Manual:Installation guide
Contents
- What is MediaWiki?
- Documentation
- Customization
- Versions & Download
- Installation
- Support & Contact
- Development
All other topics
- See navigation on the left
This MediaWiki installation guide provides instructions on how to manually install and configure MediaWiki on a web server. There are easier alternatives to this, see Alternatives to manual installation below.
The first part of this guide gives general instructions, while the last section contains a list of appendices that give more detailed installation notes for specific system configurations and other less common uses of the software.
Contents
Upgrade guide
If you are already running MediaWiki, see the Upgrade guide.
Summary
 Requirements in short |
Image thumbnailing and TeX require additional programs. Parsoid (required by VisualEditor) and other services have their own requirements. (*) – MariaDB, a GPL fork of the MySQL code by Monty Widenius, the founder of MySQL, is an alternative and can also be used by MediaWiki. Debian/Ubuntu repos. |
For experienced users, here is the quick version of the installation instructions. Most users will want to go through all the passages.
- Check that your system meets the minimum requirements shown nearby; Installation requirements has more details.
- Download MediaWiki (direct link to download the stable release version) and extract the archive to a web-accessible folder on your server.
- Point your browser to the directory where MediaWiki was extracted and follow the link to the setup screen. It should be in the form http://domain/directory/mw-config/index.php. Replace directory with the path to your extracted MediaWiki folder. If installing on a local machine, replace domain with localhost. If you install locally and later want to access your wiki from domain, then you will need to change LocalSettings.php from localhost to domain. If installed on a remote server, replace domain with your server's domain name (eg: www.myserver.com).
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
These instructions are deliberately brief. There is a lot that could go wrong, so if in doubt, you are advised to read the full instructions!
Main installation guide
- Before installation
- Read what MediaWiki is
- Check the MediaWiki feature list
- Installation requirements - Check these before going any further!
- Configuring MediaWiki
- Initial configuration (using the configuration script)
- Further configuration
- Installing extensions
Alternatives to manual installation
You can avoid manual installation by using a pre-integrated MediaWiki software appliance, hosting services with 1-click installation, or wiki farms.
If you are installing for development or testing, consider using MediaWiki-Vagrant, a set of configuration scripts for Vagrant that automate the creation and update of a virtual machine that runs MediaWiki and your choice of extensions and services.
You can also use community resources based on platforms such as chef: mediawiki cookbook. Don't have a chef server? Standalone mediawiki Redhat/Debian Installer. These are community based resources and should always be treated with some measure of caution. Use at your own risk.
 Warning: |
Programs provided by webhosts to automatically install applications such as MediaWiki can, and frequently do, mishandle the process, resulting in errors and a failure to install MediaWiki. If you encounter this problem, it does not mean that you cannot install MediaWiki; all it means is that you should install manually following these steps. There are benefits to doing this, including more control over where on the server and file path you want to install it, the ability to use a shared database, or the ability to control more features of the wiki during the installation. |
Wiki families
A wiki family is more than one wiki installed on the same server. To set up multiple wikis on MediaWiki, see Manual:Wiki family.
Appendices
Advanced uses
The following pages give instructions about how to install/configure MediaWiki for other, less common purposes.
Advanced configuration
The following pages cover some of the more advanced configuration options:
Installation assistance
- FAQ: FAQ#Installation and configuration
#mediawikiconnect channel on IRC- mediawiki-l is the high-traffic mailing list to ask for support.
System-specific instructions
The following pages give more detailed installation instructions aimed at specific systems. However, by and large Manual:Installing MediaWiki is more up to date, and better written than the per system docs, and as such it is recommended you first consult the main install instructions before looking at a per system installation documents.
Notes
- MediaWiki can share the database of another web-based application, e.g. phpBB etc.
- Some users find it helpful to install an additional software package such as phpMyAdmin (MySQL) or phpPgAdmin (Postgres) to help administer the database server.
