Installing WordPress Without A Domain Name

6 comments on “Installing WordPress Without A Domain Name”

1. I am stuck. I installed Filezilla and it isn’t connecting to my server. To be honest, I’m not sure what I should type in the host or username or password labels.

   It’s confusing and time consuming, I need help in simpler terms. 🙂

   Reply

2. Hi Munthaha:

   Your hosting company should be able to help you find where the FTP information is in your hosting account.

   If your hosting uses cPanel, you can create or edit FTP accounts under cPanel Home > Files > FTP Accounts.

   If you are using WP Engine, you can find FTP accounts under Installs > SFTP Users.

   For Bluehost, the FTP information is under Hosting > cPanel > Files > FTP Manager.

   If you use Flywheel for hosting, the SFTP information is under Profile.

   If you are hosting with someone not listed here, contact your host, and they can help you find your FTP information.

   Reply

3. Hi John

   Excellent article, however most of it is gibberish to me. See, my employer had bought a domain name in 2004, and never used it. He had bought it using a middle-man company (not existent at this stage, as it was a small time firm) from the hosting service Godaddy.com.

   This having been 13 years ago, and with the initial company having been dissolved, it is impossible from our side to find our login information, payment information, registrar address, the whole caboodle. I presume this is gonna be a decade-long process through GoDaddy.com, however this isn’t my main question.

   My boss has placed upon my shoulders the task of creating our website. From scratch, mind you; because I am the most proficient in the office regarding IT related things.

   At first he wanted to use a free server like Wix, but I had advised against it, as the ‘.wix’ suffix looks rather unprofessional for a 25 year old company.

   In the meantime, while the existing domain login information gets sorted out, I need to be able to use WordPress to create the entire website, then as soon as the domain name is under wraps, I can simply migrate everything to that domain.

   Is this possible? Because the “famous 5 minute install” provided by the WordPress downloadable is, well, I don’t fluently speak robot. It has asked me to open the install.php file in my browser, which in the first place doesn’t allow me to edit the coding whatsoever, and another off-the-starting-block error is the inaccessible domain we have.

   Fact of the matter is, I have no idea what to do, regardless of having a usable domain or not. To quote the internet, could you explain it like I’m five?

   Kindest regards

   Reply

   1. Hi Lucas:

      There are two ways to go about installing WordPress before you have a permanent domain pointing at the site.

      Method #1:

      The easiest way is to purchase managed WordPress hosting at WP Engine or Flywheel, and click Add a site or Add an install in the Dashboards there.

      These hosts set up temporary domains, which you can use to build the site. When you get the login info for your domain name, you can then point the domain towards the website.

      Method #2

      The do-it-yourself method is to get hosting on a regular host that uses cPanel.

      Download the latest version of WordPress from wordpress.org, and copy the wp-config-sample.php file. Keep the original file. Rename this second wp-config-sample.php file wp-config.php. The wp-config file will have your database login information.

      In particular, you will want to pay attention to the part of wp-config.php that looks like this:

      
      
      // ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
      /** 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' );
      
      
      

      Go into your cPanel and find the icon for MySQL Database Wizard. You will use this to create a database for your site.

      

      The first screen of the Database Wizard will ask you to create a database name. Copy and paste that info into your wp-config file where it says DB_NAME.

      ON the second screen of the Database Wizard, it will ask you to create a user name. Copy and paste this into the wp-config file where it says DB_USER.

      On the next screen, it will ask you to create a strong password for the database. Copy and paste that into wp-config where it says DB_PASSWORD.

      On the last screen, it will ask what privileges you want to give to this user. Check the box that gives the database user All Privileges.

      In wp-config, you can leave DB_HOST as localhost.

      In the main article above, it described some DEFINE statements you would need to add to your wp-config file if you do not have your final domain name pointing at the site.

      You can use the IP address of the new server, with the username of the account for an install URL on most servers. (Check with your hosting to confirm).

      You’ll need to define the WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL in the wp-config file found at the root of your new WordPress install.

      For an IP of 192.0.2.0 and a username of “username”, these lines would look like this:

      
      define('WP_HOME','http://192.0.2.0/~username');
      define('WP_SITEURL','http://192.0.2.0/~username');
      
      

      These lines would then be added to the wp-config file, right above the line where it says, Stop editing.

      Remember to double-check with your particular host and see what their convention is for accessing the site without a domain. This should work on most cPanel configurations.

      You would now upload everything that is inside the directory folder called wordpress on your desktop to the folder on your host where you access the site. This can vary from host to host. Usually it is under the domain name you created the site with, or a folder that is named after the install.

      To install WordPress, you would then go to the temporary domain with the IP address and the tilde symbol. WordPress should redirect you directly to the install screen, if you haven’t already installed it.

      ---

      Don’t feel discouraged at the complexity of the Five-Minute Install. Like all things, it takes lots of practice to get it down to five minutes, and getting used to all the steps.

      Like I said before, you can always use WP Engine or Flywheel, and let them install WordPress for you and use the temporary domain to develop the site. When you get your original domain name squared away, you could then point it at the new site.

      Reply

4. Hey, thanks for the article.
   I did every step and edited the wp-config file.
   But I still can’t run the regular installation of WordPress on the new server after that. It doesn’t recognize the URL when I use the IP of the server in the address. It gives a 404 error.
   Please help me out, thank you so much

   Reply

   1. Hi Fuad:

      I haven’t had to use this solution in a long time, but as I recall, it works with Apache running on cPanel. I don’t know what your setup is, but if it is different, that might be why it isn’t working for you.

      – John

      Reply