Joomla (the Manual Install) – Wiki Preview

By Mitch Keeler

Now I can install WordPress with my eyes closed, but I might be a little rusty with some of the other content managers out there. So with that said, I thought I would try my hands at installing another content management system. Joomla is a popular choice to install among our users. I’ve never done it before now – so I thought why not share my installing experiences!

Step #1 – Go Download Joomla

The first step is a pretty easy one, you need to navigate yourself over to the Joomla web site to download yourself a fresh install. Once that has been done save the .zip file onto your desktop and unzip it using your favorite unzipping program. Now you should have the Joomla install unzipped and waiting for you inside another folder on your desktop.

Step #2 – Getting Ready for Joomla

Login to your FTP program and navigate yourself to your public_html folder. Now I want you to take everything that is inside that unzipped Joomla folder and move it into your public_html folder. This way when we are done your install will show up under your domain. If you want it to show up in a sub-folder, then just drag the Joomla folder into your ftp program to upload. That will give you a path like this:

http://www.yourdomain.com/joomla/

Once again, if you want it to show up under just your domain – drag what is inside the Joomla desktop folder into your public_html folder.

Step #3 – Setup Your MySQL Database and User

Login to your Lunarpages cPanel and navigate yourself to the MySQL section. Once there, create a database for Joomla (name could be anything, lets just call it joomlarocks). After that is done setup a user and password for that user (once again, this could be anything – just make sure you write both down so you don’t forget!). Last step would be to assign that user to the database. Just go to where it says “Add Users To Your Databases:” and make sure your correct user name and correct database is selected and hit the “Add User to Database” button. Might also make sure that the “All Privileges” button is checked, but it should be that way by default.

Step #4 – Setup the Joomla Install

By now, your files should have had enough time to upload to your hosting account. If you dumped all the files into your public_html folder – just go to you domain name and you should see the first screen of the Joomla installer. This first page should just be checking to see that everything is setup correctly. If not, you might want to go back investigate and try again. If you make it past that screen then you will be able to go to screen number two. Here you read the GNU/GPL license. Hit next after your done with that to move to screen three. Now it all comes together. Remember those MySQL details I told you to write down? Fill them in here. Host Name should be localhost.

User Name should be the user name you created when setting up your MySQL settings. Same thing could be said for database and password – put in the details you created back when setting up the MySQL database. For user name and database name make sure you put the full name and not just the name you gave it. You may need a prefix like account_name. Check your cPanel’s MySQL manager for more information and to double check things there. Now for MySQL Table Prefix just leave it as it is.

Once you get past that the rest of the install is easy – if you mess up it will keep asking, so troubleshoot or feel free to ask for help on our user forums. Joomla’s help section can be a real blessing too. Joomla! Help Site – Installation Guide Next few steps ask you to fill in or setup a few more specifications, all easy to understand.

Last tip I have for you is to remember to write down the administration user name and password Joomla assigns to you. You can change it later – but you will need it to login for the first time to the admin interface of Joomla. Now you can get to publishing content with a little more style.

Want and easier installation? If you are in need of an easier install, Joomla is a part of the Fantastico script too. It is ready for a one-click install, if needed.

This has been a small preview of what you can look forward to with Lunarpages new web hosting wiki. To learn more about the wiki project we have been working on, check out this post with more information. If you have any support topics you would like to see covered in this new support wiki be sure to share your thoughts, and make a post to our running forum thread about it.

  • http://joomla.org dannyrayborn

    This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! This was a very well written and concise tutorial, Mitch, and normally Joomla installs are horrible to write out. Thanks a bunch!!

  • HJames

    Nice tutorial, Mitch. This gives me a reason to fool aroudn with Joomla

  • William Pitt

    Nice article, but I would suggest one procedural change. I would upload the ZIP file to the server using cPanel’s File Manager. Then, while still in File Manager, I would select the ZIP file and click Extract. This method should be much faster than extracting the files on the local system and uploading the individual files to the server.

  • Aveesh Kumar

    Very nicely written tutorial. I would just add that after installing joomla package (zip or .bz), you should upload that to your web site (in the folder that you want) and use the File Manager in cPanel to extract the file contents as opposed to unzipping on your computer and then FTP’ing each file – will be blazingly fast than FTP each file….

  • http://www.lovebirddesign.com David Lovrien

    A much faster way to upload the Joomla files is to FTP the .zip file to your site and use CPanel’s File Manager to unzip it. Depending on your upload speed it can a long time to FTP Joomla’s 1,740+ files, but File Manager unzips them almost instantaneously. Big time saver!

  • http://www.crashinground.com Kevin Eldridge

    Thank you for writing this article. I would like to see a writeup on how to install Habari on my LunarPages server.

    Thank you for taking the time to write this,

    Kevin

  • http://Whatsitlike.net Ben

    Good writeup, thanks! I just discovered SimpleScripts though, which gave me an instant joomla install on the Lunarpages servers, and most importantly, free! I’m not saying your work here was for nothing, Mitch, but you really should check it out.

  • http://www.commercialsinks.ie Scotty

    Nice guide. I’ve been using Joomla for about a year now and it’s awesome! There is an abundance of high quality plugins, templates, and most important, SUPPORT, available.

    I noticed in your tut that you recommend unzipping and then uploading to html_docs? I find it easier and faster to upload the zip and uncompress using cpanels file manager.

    If it’s your first time using Joomla I’d highly recommend you click ‘Install Sample Data’ when setting up your database as otherwise you will be faced with just an empty template.

    Also, Joomla makes the Administrator username ‘admin’ by default. I highly recommend changing this as soon as you have joomla installed just as a basic security measure.

  • http://www.doonesdomain.com Doone

    Joomla! is my absolute favorite program. If you’re not installing the version 1.0, be sure to install the most recent version of Joomla!, 1.5.6. 1.5 has a security issue. If you’ve already installed 1.5, you can upgrade, or there’s a fix. Visit joomla.org for more info. Again, this is such an awesome program, and a great tutorial. I prefer to upload the zipped file and unpack with the file manager. I always peek inside the zipped file before uploading to make sure it will unpack properly (not within another ‘folder’. Is there a reason I shouldn’t? Just wondering.

  • http://lunarpages.com Tiara

    WOW – great tips, guys!!! If any of you are interested in adding articles for our newsletter or suggestions for our Wiki, please do let us know :D

  • Curt Alton

    The install is the easy part. Though this IS a very good write up on it.

    The hard part is modifying and creating your own templates to fit your individual needs. THAT would be an interesting tutorial….hint hint… ;-)

  • Erik

    I would love to read an article explaining Joomla’s structure. I have used Joomla and even after reading their manual I found it confusing, especially what the difference is between a ‘section’ and a ‘category’. A simple flow-chart diagram would go some way in helping the novice understand its structure.

  • Luis Perez

    Thank you for this guide. My problem was with the SQLDB, my error was, I didn’t write the prefix for the DB and the username. So what I did was:

    username: NAME_USERDB
    password: your DB Password
    database: NAME_DBNAME

    Where NAME is the username that LunarPages give to you when you subcibe to hosting plan and DBNAME is the name that you give to your db and USERDB is the username that you create for you new data base.

    I hope this help and you can learn.

    DB or db: data base

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