This article provides a step by step guide to install Softaculous locally in XAMPP, WAMP and EasyPHP. First of all, let me introduce you Softaculous.
What is Softaculous?
- Softaculous is an auto installer software like Fantastico.
- We can install web portals, e-commerce solutions, content management systems, blogs, polls, forums and more using it.
- It will do everything for us like creating Database, installing application files.
- It can be installed in web hosting c-apnel and even locally in XAMPP, WAMP and EasyPHP.
- All the applications are not free in Softaculous. You should have a commercial license for using all its applications.
- For learning web design basics you can install it locally. When you think you need something more you can buy shared hosting from a web hosting company.
Let us see how to install Softaculous in XAMPP, WAMP, EasyPHP locally?
Previously working with Softaculous was possible with web hosting c-panel. Now we can experience it before buying a web hosting service. We can install it locally.
Please visit : List of Software we can install using Softaculous.
Prerequisite:
1. A working XAMPP, EasyPHP or WAMP server i.e Apache, MySQL and PHP.
2. Internet Connection.
3. ionCube Loaders must be enabled. It can be downloaded from here.
4. If you have firewall enabled, then please allow access to *.softaculous.com
Changes needs to do in Firewall Settings:
In case Firewall is enabled you need to allow access to the following domains to your Firewall. In case you have not allowed access to Firewall, Softaculous would not be installed. You should allow firewall to access these ips or domains because these are the mirrors used to download the script packages. That’s why it is better to allow firewall completely access to all mirrors by *.softaculous.com.
List of Mirrors to download Softaculous
These are the list of mirrors to download Softaculous.
1. api.softaculous.com (IP : 216.18.221.243)
2. s1.softaculous.com (IP : 192.210.128.227)
3. s2.softaculous.com (IP : 23.29.77.179)
4. s3.softaculous.com (IP : 142.4.49.46)
5. s4.softaculous.com (IP : 148.251.68.26)
Now after completing the basic requirements, its time to install Softaculous in your local servers. The installation steps of Softaculous is simple and almost same for all kind of servers – XAMPP, EasyPHP and WAMPServer. In case any step is different I will mention it.
NOTE : I am assuming for me xampp is installed in c:/xampp, EasyPHP is installed in C:/EasyPHP and WAMP is installed in C:/wamp1.
Step 1 : Download the Softaculous package :
First of all you need to download Softaculous as per your PHP version.
In case you are using PHP5.2. please down from PHP 5.2
In case you are using PHP5.3 or above please down from PHP 5.3+
Step 2 : Extratcing Softaculous to Server directory :
In this step we will extract the Softaculous to server’s directory. For different servers we have different directories. Let us see each one seperately.
You will find one directory with name htdocs. Please create one directory with name softaculous inside it. Assume it should be like C:/xampp/htdocs/softaculous. Extract the downloaded package inside softaculous folder.
For these servers you would find a directory with name www. Please create one directory with name softaculous inside it. For EasyPHP assume it should be like C:/EasyPHP-<ver>/www/softaculous, for WAMP assume it as C:/wamp/www/softaculous. Extract the downloaded package to softaculous folder.
URL’s to access Softaculous locally :
You can access softaculous using these two urls :
1. http://localhost/softaculous/
2. http://127.0.0.1/softaculous/
Step 3 : Extracting Softaculous to Server directory :
Now access http://localhost/softaculous/install.php
This step is same for all the servers. In this step you have to access Softaculous installation page.
Note : Apache will be stopped to load the ionCube Loader if the ionCube loader is not already loaded. In case please allow ionCube loader to load completely.
Step 4 : Filling important details :
To fill each details in screen I am taking example of xampp. For other servers will fill in the same way. Please see the individual images of each server in the last to fill the details.
1. AMP Path : In this field we have to fill the directory location of the XAMPP, EasyPHP and WAMP on your system. As per my path assumptions in this article XAMPP is at : C:/xampp.
2. PHP Path : Path to PHP Binary e.g C:/xampp/php/php.exe
3. Scripts Path : Softaculous will download the scripts like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla etc here. Please use these details to fill this field.
For example XAMPP : C:/xampp/scripts
4. Private Folder : All the installation details, backups, data directory of few scripts will be stored here. Due to security reasons it should not be web accessible.
5. Document Root : Folder where scripts web directory will reside, generally For XAMPP : C:/xampp/htdocs.
6. MySQL Root Password : In this field we need to enter MySQL Root Password. Please do not enter anything in this field. Please leave it blank. For XAMPP’s, EasyPHP and WAMP default MySQL root password is (blank).
Please find the images of this procedure for individual server.
For XAMPP :
For EasyPHP :
For WAMP :
How to keep your Softaculous applications updated?
By default Softaculous installer will create an action in Windows Task Scheduler which will run the cron every 24 hours. This Softaculous Cron is to keep your Softaculous and Scripts updated, you can update your existing installations of WordPress, Joomla, etc scripts to latest version.
Manually Creating Softaculous Cron
In case the installer was not able to create the action in Task Scheduler, you will have to set it up manually from the command prompt:
schtasks /create /tn “Softaculous Cron” /tr “\”C:\xampp\php\php.exe\” \”C:\xampp\htdocs\softaculous\cron.php\”” /sc daily /st 17:30
Note: Replace C:\xampp with correct xampp path. Same way we have to do for EasyPHP and WAMP server.
Thanks for reading this article. Please let me know by comments or email me for problems in installing Softaculous.
