How to install WordPress on Windows 11

If you have a WordPress site, you have the choice of hosting it on your own PC or server.

At least when you start it can be an advantage because you can test a lot of changes much faster and you can have full control over what happens.

However, the majority of website owners host their WordPress blogs on a web server as it is much more accessible and you don’t need to allocate resources on their end.

If you’ve made up your mind and want to install WordPress locally on your Windows 11 machine, this article will show you how to configure your PC to act as its own web server to host your blog.

How do I manage my WordPress blog with a web application?

First, we have a hybrid solution, to host your WordPress blog on a web server and manage it with a web application on your PC so that you can control the interface without opening a browser.

1. Go to the Microsoft Store and download the WordPress app.
2. You will be redirected to the Microsoft Store the application then click on the To install button.
3. Once downloaded and installed, press the button Open button.
4. Now you just need to enter your credentials to log into your WordPress account and click on the button To continue button.
5. Once signed in, you’ll see the dashboard just as you would open it in a browser, but it’s available locally, on your PC.

This is a tradeoff because you don’t actually host your blog on the PC, but you can get to your website faster and without using a browser.

How can I install WordPress on Windows 11?

1. Install WordPress on Windows 11 WSL

REMARK

This solution is recommended only for advanced users with experience using Linux.

1.1 Install WSL on Windows 11

1. Click on the magnifying glass in the taskbar, type cmd and select Execute as administrator.
2. Type or paste the following command and press Enter: wsl --install
3. The process will take a little while, so please wait patiently for the Windows Subsystem for Linux to be installed.
4. After all the components are installed, you will receive a message stating that the process was completed successfully and you will need to restart your system for the changes to take effect.
5. After restarting, the installation will resume and Ubuntu will be installed.
6. If you get the Distribution of WSL registry failed with error: 0x80370102 message, you will need to enable the processor virtualization settings from BIOS and enable Hyper-V, Virtual machine platform and Windows hypervisor platform of Windows features.

Installing WSL is the first step in the process and it will install Ubuntu as well, but you can get other distros if you don’t like this one.

You can also update WSL by entering the following line in a Command Prompt administration window: wsl --update

1.2 Install the Nginx HTTP server

1. Open Ubuntu and enter the following command to install Nginx:
   • sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx
2. To test the server, open a browser and enter the following address: http://localhost
3. If you can see the image as shown in our screenshot above, you are on the right track.

In order for WordPress to work properly, it still needs a web server, and Nginx is a very efficient and popular open source service, but you can use others if you want.

1.3 Install a database server

1. Open Ubuntu, enter the following command and press Enter to run it: sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client
2. Now type the following command in Ubuntu to install MySQL: sudo mysql_secure_installation
3. You will be asked questions, so enter the following answers:
   • Enter the current password for root (enter for none): Press Enter
   • Set the root password? [Y/n]: Yes
   • New password: enter a password
   • Enter the new password again: repeat the password you have just entered
   • Delete anonymous users? [Y/n]: Yes
   • Disallow remote root login? [Y/n]: Yes
   • Delete and access the test database? [Y/n]: Yes
   • Reload the privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Yes

You also need a database to store the WordPress information and that’s why you need a MariaDB and MySQL server but as you can see the installation is pretty straightforward.

1.4 Install PHP and its components

1. Open Ubuntu and enter the following command to install PHP: sudo apt install php-fpm php-common php-mysql php-gmp php-curl php-intl php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-gd php-xml php-cli php-zip
2. This will install PHP version 7.4.

1.5 Get WordPress

1. Type the following commands in Ubuntu to get the latest version of WordPress:
   • cd /tmp
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar -xvzf latest.tar.gz
sudo mv wordpress /var/www/wordpress
2. To make www-data own the WordPress directory, type the following commands:
   • sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/wordpress/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/wordpress/

1.6 Start WordPress

1. After configuring the Nginx VirtualHost, start a browser, and enter the hostname of the server. For us it is http://example.com.
2. Continue with the WordPress setup process by filling in all the necessary data.
3. Log into your WordPress account and start managing your website.

2. Use InstantWP

1. Download and install InstantWP for Windows.
2. You will receive an archive file. Unzip it to a folder on your PC, then run the Start-InstantWP.bat to file.
3. Click on Allow access if you receive a prompt regarding the firewall.
4. Continue with the installation by clicking on the button Next button.
5. You will receive a message telling you that InstantWP comes with a built-in Linux virtual server. Click on Next Continue.
6. At the end, the InstantWP application will start. Click on the WordPress administrator button.
7. This will open a browser window where you will connect to your WordPress server.

As you can see, it is much easier to work with a dedicated app, but the downside is that you will have to pay for the app to use all of its features.

How to get good web hosting for WordPress?

We have presented a way to manage your blog with a web application, how to install WordPress on Windows 11 manually and with a dedicated application.

However, we still suggest getting web hosting and outsourcing it to professionals. If you are looking for a good platform, we recommend WP Engine.

You will never have to worry about uptime again and it comes with some great security features. If you are just starting your blog, you can use the Personal plan which is very affordable.

But if you are running a business, try the Professional or Business plans which will offer many advanced features to speed up your website growth.

You can also read how to install WordPress on Windows 10 as all solutions work on the new operating system.

For any questions or suggestions, the comments section below is ready to receive your messages.