Skip to content
Debian & Ubuntu Tutorials

WordPress

WordPress installation and activation guide
Section titled “WordPress installation and activation guide”

0. Specs

Section titled “0. Specs”

0.1. The What

Section titled “0.1. The What”

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and manage websites easily without needing extensive coding knowledge.

This tutorial demonstrates how to install WordPress on Debian and Ubuntu servers.

0.2. The Environment

Section titled “0.2. The Environment”
  • Server Name: www.386387.xyz
  • Server Distro: Debian 12/13 or Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 LTS Server

WordPress Configuration:

  • MariaDB Database Name: wordpress
  • MariaDB Database User: wordpressuser
  • Database User Password: pAsswOrd1234
  • Website Location: /var/www/wordpress

Prerequisite: A LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP) must be installed. See the LAMP Stack tutorial.

0.3. Sources

Section titled “0.3. Sources”

1. Configure a Website (If Not Already Done)

Section titled “1. Configure a Website (If Not Already Done)”

Create the directory for your WordPress site:

Terminal window
sudo mkdir /var/www/wordpress

Create a virtual host configuration file for Apache:

Terminal window
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/386387.xyz.conf

Fill with the following content:

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin postmaster@386387.xyz
        ServerName www.386387.xyz
        ServerAlias 386387.xyz
        DocumentRoot /var/www/wordpress
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/386387.xyz-error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/386387.xyz-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Enable the site and reload Apache:

Terminal window
sudo a2ensite 386387.xyz.conf
sudo systemctl reload apache2

2. Create MariaDB Database and User for Wordpress

Section titled “2. Create MariaDB Database and User for Wordpress”

Access the MariaDB shell:

Terminal window
sudo mariadb

Run the following commands in the MariaDB shell to create the database and user:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wordpressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pAsswOrd1234';
GRANT ALL ON wordpress.* TO 'wordpressuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

3. Install Additional PHP Extensions

Section titled “3. Install Additional PHP Extensions”

WordPress requires several PHP extensions for full functionality. Install them with:

Terminal window
sudo apt update
sudo apt install php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-xmlrpc \
php-soap php-intl php-zip

Restart Apache to load the new PHP extensions:

Terminal window
sudo systemctl restart apache2

4. Adjust Apache for Wordpress

Section titled “4. Adjust Apache for Wordpress”

To allow WordPress to use .htaccess files for URL rewriting and other directives, modify your site configuration:

Terminal window
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/386387.xyz.conf

Add the following Directory block just after the DocumentRoot line:

        <Directory /var/www/wordpress/>
            AllowOverride All
        </Directory>

Enable Apache’s rewrite module:

Terminal window
sudo a2enmod rewrite

(Optional) Verify that your Apache configuration is valid:

Terminal window
sudo apache2ctl configtest

Restart Apache to apply the changes:

Terminal window
sudo systemctl restart apache2

5. Download Wordpress

Section titled “5. Download Wordpress”

While WordPress is available via Debian packages, this guide uses the latest version from the official source for better compatibility and features.

Navigate to the temporary directory and download WordPress:

Terminal window
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --yes curl
cd /tmp
curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar xzvf latest.tar.gz

Create a dummy .htaccess file and copy the sample configuration:

Terminal window
touch /tmp/wordpress/.htaccess
cp /tmp/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /tmp/wordpress/wp-config.php

Copy the WordPress files to your web directory:

Terminal window
sudo cp -a /tmp/wordpress/. /var/www/wordpress

6. Configure Wordpress Directory

Section titled “6. Configure Wordpress Directory”

Set ownership of all WordPress files to the web server user:

Terminal window
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/wordpress

Set secure permissions (directories: 750, files: 640):

Terminal window
sudo find /var/www/wordpress/ -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/wordpress/ -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;

Setup wordpress config file

Generate secure authentication keys and salts:

Terminal window
curl -s https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

This command will output a block of code similar to the following. Copy the entire output as you’ll need to paste it in the next step:

define('AUTH_KEY',         'O`tLoX^0[pT24ty<YOByEP#}wBtd|7M!9^-az.W_v{`;+!*PX_9/A#^#}SL@I_wD');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  '-U]7Eu_Bbh!tA/5lk3.eDRzGrY<%i,:cn*yBOiE^*zZHK&RTbHmv]^+[[1v49=bq');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'VHYd-]>SDIsT_^-;>_0DBV:2}>u^wI;]T>IqXr}++h1sRjQM%U^I0ijVwAi? (yB');
define('NONCE_KEY',        'lui4^EuI3U-m8m!IUI%>;+)r[dJW`w2pl@g4JU==(,ipCi|EC)+vo,&2rAR Dm+-');
define('AUTH_SALT',        'W,>S!kG,KCPZ/`Y7;(hpL,1-M2lanZz(3)kdds-{;t9D(X&Qy:+0^H&3jE%WS:L4');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'f*q%x{M6#GQ|L{U|!UoI~`8(71};e}Xm;4#e^J/b&DC<DO=Xv6$caAC<2q4gs}^0');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   '=HN;=E:zl1-X:5w:MTw3LHV^?VP})Z}&T*P!zvAG|R=S>6;~Xz|rh@S#MrSH2FA)');
define('NONCE_SALT',       '`d)>*Ae)9g<Aaa1eQ*9HlqY-|__kE5,Nte2UAMJO3ro=9T#y=,|-/^D(&+XQ:,la');

Edit the WordPress configuration file:

Terminal window
sudo nano /var/www/wordpress/wp-config.php

Locate the section with the placeholder authentication keys (around line 50) that looks like this:

define( 'AUTH_KEY',         'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'NONCE_KEY',        'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'AUTH_SALT',        'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'NONCE_SALT',       'put your unique phrase here' );

Delete these placeholder lines and paste the keys you copied from the previous step in their place.

Next, locate the database configuration section and update it with your actual database credentials:

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define( 'DB_NAME', 'database_name_here' );


/** MySQL database username */
define( 'DB_USER', 'username_here' );


/** MySQL database password */
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password_here' );


/** MySQL hostname */
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );


/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8' );


/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define( 'DB_COLLATE', '' );

Change as specified:

  • database_name_here : wordpress
  • username_here : wordpressuser
  • password : pAsswOrd1234

Finally, add the following line to allow WordPress to directly manage its files (important for plugin/theme installations and updates):

define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

Save and close the file.


7. Complete the Installation via Web Browser

Section titled “7. Complete the Installation via Web Browser”

Open your web browser and navigate to your domain: http://www.386387.xyz

You should see the WordPress installation wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.

Recommended Next Step: For security and SEO benefits, consider adding SSL/HTTPS to your site. Refer to the Certbot tutorial for instructions on setting up free Let’s Encrypt certificates.