1 – WordPress Hosting : On Fresh Windows Server VM

Step 0 : Download Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable

Do this step if you are getting: VCRUNTIME140.dll was not found, during any of below steps.

Go to the official Microsoft page:

🔗 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist

Scroll to: Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022

Download this file:

👉 vc_redist_x64.exe (for 64-bit systems)

Run the .exe file you downloaded

Accept the license and install

Restart your computer (recommended, though not always necessary)

Step1: Download And Start Nginx

Official site: https://nginx.org/en/download.html

Extract to C:\nginx

Open Command Prompt, run:

cd C:\nginx
start nginx

Visit http://localhost → You’ll see the Nginx welcome page.

Step2: Install PHP

Download PHP:

• https://windows.php.net/download/
• Get Thread Safe x64 version
• extract to C:\php

Edit PHP Config:

• Copy php.ini-development → php.ini
• Enable necessary extensions:

To eanble extension “mysqli” search for line in php.ini:

 ;extension=mysqli

and remove ” ;” from the beginning

Repeat this process for other useful extensions:

Extension	What It Does
mysqli	Enables MySQL database connection
mbstring	Handles multi-byte strings (used by WordPress and plugins)
curl	Allows PHP to make HTTP requests (used by APIs)
openssl	Needed for HTTPS and secure connections
gd	For image manipulation
zip	For working with ZIP files (plugins, backups, etc.)

If you don’t see these lines

Go to your PHP directory:

C:\php\ext

Look for the corresponding files:

DLL File	Extension
php_curl.dll	curl
php_openssl.dll	openssl
php_gd.dll	gd
php_zip.dll	zip

If these files exist → you’re good to enable them.

Just add the lines manually to the php.ini file

extension=curl
extension=openssl
extension=gd
extension=zip

Step3: Start PHP in FastCGI mode

This is necessary because you’re using Nginx, and Nginx cannot run PHP by itself — it sends .php files to PHP via something called FastCGI.

Open Command Prompt and run:

C:\php\php-cgi.exe -b 127.0.0.1:9000

Keep this window open — it runs the PHP processor in the background.

Check if PHP is successfully listening on port 9000

In Command Prompt:

netstat -ano | find ":9000"

If PHP is running properly, you’ll see something like:

TCP 127.0.0.1:9000 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING [PID]

Edit nginx.conf to handle .php files

Nginx needs to know that .php files should be sent to the PHP processor.

Go to:

C:\nginx\conf\nginx.conf

Find the server {} block and add this inside (or uncomment it if it’s already there):

location ~ .php$ {
    root html;
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
}

💾 Save the file.

Restart Nginx

So it picks up the new config changes.

In Command Prompt:

taskkill /F /IM nginx.exe
start C:\nginx\nginx.exe

Or:

cd C:\nginx
start nginx

Verify if PHP is working properly with Nginx

Create a test PHP file

Go to: C:\nginx\html

Create a file named: info.php

Put this inside:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Open your browser and visit: http://localhost/info.php

Step 4 : Download and Extract WordPress Files

Download WordPress

• Go to https://wordpress.org/download/
• Download the latest WordPress ZIP file

Extract WordPress

• Extract the contents of the ZIP file into your Nginx web root folder: C:\nginx\html\

It should create a folder like: C:\nginx\html\wordpress\

Create a MySQL database for WordPress

Why do you need a MySQL database?

WordPress stores all your website’s data — posts, users, settings, and more — in a database.

MySQL (or MariaDB) is a database server that stores this data.

When you install WordPress, it needs a database to save everything.

So you need to:

1. Install a database server (MySQL or MariaDB) on your Windows machine if you don’t have it already.
2. Create a database inside that database server specifically for WordPress.
3. Create a user that WordPress will use to access this database.
4. Tell WordPress the database name, user, and password in its config file (wp-config.php).

You can download MySQL Community Server here:

https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql

The MySQL Installer’s MySQL Configurator (part of the MySQL Installer for Windows) helps you set up your MySQL Server easily with a GUI.

Set the root password

• The Configurator will ask you to create a root user password — this is the admin account for your MySQL server.
• Choose a strong password and remember it. You’ll need it to manage databases later.

Configure MySQL as a Windows Service

• The Configurator lets you choose to run MySQL as a Windows service.
• Keep the option “Start MySQL Server at System Startup” checked so MySQL starts automatically.

How to find the correct MySQL service name:

Run this command to list all services and filter ones with “mysql”:

sc query state= all | findstr /I mysql

It will give something like:

SERVICE_NAME: MySQL93
DISPLAY_NAME: MySQL93

To check if it’s running:

sc query MySQL93

To start the service if it’s stopped:

net start MySQL93

To stop the service (if needed):

net stop MySQL93

Now, to connect to MySQL via command line:

mysql -u root -p

Common Error:

‘mysql’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Solution is to go to pull path:

cd “C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 9.3\bin”

or Permanently add MySQL to your system PATH

Connect to MySQL to create your WordPress database

Open a new Command Prompt window (or keep the current one, up to you).

mysql -u root -p

Enter your root password when prompted.

Inside the MySQL prompt, create the database with this SQL:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Then exit MySQL prompt:

EXIT;

That creates a fresh database named wordpress_db for WordPress.

Start the WordPress installer

Go to:

http://localhost/wordpress

You should see the WordPress installation wizard!

Now just follow the WordPress installation wizard:

1. Language: Choose your preferred language → Click Continue.
2. Database setup:
   • Database Name: wordpress_db
   • Username: root
   • Password: (your root password)
   • Database Host: localhost
   • Table Prefix: leave as wp_ unless you want to customize
3. Click Submit, then Run the installation.
4. Fill in site title, admin username/password, email, etc.

WordPress will be installed, and can be access via: http://localhost/wordpress

After Restarting VM

After Restarting VM, we may need to start following process for WordPress to run again

1 – Start Nginx

cd C:\nginx
start nginx

2 – Start PHP processor

C:\php\php-cgi.exe -b 127.0.0.1:9000

3 – Start MySQL

net start MySQL93

Reset WordPress Admin Password

In case you forget WordPress admin password.

Navigate to your MySQL bin folder

cd “C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 9.3\bin”

Run MySQL:

mysql -u root -p

USE wordpress_db;
SELECT ID, user_login FROM wp_users;
UPDATE wp_users SET user_pass = MD5(‘yournewpassword’) WHERE user_login = ‘admin’;
EXIT;