If you're a heavy WordPress developer like me, you might find that you need to create a new installation for each site that requires a strange structure or specific posts, instead of using your uniform local test WordPress installation. Cue WordPress Mu. WordPress Multi User is a platform created by the geniuses at Automattic that is basically a WordPress installation that allows multiple blogs to run using the same software.
In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to set up WordPress Mu locally so that it can be viewed in VMWare Fusion too, a piece of software that allows for cross-browser testing on Microsoft XP and Vista. Mac only, sorry, however I'm sure something similar can be done with the PC versions of MAMP.
Preface
Unfortunately this tutorial requires a few paid things, so it can get expensive. You'll need MAMP PRO, Microsoft XP and VMWare Fusion- Only MAMP PRO is essential if you don't need to cross-browser test. MAMP PRO has some functionality on MAMP that we need when defining our new developer site. Download WordPress MU as well, we'll need that!
Note: MAMP PRO comes with MAMP- just stick both of them in Applications because you need the two.
Run Down
OK, so if you don't know completely what we'll be doing, I'm going to break it down further. If you use WordPress to develop your websites, then each time you create a new website you need to download a new installation of WordPress, install it, and go through that entire process just for a new site. This takes time AND hard drive space. What we'll be doing, is setting up a type of WordPress installation that allows you to use the same WordPress files, and set up a new WordPress site via wp-admin instead of going through the famous 5 minute install.
At the end of the tutorial you'll be able to visit http://wordpress.mu/ to see your local WordPress MU installation. You'll also be able to open the same page in VMWare Fusion, which will be running Windows XP. This means you'll be able to see it in ALL major browsers- IE5.5-8, Chrome, Safari Mac, Safari PC, Firefox Mac, Firefox PC, etc. The list goes on.
Step 1 - Changing Ports on MAMP PRO
Once you've installed MAMP PRO, open it up and the servers should start running. We need to change the ports. Ports are basically the 'door' that a server tells the browser to go through. You might be familiar with CPanelX's port 8082. CPanel has told your server that to get to the CPanel, you need to go through door 8082. By default, MAMP PRO likes to have it's own ports- 8888 for apache and 8889 for MySQL. We need to change this back to the default settings. You can either turn it to 80 / 3306 manually or simply click 'Default Ports'
MAMP PRO will then tell you that the servers need to restart in order for changes to take effect. Click OK and let it do it's thing. If it tells you that Apache's failing to restart, check that 'Web Sharing' is un-ticked in your Sharing Prefs pane. You should now be able to visit http://localhost:80 to see either the 'If you can see this page Apache is successfully installed' page or the default MAMP index page. Great.
Step 2 - editing httpd.conf
httpd.conf is what Apache reads when it looks at what hosts or URLs to run on. You can find httpd.conf in ~/Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf
Scroll down to the very bottom, and you will probably find this:
<VirtualHost *> DocumentRoot "/Applications/MAMP/htdocs" ServerName localhost </VirtualHost>
or nothing at all. We are going to add this, or change it to the following code. We'll also be adding our own Virtual Host, which will be wordpress.mu (Just a side note, when doing this it's important to never pick a URL that will conflict with an actual site, because while the settings are like you'll never be able to visit your local site's url online. e.g. if I set my host to be example.com, example.com would always resolve to my local machine as opposed to example.com online). So like I said, add this (or change the default one)
<VirtualHost *> DocumentRoot "/Users/YOU/wordpres.mu" ServerName localhost </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *> DocumentRoot "/Users/YOU/Sites/wordpress.mu" ServerName http://wordpress.mu/ </VirtualHost>
Don't forget to change YOU to your user name. This will also require a restart of the Apache and MySQL servers. You'll probably notice that wordpress.mu doesn't exist in your sites folder- so create it!
Step 3 - editing /etc/hosts
This file, hosts is the configuration for exactly that, the hosts. So httpd.conf set the hosts for your mac! This requires some Terminal work, but I promise you it's as easy as copying and pasting the command, and then typing a single line!
Open Terminal (it's in Utilities in the Applications folder) and type:
sudo pico /etc/hosts
And hit enter. sudo means it's an admin action, pico is the Terminal's editor (which you'll soon see) and /etc/hosts is the path to what we want to edit. You'll be prompted for your password, so type it in. You should now see this screen:
That last line may or may not be there- if it isn't don't worry we'll be changing it anyway. Put the cursor at the bottom (clicking doesn't work) and where that last line of code is, change localhost to wordpress.mu. It should read:
127.0.0.1 wordpress.mu
127.0.0.1 is the computer's way of saying 'me'. Save the file by pressing ctrl+o (o for write out and then ctrl+x to quit pico.
Step 4 - Adding a host for MAMP PRO
The final piece of the puzzle is to create a host alias in MAMP PRO. Now that the hosts are all set up, we need to tell MAMP PRO that it's actually there. In MAMP PRO click on the 'Hosts' tab. You need to add an alias. Click the little plus in the bottom left. You need to set a few things. Server name: wordpress.mu, port: 80, Disk Location: /Users/YOU/Sites/wordpress.mu, and add an alias in the bottom right of wordpress.mu.
Click apply, and once again restart the servers
Step 5 - WordPress MU
Grab your wordpress-mu Download and rename it to wordpress.mu. Stick it in your sites folder. Hey presto, you can go through with the installation! Unfortunately I found no easy way to use sub-domains on a local server, so I just stuck to sub-folders as the structure. Great! You can now use WordPress mu on your local computer! Go ahead with the 5 minute install, and then you can add blogs under the 'Admin Menu'. I wont go too much into the actual functionality of WPMU, but I'll explain how I use when working at the end.
VMWare Fusion
I'm not going to go into depth on this topic, because there are many tutorials on it. I will however explain how to modify a brand new installation (even if you've used it for ages there probably isn't a lot that will have changed anyway). Start up VMWare Fusion, and activate Unity if you so please. Unity allows you to run Windows XP windows natively in your mac- see screenshot below!
Step 6 - \etc\hosts (windows)
The /etc/hosts file in XP needs editing too. You can find it in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Open it up with Notepad, and we're about to put our line in. We need to grab an IP address first. Open a new terminal window and type ifconfig -a. You will get a whole lot of junk back- scroll down a bit until you can see 'vmnet8'. Grab that IP address, the one I've highlighted in the image below.
Then go back to your \etc\hosts file in windows, and at the bottom, paste that IP address in followed by wordpress.mu.
Step 7 - flushdns
Sadly, windows needs to be slapped for it to noticed that a change has taken place, so you now need to open Command Prompt. It is in Accessories in the start menu. Simply type ipconfig /flushdns. What this does is flush all the DNS names (localhost mainly) so that it recognises the updated hosts file.
Voila!
You are now able to visit your MAMP running WordPress MU installation on every windows browser there was- looks like I have a bit of work to do!
A practical use for it
So as promised, I said I'd tell you how I use it. What I've done is gone ahead and downloaded every browser I need/support and installed it into my XP install. This way I can compare my WordPress sites window beside window and easily have access to modify whatever I need to, without having to save it and refresh an online installation!
Take a Wrap
So there you have it. The ultimate guide to the ultimate WordPress setup. It feels like I haven't put enough emphasis on WordPress MU itself, but it is just an install tutorial. WordPress MU saves loads and loads of disk space by taking all your separate WordPress blogs and putting them into 1- you have a universal theme folder/manager which makes it super easy to quickly swap between editing sites.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Diego SA May 21st
I was looking for it weeks ago. But never is too late! Thanks!
( )Andrea_R May 21st
Nicely done.
( )crysfel May 21st
well done!!
( )JamieS May 21st
Hi, can you clarify something?
“I’m sure something similar can be done with the PC versions of MAMP.”
How is this possible? MAMP (Mac, Apache, MySQL, PHP) is Mac only. I assume you are reffering to WAMP (Windows, Apache..etc)
Don’t get me wrong this is a great tut but your terminology is very confusing. For example…
“You’ll need MAMP PRO, Microsoft XP and VMWare Fusion”
To run MAMP you’ll need OS X not Microsoft XP. I appreciate that you’ll be setting up XP as part of the VMWare install but this really isn’t too clear from the start.
If you could tweak one of your opening paragraphs..
“In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to set up WordPress Mu locally so that it can be viewed in VMWare Fusion too, a piece of software that allows for cross-browser testing on Microsoft XP and Vista. Mac only, sorry, however I’m sure something similar can be done with the PC versions of MAMP.”
…so it doesn’t suggest you’re writing a tut for pc users that works on macs only I am sure a brilliant tut will be an excellent one.
( )Harley May 21st
You point out a fair problem- There is no Windows equivalent for VMWare Fusion. I will change the “You’ll need” part tonight, along with many other suggestions- I’m here to help after all!
The PC version of MAMP, potentially WAMP or XAMP does the same basic functionality. The hosts, I’m not sure about but I will research that when I get onto the PC version of the tutorial- Coming very soon.
Thanks for raising those questions!
( )Jarryd May 21st
WAMP or XAMPP does the exact same thing as MAMP, just different interface controls really. For the Terminal work you can just browse to the files in Windows Explorer or grab Putty (Windows SSH equivalent) if your testing environment is on Linux/Mac, and for multiple browser testing grab IETester and all the other browsers out there.
As for setting up IIS instead of Apache? No idea
JamieS May 22nd
I look forward to to it
I have VMWare installed here at work, works a treat for an IE6 / IE7 set up. Pitty you have to sign into 2 virtual machines to have an IE 6/7/8 set up
Some detail about Wordpress MU as a stand alone tut would be awesome too. I downloaded it last night off the back of this article.
Maybe the tuts team could think about adding a mac / pc / linux symbol where appropriate to the tuts if more platform specific tuts get written?
Keep up the good work Harley. Thanks for the reply
Taylor Satula May 23rd
ya actually its XXAMPP harley
Alex Stomp May 26th
I have a similar setup on my XP machine…
I’m running XAMP and Wordpress MU. However, you have to change some configuration files before that works… all is explained right here: http://mu.wordpress.org/forums/topic/9846?replies=6
Setup like this is GREAT for template creation!
Nori Silverrage June 12th
I’m using XAMPP to setup wordpress and to locally view PHP files… Its very nice and relatively easy to setup…
MMP May 21st
Hell yeah …
digg it.
( )Idowebdesign May 21st
Thanks for this tutorial !
( )Dave May 21st
Anyone know how much MAMP Pro costs? And whether this can be done with Parallels?
( )Harley May 21st
Check out the MAMP website for how much it costs: http://mamp.info/en/index.html – I oayed around $75 AUD. In terms of Parallels, I’m sure it could be done, as long as it connects to the network via NAT and not Bridged to the Host.
( )Justin May 21st
It would have been good to have done a version of this for pc users as a large proportion, even majority of web designers use pc’s as opposed to macs. Would be an excellent tutorial to have for all systems as im sure many wordpress designers will want to be able to test their wordpress designs without constantly updating the design online not just designers who use macs.
good tutorial anyway though, if anyone knows of an equivalent tut for pc users, it’d be much appreciated.
( )John Deszell May 21st
I agree. I’d love to see this, especially when I want a local version of my wordpress site, some clients, etc. I use XAMPP on Vista.
( )Will May 21st
Agree also – what benefit is MAMP PRO giving you over MAMP. I use WAMP on PC, will this not have the features required to do this?
( )Hassan May 21st
Hey, awesome tut.. but I am a windows user.. .i think it would be really cool if there is something like this on windows too! Waiting for that
( )wayno007 May 21st
Yes, I’d like to chime in for a Win version of this tut as well. But only if Harley writes it — great job, man.
( )Harley May 21st
Then I most certainly will, just for that last comment wayno007
Alex Stomp May 26th
Like I commented above… a very similar setup I’ve got, and that forum topic explains the solution to the problem well.. I hope I helped you to create your next tut!
Harsh Agrawal May 21st
Great tutorial. I use Wamp before but seems like I should try this one..
( )Dugg for such an interesting article
Here is the Digg link for quick access
http://digg.com/d1rn8c
Tolboy May 21st
Fantastic!
( )I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and now I have something to guide me through it.
Albi May 21st
Great tutorial.
Thanks.
( )chrisberthe May 21st
Harley, let’s make babies.
( )Harley Alexander May 21st
Tweeted that
( )chrisberthe May 22nd
Dario Gutierrez May 21st
This is it i was looking for. Nice tutorial.
( )Tim Stanley May 21st
On Windows, I think you mean ipconfig -a, not ifconfig -a.
Also, on Windows, one can run nbtstat -R instead of ipconfig /flushdns.
( )Harley Alexander May 21st
We don’t actually use ifconfig -a on Windows, only on the mac when we’re looking for the vmnet8 IP
( )pdclark May 21st
Steps 2 and 3 aren’t necessary — adding a host in MAMP does both of those for you!
( )Gianfranco May 28th
Can anyone confirm this? Especially you Harley. If pdclark is right, skipping step 2 and 3 should be considered and not just ignored. Right?
( )Binny V A May 21st
Nice article. Thinking of writing an article similar to this for installing LAMP in linux. With XP in Virtual box.
( )Lamin Barrow May 21st
I wish this tut was published here sooner but nevertheless i am glad i was able to accomplish this same thing (thought it took me longer). Thanks for the tut.
( )Jordan May 21st
I understand that you notated that you wrote this in mind for Mac users, but is it really that hard to include alternative links for those who are NOT using a Mac?
You could have easily suggested Xamp or EasyPHP for Windows users in lieu of MAMP that way if someone wasn’t already aware of the capability of localhost testing, you’d at least be giving them a heads up on it.
/shrugs
( )eddy was here May 21st
this beats the 20 installations and plenty more dusty wordpress databases I never delete after a project.
( )Wogan May 21st
A clever approach, and it is reproducable on other OSes – just use VirtualBox.org (it runs on all platforms) to run XP.
Personally, I prefer a clean WP install for every project, especially if I’m working on a theme that uses WP API functions (or modifies the standard loop in any way). Wordpress is already painfully opaque, so I don’t consider lobbing more than one custom plugin into a single MU install wise – especially if you need to be able to switch between projects quickly.
~ Wogan
( )fa May 21st
Wordpress Portable :
The WebApp is a blend of free software that allows you to run on your computer, software originally designed to operate online.
This allows you to run Dotclear, SPIP, Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal and many others on your Windows computer without having to install complex to achieve. You can even carry your WebApp on USB or CD / DVD.
the site is in french but the webapp is in English and french
http://framakey.org/WebApp/Index
( )Krow May 21st
Great tutorial, outlines some great things and the screen shots help a lot. I agree with some of the others who are running Windows. Would be nice to see a side note that would/could explain what to do in that environment. I use Ubuntu but know that the Windows users like a little hand holding.
Again great work on explaining how to do this. I know a lot of people who can and will use this.
( )Stephan May 21st
Alternatively you could just use one of the many different free bitnami stacks.
http://bitnami.org/stack/wordpress
Couldn’t be any easier than that.
( )Ayo Adigun May 21st
Excellent! Although I already run this setup on Mac and Windows, its amazing to have a tutorial to point a friends to…
Simple.
( )wiphone May 21st
Great post, it’ll help me a lot, I was just looking for it
( )Harley Alexander May 21st
Thanks for the feedback guys! I shall write setting up a WordPress MU installation on XP ASAP!
( )car shopping May 21st
I wish you could run Wordpress on IIS.
( )Lamin Barrow May 21st
Sure you can. I was running wordpress on my win xp and IIS 5.1.
( )Lamin Barrow May 21st
My personal favousite is WAMP.. ( http://wampserver.com/ ). It’s a whole lot better than XAMP in my opinion.
( )Matt May 21st
Most definitely. I tried XAMPP after I came across WAMP, but XAMPP takes a whole lot more space, has more folders you have to deal with, and is much less intuitive and simple than WAMP.
Jarryd May 21st
I personally prefer XAMPP. The whole right-click menu doesn’t do it for me. And I like orange better than blue
Christening Gowns May 21st
Great tutorial. I’m going to try it out.
( )@maxbeatty May 21st
Step 4.5 open phpMyAdmin and create a database called “whateveryoureusing” so the Wordpress MU installation goes smoothly
Great write up otherwise!
( )sergi May 21st
i have scoured the web for this exact same tutorial. very psyched you have created it. there’s so little written along these same lines.
( )ST May 21st
The costs associated with this tutorial are not necessary. I develop with WordPress locally and do it without spending a penny. Use MAMP (not MAMP Pro), use VirtualBox (not VMWare) and save yourself $140 US without losing any functionality.
( )Hassan May 21st
Hey Harley! When are you writing the XP version? Any approximation?
( )Aki Fu May 21st
Can you write how to set it up in Vista?
( )adam May 21st
Thanks Harley. Awesome Tut.
( )Now if you could explain how I now link a dynamic dns address (using dyndns.com) to my newly created blog (within the wordpress.mu) to show my client before migrating to the live server. That would make the perfect tutorial.
It currently just links to the default mamp index page.
eg. local site is @ wordpress.mu/salcura
Thanks Harley
Harley Alexander May 25th
I’m not sure- I’ll look into that for you! I’ve always been interested to what dynamic dns is (Never actually looked at it)!
( )Gianfranco May 22nd
Great tutorial. Didn’t try it yet, but looks like the framework I was try to figure out myself (and I’d be wasting some light-years of my life), since I run on MAMP, and I got WM Wire Fusion for testing porposes.
So everything was there. But I couldn’t make WM Wire to work with localhost.
Anyway, thanks.
( )Gianfranco May 22nd
I have to ask: what is the real benefit of running WordPress MU instead of different regular WordPress installations?
If I get this right, the point is to keep ONE installation that holds all of your different WordPress sites.
But what happens when you eventually need to export your test site on your web server? Can you export it as a single standard WordPress installation? Or should you install WordPress on web server first and only export your “theme folder” and your “plugins folder” in that fresh installation?
Which leads me to: are all plugins in WordPress MU kept in the same folder for all sites or each site got their plugin folder?
Yes, I admit it. I didn’t have my chance to play around with MU, yet. Thought I’d ask you first. But I’ll definetly will install it and see how it works.
( )Harley May 22nd
Fair enough, and that is exactly what I used to do before I figured this setup out. The only thing I found though, was that as I started to do more client projects, I realised that their post structures weren’t always the same. This is why I think this is so helpful- you can make them super quick. And I’m pretty sure you can export each blog’s content just the same as you can with regular blogs
( )Carl - Web Courses Bangkok May 22nd
Wordpress MU, its great if you can build a community around it.
C
( )Wicky May 22nd
Nice Tut. I’ve got a similar setup but without the need to buy MAMP Pro.
Same, same… but different =)
Checkout VirtualHostX as a cheaper option:
http://clickontyler.com/virtualhostx/
Here’s a walk through of how to set it up:
http://seansperte.com/entry/Setting_Up_a_Killer_Local_Web_Development_Environment_on_a_Mac_with_MAMP_an/
It works brilliantly.
( )Martyn Web May 22nd
Currently I use Mamp and find it a great asset but haven’t gone to the PRO stage yet so i dont think I can justify spending the money on it.
Good tutorial
( )Benjamin Reid May 22nd
I just use MAMP (not pro) + Coda + VMWare Fusion with Window XP. Works a treat.
( )Harley May 22nd
My exact setup. Except MAMP PRO
( )Josh May 22nd
Very nifty guide. Too bad I don’t have a Mac yet, or I’d test it out. Going to bookmark it and try it later though. Thanks.
( )chovy May 22nd
I was disappointed you don’t describe the one key ingredient…configuring wordpress to run on test.example.com and deploying that to http://www.example.com
It would require to different databases.
( )Harley Alexander May 25th
Then I shall write an article about migrating a WordPress install from a local server to an online server! Is that what you’re after?
( )Ben Drucker June 5th
That would be great! I’m building a website using the method you suggested, but I’m not sure how I will get it up to my server when it’s finished.
Susan May 22nd
Wow, quite technical..but so useful!
( )Daniel Groves May 23rd
Quiet Cool….
( )orphicpixel May 23rd
this one is so useful, great job.
( )Alan May 23rd
Why not just save yourself the time and money and use xamp for free and not have to do anything special to get it working?
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
I don’t know anything about php or development, and I run that to CSS and chop up wordpress themes all the time.
( )Taylor Satula May 23rd
Very good harley. I like it. VMWare Fusion is sooooooo slow on OSX86 though.
( )sunil May 23rd
let me try
( )David Rojas May 24th
My only doubt about wordpress is what you do when a new version comes out. I use it for my website and works fine, but if you build client websites with wordpress then you have to update it whenever a new minor update or major version is released, or else you risk having your client’s site hacked if there is security issues. It’s a lot of work if you have to mantain a good number of sites, and the updates aren’t always smooth: if a new major version comes out sometimes plugins breaks (and themes maybe?).
( )how do you guys handle this?
Harley Alexander May 25th
I believe you could use WordPress’ upgrade tool?
( )David Rojas May 26th
Yes, but still with major versions plugins break and sometimes themes too. If you’re mantaining a lot of wordpress websites that’s a problem, you have to wait till all the plugins you are using are updated (if they do).
wicky May 28th
I don’t mean to appear mercenary, but that’s nonsense.
You’re contracted to build a site and you get paid accordingly. Sign-off ends your obligation, both contractually & morally.
If the client wants an ongoing service (security checks, maintenance, monitoring, updates, etc.,) then you need to have some sort of service level agreement with them so you get paid for your time.
Otherwise, every site you ever create has an exponential impact on your time and eventually you’ll work every hour of the week for zero pay.
Not very sustainable.
( )Tim Nolte June 18th
I will say one thing. In my opinion using WordPress MU to do development for all your various WP-based websites is a bad idea. This goes to sort of what David is talking about. There is no way to upgrade your WP MU install without affecting the version for every site installed in it. Whether you are under a maintenance contract or not you risk breaking sites that you’ll have to fix right away if a client contracts for more work to be done on their site. You’ll also have to be sure to upgrade the production environment ASAP as well.
In my setup I just created a development website on the same hosting account as the production site. This gives me the ability to create symbolic links to many of the media files that can be shared between the Production and Development sites, as well a dump the Prod database into the Dev database if I so choose. This a long with SVN keeps everything in a nice neat order as well as a consistent state. The other problems you can have, if you are more then just a designer and actually do some PHP coding, is running your development on completely different Apache/MySQL/PHP versions. I can’t tell you how many times this has bitten me. Software and library versions are VERY important to keep track of.
Alex Eckermann May 24th
Nice article Harley. Virtual Machines are the win! Also its probably worth you checking out VirtualBox (out by Sun, http://www.virtualbox.org ) which is VMware but FREE.
MAMP has served me well for the 2 year’s i’ve had it. I compile my web servers and environments from source these days. Maybe we could work on a ‘die-hard web server setup’ article
( )Harley Alexander May 25th
Would love to! Hit me up on iChat
( )Adrian - WPDONE May 25th
Thanks Harley. Great TUT
( )thomas wornall May 26th
i have set this up completely and utterly free. 1 xamp is free. wordpress mu is free. all browsers are free. search multi ie if you want to test in ie 6 and & 7. personally i say let ie 6 die.
i would like to know how to set this up in windows server. i downloaded php for it and cant get it to install properly i keep getting an error saying i dont have permission to run isapi from that folder. the tut i found suggested i dont use the cgi. so i guess what i am really asking for is how to install php on to windows server 2003
( )Paul May 26th
Another great tutorial. Thanks very much!
( )Frustrated Ryan May 26th
I keep getting, “Error establishing a database connection” when I hit ‘Submit’ from the Wordpress install page.
I am able to do everything you have outlined in the TUT up until that point.
Any thoughts?
( )Frustrated Ryan May 26th
I also mean “Wordpress MU” when I say “Wordpress”
( )Frustrated Ryan May 26th
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9306/picture1nxn.png
( )Harley Alexander June 1st
That’s extremely odd- try from scratch and use something like AppZapper to get rid of all files attributed to MAMP/MAMP PRO. That error is what I got whilst installing without changing my host from localhost:8888, as WPMU can’t be installed on domains that have ports (thus the need to resolve to wordpress.mu).
( )Magone May 27th
When you use this setup with wpmu, do you use it with sub-domains or sub-directories. I couldn`t get sub-domains to work.
Great tutorial, been looking for this.
( )Harley Alexander June 1st
Sub-directories, I am yet to figure out how to do sub-domains, as that requires some htaccess stuff that I am not sure how to do locally (or online for that matter
)
( )JAX June 2nd
You cant do subdomain locally unless u run a dns server locally. if u are using dynamic dns, some prividers allow wildcard dns. Then u can use subdomain.
Gianfranco May 28th
I got a question about the local path to the directory where the websites are stored.
The tutorial (and screenshots) shows a setup like: /Users/YOU/Sites/wordpress.mu
Now, as far as I know, MAMP doesn’t allow you to have such configuration, but in order to work, you are obliged to have your site folder in the MAMP folder.
As so: Applications/MAMP/wordpress.mu
Or is there a workaround that I was never able to get?
If there is, I’d love to know more about.
( )Thanks.
Harley Alexander June 1st
As described in step 4, you can and MAMP automatically changes the PHP directory to whatever path you wish- not restricted to htdocs in the MAMP folder. This allows you to have php files in both Sites and htdocs, and basically anywhere on your computer- MAMP recognises them all as places for PHP files!
( )RJ May 29th
Hey Harley, Your attention for a couple of moments.
( )Right, I do everything as you tell me to, right to the letter, but when I do the terminal commands, I get an error message saying that it can not find wordpress.mu and it does not exist – how on earth do I fix this? Basically it might be the same thing Gianfranco is saying – how on earth does this directory at YOU work?
Harley Alexander June 1st
The ‘YOU’ should be replaced with your username for your computer, so for me YOU would be replaced with ‘Harley’. the Command ifconfig -a will only return a vmnet8 IP address if you have VMWare Fusion installed and running, thus why we didn’t get that IP previously. If you could post the Error you get to pastie.org or something that’d be awesome!
( )Hassan June 18th
Harley? Windows version not coming?
bruno May 30th
Very nice tuto.
I have setup a couple of virtual hosts in windows and they work but now i can´t access to phpmyadmin (error 404).
I am using wamp.
( )Is anybody out there with experience in wamp and virtual hosts?
Harley Alexander June 1st
Have you flushed your DNS’s? Open Command Prompt and type ‘ipconfig /flushdns’.
( )Kevin June 8th
Thanks for this Harley, I’m loving it. Especially the faster cross browser testing with VMware. Now the next question I’m working on is: What’s the best process for creating a WordPress staging environment on the web.
( )Simon June 29th
Your attention for a second Harley?
I’m getting the same error Ryan above, but I don’t see why. Everything is working until the point where I’m sending the WPMU installation.
“Error establishing a database connection
This either means that the username and password information in your wp-config.php file is incorrect or we can’t contact the database server at localhost:3306. This could mean your host’s database server is down.”
Upon looking up the wp config file it is correctly set up. Also when starting Mamp and launching the Web it says that MAMP was set up correctly for localhost and port 3306.
Help please?
( )Berogra June 29th
Thanks for that post. As a designer/developer that is new to Wordpress, it helps to know these things.
( )mathi July 23rd
can i setup a second wordpress environment… like wordpress.nu for the normal wordpress-version? i did almost all steps again for with wordpress.nu except for calling “sudo pico /etc/hosts” in terminal and setting up a new host, because the wordpress.no already exists. can you tell me what i’m doing wrong?
( )thanks guys
PG July 28th
Thanks for the tutorials on MAMP Pro… much better than the manual, got me going in seconds after wasting an hour with the MAMP Pro manual trying to get virtual hosts set up.
One crit: I don’t think you need to do the manual editing of hosts or conf — MAMP Pro automates those for you.
( )Siosi August 13th
This was a really informative post – thanks a heap!
( )mathi August 14th
don’t mind me asking. however would you do a tutorial on how to transfer a finished website from localhost to a real server? i think there are a lot of people out there, that don’t know how to do that!
( )jason August 17th
lovely tutorial, however is it normal that my mamp pro always asks for the admin password of my mac before quitting?
( )focus5d September 2nd
Great tut, but I get a Gateway Timeout error when I use ie6
Gateway Timeout
The following error occurred:
[code=DNS_TIMEOUT] A DNS lookup error occurred because the request timed out during the lookup.
Anyone know a solution?
( )Honey Singh September 8th
I used xamp and wamp for last few years.
( )I think its time to hands on Mamp over the mac.
invisioner October 24th
Hey,
Very informative article, congrats to the author.
To those struggling with WPMU, i found out that on MAMP PRO, Snow Leopard install, the only way to finish installing correctly is the following:
1. Check out the user/password info on MAMP localhost homepage
2. Make sure you created an empty database and check twice it exists and that you wrote correctly the name.
3. Most important step: database host=localhost:3306, not just localhost
4. Make sure you introduce a password
5. If it gives you error when you click submit, delete wp-config.php and start over.
That’s all.
( )Peace
invisioner October 24th
instead of
4. Make sure you introduce a password
read
4. Make sure you introduce an e-mail
( )Adam November 1st
What if I need to design two wordpress mu sites a time? How do I create another database?
( )Adam November 2nd
Let me rephrase that. What if I want to create another installation us mamp pro. For example, an installation of regular wordpress in addition to wordpress mu. Or for that matter two separate installations of wordpresss mu. Any ideas?
( )