As one of the most popular and widely used blogging tools and CMSs, Drupal has supported for more than 2.1% of all the websites on the Internet, including personal blogs, e-commerce websites, dating sites, photo galleries, and forums. To start a Drupal website, you have to download and install this application to your web server firstly. In the following, we have come out a step-by-step tutorial helping you understand how to install Drupal either manually or via a 1-click app installer.
Before the installation, you need to make sure that the web server can meet the minimum technical requirements for smooth Drupal running.
Web server – Apache, Microsoft IIS, and Nginx
PHP – PHP 5.2.5 or greater for version 7, and PHP 5.4 or greater for version 8
Database – MySQL 4.1 or greater for version 6, MySQL 5.0.15 or greater for versions 7
Disk space – The basic installation needs at least 15 MB, and 60 MB is required for the proper running.
Install Drupal Manually
To install Drupal manually, you basically need to follow 4 steps that have been listed in the following.
Step One: Download Drupal and Extract File
At present, the most recommended version is Drupal 7 and Drupal 6. You can download either of them with the format of tar.gz or zip from https://drupal.org/project/drupal.
Then, you need to upload it to your hosting account and extract the file for utilization. Here, you can make use of a FTP client or your control panel, but due to the security consideration and convenience, we highly recommend the File Manager in the control panel.
Here, we simply assume you use the user-friendly cPanel, with which you can find File Manager under the Files section. After clicking the icon, you can find an Upload button on the navigation bar. Simply click it and pick your targeted file for downloading.
Generally, you’d better locate the Drupal core at the root directory, but if you upload the file to the wrong folder, you can move it correctly before extracting.
To extract the zip file, you only need to right-click the targeted file, and then click the Extract button. After that, you have all the necessary files in place, and can proceed with the installation successfully.
Step Two: Create the MySQL database
The next step is to create a MySQL database, which can be done through control panel < Database < MySQL databases. Also, you can create a database using phpMyAdmin.
Once in the MySQL database generator, you only need to type the username and password, and select all the privileges, then the database can be created immediately. Don’t forget to copy the information of database username, name, and password, for they are all necessary for installation completion.
Step Three: Create settings.php File
Before running the installation script, you’d better create a settings.php file for better handling over Drupal. There is a sample file for configuration along with Drupal downloading that is called default.settings.php. You can copy the content within this file and paste into a new file that is located at the same directory as the sample file.
Step Four: Run the Uploaded Scripts
Now, all the preparing works are done, thus you can run the installation script. Simply open the browser and head over to http://yourdomain.com/install.php. Then, you can see a new screen requiring you to select an installation profile. To get all the commonly used features pre-installed, you’d better choose the Standard profile.
The next step is to choose language, so you can make a decision based on your real situation. In terms of the requirement verification, you can pass this page if your hosting has met all the minimum requirements.
Now, you need to set up the database. You simply need to enter the database username, database name, and password you have previously saved, and then click MySQL as the database type.
The last step is to install the profile and enter the website name, email address, and configure the website management account with username, email, and password.
That’s it. You have successfully installed Drupal and set up a Drupal site manually.
Install Drupal via Installer
This method is pretty simple. Due to the great popularity of Drupal, many web hosts include Drupal hosting into their services, along with a lot of 1-click script installers available, such as SimpleScripts, Softaculous, and QuickInstall. Here, we take the QuickInstall as an example.
After logging into the cPanel control panel, you need to navigate to the Software/Services section to find the QuickInstall icon. Then, click the icon.
In the next page, you can see a lot of CMS software, and Drupal is under the Content Management Software section. After clicking the Continue button, you need to fill out some installation details.
Application URL specifies the location or directory where you want Drupal to be installed.
Admin Email needs to be your real email that will receive your admin username and password.
Site Name is the name of your website. You can decide it according to the main topic of your content.
Default Timezone can be selected from the drop-down menu.
After filling out the needed information and enable automatic updates, now you can click the Install Now button and wait a few seconds for completion.