WordPress in 15 minutes: how to install CMS on hosting

WordPress is one of the most popular CMSs in the world: according to W3Techs, about 43.5% of all websites run on it. This platform is free, flexible, and suitable for both blogs and online stores. The main question for a beginner is how to install WordPress on a hosting server on their own, without the help of developers. In fact, installing WordPress takes only a few minutes and can be done even by a beginner. In this article, you will find step-by-step instructions for installing WordPress manually and learn about a quick one-click installation method. We will also look at what kind of hosting you need for WordPress, how to prepare for installation, and how to avoid common mistakes when launching a website.

Preparing to install WordPress

Before you start the installation, you need to take a few preparatory steps. First, choose a reliable hosting provider that meets the technical requirements of WordPress (the current version of PHP 7.3+ and MySQL 5.6+/MariaDB 10+ are recommended for stable operation). Most modern providers support WordPress “out of the box,” so there should be no problems. Second, register a unique domain name for your site — without a domain, your resource will not be available to users. And thirdly, prepare the tools: you will need an archive with the WordPress distribution and a way to upload files to the server (via an FTP client such as FileZilla or via the file manager of the hosting panel).

Choosing a reliable hosting provider

Choosing the right hosting provider is key to successfully launching a WordPress site. Pay attention to speed and stability: good hosting guarantees uptime of at least 99.9% and uses SSD drives for fast site loading. Make sure that the provider supports the necessary technologies (PHP, MySQL) and provides a convenient control panel. A useful option would be the availability of WordPress auto-installers — this will make your life much easier.

Hostpark offers optimal solutions for WordPress projects: fast servers in European data centers that ensure minimal response time (ping ~13 ms from Ukraine), round-the-clock technical support, and flexible pricing plans. Our data centers meet Tier III+ standards with guaranteed 99.999% uptime — your WordPress site will run without downtime. By choosing Hostpark, you get a reliable foundation for your site and expert help with configuration if needed. Contact us to learn more about pricing and get started with your WordPress project.

Domain name registration

The second step is domain registration. A domain name is your website’s unique address on the internet (for example, myblog.com). Domain registration is a key step in creating a website: you need to choose an available name and secure it through an accredited registrar. Make sure the domain name is short, understandable, and easy to remember. On the Hostpark website, you can quickly select and register a domain name for your project (popular zones such as .com.ua, .ua, .com, etc. are available). For more information about choosing and working with domains, read our article “Domain names in simple terms: what are they and how do they work?” After registering a domain, you need to link it to your hosting — just enter the hosting provider’s NS servers for the domain name (this information is provided when you connect to the hosting).

Detailed step-by-step WordPress installation

Once the hosting and domain are ready, we can proceed directly to installing WordPress on the hosting. Let’s look at the manual method of installing CMS, which is suitable for any hosting provider or even your own server. This method is universal: you download the files yourself, create a database, and perform the initial setup. Don’t be afraid, the process is quite simple and takes about 10-15 minutes.

Note: If your provider offers automatic WordPress installation, you can skip most of the manual steps. However, knowing how to install WordPress manually will come in handy when you need to install WordPress on a VPS or when the automatic installer is unavailable. Below are detailed instructions for manual installation.

Step 1. Download the WordPress distribution

First, download the latest version of WordPress from the official website. The easiest way to do this is via the direct link: download WordPress. You will receive a ZIP archive containing all the files for the content management system (CMS). Save the archive to your computer and extract it to a separate folder—this will make it easier to transfer the contents to the server.

Recommendation: always download WordPress only from the official wordpress.org resource to get a clean and up-to-date version without unnecessary modifications.

Step 2. Transferring files to the server

Now you need to transfer the WordPress files to your hosting. There are two main ways to do this: via the control panel file manager or using an FTP client (such as FileZilla). In both cases, the goal is the same—to place all CMS files in the root directory of your website on the server.

• If you use a hosting panel (cPanel, ISPmanager, etc.), find the “Files” or “File Manager” section. Upload the WordPress ZIP archive directly to the server and unzip it there. As a rule, unzipping is available in the archive’s context menu. After that, make sure that the files are in the root folder of the site (usually public_html or www on virtual hosting).
• If you chose FTP: connect to the server via an FTP client using your login, password, and FTP address (this information is provided by your host). In the left window of the FTP client, open the folder with WordPress files on your PC (the ones you unzipped). In the right window, go to the root directory of the site on the server. Select all WordPress files and folders and upload them to the server (in FileZilla, you can simply drag and drop the files or use the Upload command). Once the copying is complete, the file structure on the server should match the contents of the WordPress archive (wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes folders and other files in the root directory).

Note: if the server already has index.html or other standard files, they can be deleted or moved so that they do not interfere with WordPress. The main WordPress startup file is index.php, located in the root directory of the site.

Step 3. Creating a MySQL database and user

WordPress stores all website content (posts, settings, etc.) in a database, so you need to create a new database and user for it in advance. You can do this through the hosting control panel (or the phpMyAdmin tool).

1. Open the “Databases” section in your hosting panel. Find the “Create a new MySQL database” option (some panels have a Database Wizard).
2. Enter the database details: you will usually need to specify the database name, username, and password for that user. Some panels also offer you to select the encoding (UTF8 is recommended) and table prefix. You can leave the prefix as the default wp_ or set your own – this will only be useful if you plan to have multiple WordPress sites in one database.
3. Grant privileges: ensure that the new user has been granted all rights to manage the created database (CREATE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, etc.). In most cases, the panel does this automatically, but it doesn’t hurt to check.
4. Save your access details: write down the database name, username, and password you just created. You will need this information in the next step to configure WordPress. For convenience, you can temporarily save them in a text file, but don’t forget about security (delete or securely store this file afterwards).

Step 4. Configuring the wp-config.php configuration file

At this stage, WordPress needs to be “introduced” to your database. This is done through the wp-config.php file, which contains the connection configuration. In the newly unzipped WordPress files, you will find a template for this file – wp-config-sample.php.

1. Create a configuration file: rename wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php (or copy it with that name). Open wp-config.php in any text editor (preferably one that supports UTF-8 without BOM, such as Notepad++ or Sublime Text).
2. Enter the connection details: find the lines in the file where the database parameters are specified. They look like this:

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘database_name_here’);

define(‘DB_USER’, ‘username_here’);

define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘password_here’);

define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);

Replace ‘database_name_here’, ‘username_here’, ‘password_here’ with the appropriate database name, username, and password you created in step 3. The default value for ‘DB_HOST’ is localhost, which is usually correct (if the database is on the same server as the website).

1. Configure other settings (optional): there are other settings in the wp-config.php file. In particular, the Authentication Unique Keys and Salts block contains special secret keys to enhance security. You can generate a unique set of keys on the official WordPress website and insert them into the appropriate constants (AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, etc.). If you skip this step, WordPress will generate the keys itself, but for maximum security, it is recommended to do this manually.
2. Save the file and upload (if you edited locally) wp-config.php back to the server, to the WordPress root folder. Now the system knows how to connect to your database.

Tip: carefully check that there are no extra spaces or invisible characters in the wp-config.php file before the opening tag <?php – otherwise, errors such as “Headers already sent” may occur. Also, make sure that the file is saved in UTF-8 encoding without BOM (some text editors, such as Notepad, may add BOM, which will cause an error).

Step 5. Complete the installation via your browser

The main preparatory steps are complete! Now it’s time to launch the WordPress installer and configure the basic settings for your site. To do this, open your site’s address in your browser. If you’ve done everything correctly, WordPress will automatically recognize that it is not yet installed and redirect you to the installation page. You can also manually go to http://Ваш-домен/wp-admin/install.php – the WordPress installation wizard should load.

1. Language selection: First, the system will ask you to select the interface language for your future website. Select Ukrainian (or another language if necessary) and click “Continue.”
2. WordPress welcome message: You will see a WordPress welcome message with a brief reminder of the information required for installation (site name, username, password, etc.). Click the Continue button to proceed to the configuration form.
3. Filling in website details: now the most important thing is to set the parameters for your new website:
   • Website name: Enter the name of your project (you can change it later).
   • Administrator username: create a login to access the WordPress admin panel. It is not recommended to use the standard admin – come up with a unique username.
   • Administrator password: set a strong password. WordPress will generate a complex password by default, but you can specify your own. The main thing is not to use overly simple combinations, as this password protects your admin panel. Write it down if you are afraid of forgetting it.
   • Administrator email: enter your work email address. WordPress will send system messages to this address (for example, to reset your password).
   • Indexing by search engines: check the box if you do not want the site to be indexed by search engines immediately. For a newly created site, “Do not index” is often set during development so that it does not appear on Google prematurely. This setting can be changed later.
4. Finish the installation: click the “Install WordPress” button. The system will save all settings and create the necessary tables in the database. After a few seconds, you will see a message confirming the successful installation. WordPress will welcome you and invite you to log in to the admin panel.
5. Login to the admin panel: click “Login” and enter the username and password you just created. After authorization, you will be taken to the WordPress Console — the admin interface where all further work with the site is carried out (adding posts, installing plugins, changing themes, etc.).

This completes the manual installation of WordPress. You can now open the main page of your site—by default, it will be a standard WordPress template with a test post saying “Hello world!” Congratulations, you have launched your own WordPress site!

Common mistakes when installing WordPress and how to fix them

Despite the simplicity of the process, errors sometimes occur when installing WordPress. Let’s take a look at the most common ones and how to solve them:

Error establishing a database connection

This error means that WordPress cannot connect to the database. The reasons are either incorrect database details or the database is unavailable. Check the DB_NAME, DB_USER, and DB_PASSWORD parameters in the wp-config.php file to make sure they match your database details. Also, make sure that the database user has all the necessary permissions and that the database server itself is running. In most cases, correcting the connection details will solve the problem. If not, contact your hosting provider’s support team.

“White screen” (blank page)

The appearance of a blank white page without error messages is known as the “White Screen of Death.” It can occur if a critical PHP error has occurred or the script has run out of resources. If you see a white screen when you start the installation, first check the files — make sure all WordPress files have been uploaded to the server and that the site directory is specified correctly. Often the problem lies in incomplete data transfer (for example, FTP may have been interrupted and not copied all the files). Upload the missing files again. Additionally, you can enable WordPress debug mode (add the line define(‘WP_DEBUG’, true); to wp-config.php), then instead of a white screen, a message about a specific error will appear. After eliminating the cause (lack of memory, incompatible PHP version, syntax error, etc.), don’t forget to turn WP_DEBUG back off.

File permissions issues

Sometimes WordPress does not install or work correctly due to incorrect file/folder access rights. For example, the installation script may not be able to create the wp-config.php file or the uploads directory for media files. The solution is to set the correct permissions: for WordPress folders, 755 permissions are usually sufficient, and for files, 644. Never set 777 for folders — this is a security vulnerability. If your hosting uses different requirements (some panels require 750 for text and 640 for files), follow them. After changing the privileges, try repeating the installation or the corresponding action (file upload, plugin update, etc.) that caused the error.

Incorrect wp-config.php file

If you manually edited wp-config.php and made a mistake, WordPress may display errors such as “Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent…” or fail to connect to the database. Most often, the problem is caused by “extra” characters or incorrect file encoding. Make sure that there is nothing before <?php at the very beginning of wp-config.php (no spaces or BOM characters). There should also be no closing tag ? > at the end of the file. Save the file in UTF-8 encoding without BOM. If the error concerns the connection to the database, double-check your login, password, database name, and host. If necessary, you can delete the wp-config.php file and repeat the installation step (WordPress will offer to create this file from scratch). The main thing is to carefully enter the correct data. After correcting the configuration, reload the page — the installation should continue.

Note: most WordPress installation problems are easily solved. As the official documentation advises, don’t panic! If something goes wrong, there’s a 90% chance that someone else has already encountered the same situation, and a solution can be found.

Conclusion

WordPress opens up a wide range of possibilities for creating websites – and as you have seen, anyone can install this CMS. In about 15 minutes, you can launch your own blog or business website by following a few simple steps. First, prepare the environment: reliable hosting and a good domain name are the foundation of your project. Next, either go through the step-by-step manual installation, configuring all the parameters in detail, or use the WordPress auto-install via the panel to save time. Both approaches have their advantages: manual gives you a better understanding of the process, while automatic offers maximum speed and convenience.

We hope this guide has helped you understand how to install WordPress on your hosting yourself. Now you can confidently launch your website and fill it with content. If you haven’t chosen a hosting provider yet or want to improve the conditions for your WordPress website, check out Hostpark. We will be your reliable partner in the world of hosting: we guarantee security and 24/7 availability, speed, flexibility for growth, and expert support. Launch your WordPress in 15 minutes — we’ll take care of the technical side!

We wish you success with your WordPress project!