your environment and then select the “Continue” button.
Note: The preferred default options are suitable for most WordPress installations.
- PHP7
- Web Server Nginx
- MySQL Version 8
Note: The custom tab gives you the ability to change the default as noted above.
- The version of PHP: 5.6, 7.3, 7.4 or 8
- Web Server Choice: Nginx or Apache
- Database Choice: MySQL or MariaDB
Enter a WordPress username, WordPress password and WordPress e-mail and then select the “Continue” button.
Allow 30 to 60 seconds for WordPress to fully install.
Congratulations – You have completed the WordPress install.
Keep reading this article to learn how to access WordPress on your local computer.
Step 3 - Access Locally Installed WordPress
In this step, I will show you how to access to frontend and backend of your local WordPress website.
Select the “Trust” link from the Local Pro Flywheel application interface.
Note: This will enable an SSL certificate for your local WordPress website, you will see a screen pop-up requesting administrative privileges to trust the certificate.
Select “Yes” to confirm privileges.
Tip: Reboot your computer if the SSL does not work correctly for any reason when you view your local WordPress website.
Enable the "One-click admin" option.
Note: This will allow you to access the WordPress admin without entering the username and password. A similar function can also be found on Bluehost and SiteGround WordPress website management tools.
Start WordPress Site
Note: By default, all websites are set to off status when you create a new website or when you load the Local Pro Flywheel application.
Select the “Start site” link to activate your WordPress website.
Open Wordress Website
Note: When you select the “Open site” button your default web browser will load the WordPress website.
You should now see the default WordPress theme in your web browser with a valid SSL certificate.
Note: If the SSL is not working correctly, reboot your computer and restart the Local Pro Flywheel application.
Access WordPress Admin
Note: In the previous step we enable the “One-click admin” option. This will allow you to access the WordPress admin without entering a username and password.
Select the “WP Admin” button in the Local Pro Flywheel application.
Your local WordPress admin control panel will now load into the web browser.
Note: You can now install plugins and WordPress themes as you would normally do on an externally hosted WordPress website.
Congratulations – You have completed all the steps to access your locally installed WordPress website.
Tip: Select the Plus sign “+” located in the bottom left corner of the Local Pro Flywheel application to start a new WordPress project.
Follow steps 1, 2 and 3 above to create the new website.
Keep reading this article to learn more about Local Pro Flywheel.
Step 4 - Access Local WordPress Install Directory
Sometimes you may need to access the WordPress install directory to manually install plugins and themes or make other updates to the core WordPress installation.
You can easily access the WordPress installation folder on your local computer using the dropdown menu option “Go to site folder” in the Local Pro Flywheel application.
A new explorer window should automatically open after selecting the “Go to site folder” option.
The folder will contain all the WordPress installation files and directory structure.
Note: During the WordPress installation in Step 2 above, you had the option to change the installation path.
The default path should be Users > “User Name” > Local Sites > “WordPress Site Name” > app > public
Tip: You can click on the “Local Sites” folder to access other WordPress website installations.
5. WordPress Blueprint
The Local Pro Flywheel application has a very useful function called “Blueprint”.
This function allows you to create a Blueprint of an existing WordPress installation.
This allows you to quickly set up a new WordPress website with all the plugins and themes pre-installed.
Tip: It is best to create the Blueprint once you have installed all your required plugins and themes, but do not start the development of the website. You basically want a clean version saved as a blueprint so you don’t have to delete content on the website when you make a new site using the blueprint function. So based on this logic you can create:
- Elementor WordPress Blueprint
- Divi WordPress Blueprint
- WooCommerce WordPress Blueprint
These blueprints will have all the required plugins and themes already installed.
Now you can start a new project by simply building the WordPress website using one of the blueprints.
Why is this good? – Well you do not have to reinstall all the plugins and themes.
Note: You can also set up some basic configurations in your WordPress websites before e creating the blueprints to save even more time.
To create a blueprint the select local website must be active, see the step above about “start site”.
Now select the “Save as Blueprint” from the dropdown menu.
Now enter a new from new WordPress Blueprint and select the “Save Blueprint” button.
Note: You can also enter file extensions to exclude from the blueprint during the creation process.
Wait for 30 to 60 seconds for the blueprint to be created.
You can now access the Blueprint by selecting the icon on the left side navigation.
Note: You can select the “Show Details” button located on the right side of each blueprint to view all the installed plugins and active themes.
6. Create a New WordPress Website using Blueprints
In step 5 above I showed you how to create a blueprint, in this step, I will show you how to quickly deploy a new local WordPress website using a saved blueprint.
Select the plus “+” icon in the bottom left corner to start a new WordPress web project.
Select the “Create from a Blueprint” option and then select the continue button.
Select the correct Blueprint and then select the continue button.
Enter a name for your WordPress website and then select the “Create site from Blueprint” button
Wait for 30 to 60 seconds for the new website to be created.
Your new website will appear in the Local Sites listings.
Congratulations – You have completed all the steps to create a new website using an existing Blueprint
Local WordPress Useful Information
Using Local Pro Flywheel for building WordPress websites on your computer is one of the most cost-effective solutions I have found.
It is also possible to install XAMPP on your computer, but the setup of WordPress is more complex when using this method.
Using the method for hosting WordPress websites on your local computer will give you the ability to create multiple WordPress websites using a few simple mouse clicks.
WordPress Website Migration
You will need to migrate your website to a hosting provider once you have completed your WordPress project on your local computer.
Over the years I have used many hosting companies and the best I have found for WordPress projects is SiteGroud.
I like to use SiteGround for the following reasons:
- The hosting is fast and stable
- Built specifically for WordPress Websites
- Free Plugin for security
- Free Plugin for website migration
- Free Plugin for WordPress optimisation
- Free SSL Certificate
- Built-in caching to make websites load faster
- 30 Day rolling website backups
- Optional manual backups
- Great technical support if ever required
As noted above, SiiteGound has a free migration plugin which is super simple to use.
If you are hosting with a different provider, check and see if they also have a migration tool for WordPress.
If not, then I would recommend using the Duplicator plugin.
WordPress Tips
If you are planning on building websites using WordPress then take a look at my WordPress Tips and Tricks For Beginners article.
In the article for WordPress Tips, I cover the following topics in more detail:
- Choose Your Hosting
- Selecting a WordPress Theme
- Try Theme Demos
- Install SEO Plugin
- Compressing Images
- Remove Unused Plugins
- Backup Your Website
- Keep Your Plugins Updated
- Install Google Analytics
- WordPress Permalinks for SEO
- WordPress 301 Re-Directs
- SSL Certificate
- Install Security Plugin
- Install Cache Plugin
- Form Processing Plugin
- Maintenance Mode
- Custom Post Types
- Duplicate Posts
- Change Default Admin URL
- Install Google Recaptcha
- Install SMTP Plugin
- WordPress FAQs
Multipurpose Themes
There are thousands of different WordPress themes to choose from and finding the right theme for your project can be a daunting task.
Luckily I have created this article which covers the Best WordPress Multipurpose Themes.
In the article, I cover the following themes:
- Astra Theme
- SeedProd
- Divi
- OceanWP
- Kadence
- Ultra
- Neve
- Public Opinion
- Indigo
- Parallax
- Elementor
- Blocksy
- Avada
- Phlox
- BeTheme
Final Note
If you are new to WordPress or an experienced web developer, having the ability to build websites locally can speed up not only website development but also allow you to experiment and learn WordPress quickly.
Using the Blueprint system noted above gives you a quick and easy method of deploying new WordPress projects with all plugins and themes installed using a few simple mouse clicks.
Using local WordPress installations is cost-effective and is a great way to learn more about WordPress and even experiment and start building your own plugins and themes.
I hope you find this article useful and feel free to comment below if you liked this article or need some help.
- Custom web design
- Secure and fast website solution
- Full management training
- Take control of your website
- SEO optimisation
- Reliable web hosting and emails
Article by Pankaj Shah: DCP WordPress Web Design
