Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

How to Download WordPress Without Hosting: A Step-by-Step Guide

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) used for creating websites and blogs. However, many people are deterred by the idea of purchasing hosting before they can even get started with WordPress. If you’re in the same boat, don’t worry! You can download and test WordPress on your computer without any hosting whatsoever. In this guide, we will show you how to download WordPress without hosting using a local server environment.

Step 1: Install a Local Server Environment

The first step in downloading WordPress without hosting is to install a local server environment on your computer. A local server environment is a software package that allows you to run PHP and MySQL on your computer. There are several free options available, including:

• XAMPP
• WAMP
• MAMP

Each of these software packages is available for both Windows and Mac operating systems. Follow the instructions provided to download and install your chosen local server environment.

Step 2: Download WordPress

Once your local server environment is up and running, you can download WordPress. Visit the WordPress.org website and click on the ‘Download WordPress’ button. Save the file to your computer, and extract the contents of the zip file.

Step 3: Move WordPress Files to Your Local Server

The next step is to move the extracted WordPress files to your local server. Depending on the local server environment you’ve chosen, the location of your ‘htdocs’ or ‘www’ folder may differ. For instance, for XAMPP, the ‘htdocs’ folder is usually found under C:\xampp\htdocs.

Move the extracted WordPress files to the ‘htdocs’ folder of your local server environment.

Step 4: Create a New Database

Now that WordPress is in the correct location on your local server, you need to create a new database. To do this, open up your local server environment’s dashboard and navigate to the ‘phpMyAdmin’ tool.

From here, click on the option to create a new database. Give it a name and hit the ‘Create’ button.

Step 5: Connect WordPress to the Database

The final step is to connect WordPress to the database you just created. Open up the ‘wp-config-sample.php’ file located in your WordPress folder and edit the database details to match the details of the database you created.

Once you’ve made the necessary changes, save the file as ‘wp-config.php’. You’re now ready to install WordPress! Navigate to http://localhost/wordpress (replace ‘wordpress’ with the name of your WordPress folder, if different) in your web browser and follow the instructions to complete the installation.

Conclusion

As you can see, downloading WordPress without hosting is a simple process. Once you have a local server environment set up, it’s just a matter of downloading the WordPress files, moving them to the correct folder, creating a new database, and connecting WordPress to that database. Happy testing!