Setting up Zen Cart on Windows XP using Xampp - a howto

[Briank58]

After much confusion and hair pulling I decided to setup Zen Cart on my home system running XP Professional. I've got to say that when you see a test site running on your own comp it really makes things much clearer.

I'll try to give as concise as possible step by step procedure for getting this all working and hopefully this will help all you fellow Zen'rs setting up and configuring a site (which can later be uploaded to a server).

Files to download

Download Zen Cart
zen-cart-v1.3.7-full-fileset-12302006.zip
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=171544

Download Xampp for Windows
xampp-win32-1.6.0a-installer.exe
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html
Xampp is the program which runs MySQL, PHP and Apache webserver on your local system (make sure you have the disk space as this is a 250+ mb download)

Install Xampp
Double-click on xampp-win32-1.6.0a-installer.exe to start the Xampp installation. Follow the install instructions up to where it asks if you want to run Apache/MySQL/FileZilla as a service. (I chose to run MySQL & PHP as a service. Filezilla is an ftp program and is non-essential for testing on a local system) Running these applications as a service means that they will run at bootup on Windows. If you don't want this then you can manually start them from the Start Menu>Programs>Apache Friends>Xampp>Xampp Control Panel

Open Xampp control panel (if installed as a service the icon will be in the systray or start manually as indicated above). Start Apache and MySQL (if not already started).

Create the Database
In your browser's address bar type:
http://localhost/xampp
If everything is installed successfully you'll see the Xampp opening screen. Choose your language to proceed to the next page.
Towards the bottom of the navigation bar on the left side click on "phpMyAdmin". You will now see a page that shows information on Server & Protocol hosts etc.

There are only two fields that need to be populated in order to create your database:

CREATE NEW DATABASE - enter in the name of your database (zencart, zen ... whatever ... make note of whatever you call it as you'll need this info when setting up Zen Cart).

COLLATION ... click on the down arrow and at the very bottom of the list select utf8_unicode_ci ... this should match identically the field a little higher up "MySQL connection collation:".

Once you've populated the Create New Database name field and Collation field click Create ... when you see the screen that says " Database <name you selected> has been created." You are done!

Install the Zen Cart Files
For Zen Cart to work correctly with Xampp it needs to be installed in the Xampp subdirectory htdocs
C:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\

Unzip the file zen-cart-v1.3.7-full-fileset-12302006.zip to the above directory. By default this will probably create a directory called:
zen-cart-v1.3.7-full-fileset-12302006
rename this to something simple (ie: store, zen, zencart)

Install the Zen Cart Program
In your browser's address bar type:
http://localhost/<name of your store> (the directory you just changed in htdocs)

You should now see the Zen Cart Installer page:
Follow the steps up to the Database Setup page ...
You now need to enter the name of the database you created earlier with phpMyAdmin into the Database Name field. Click "Save Database Settings " and you should see all the pretty ~'s scrolling across the screen.

On the Store Setup page I found it very helpful to install Zen Cart with the Store Demo. This is a mockup store with products etc. Some of the things that are very useful are the attributes set for certain products, tax rates etc which you can access via the admin page. Seeing actual examples really makes all the difference and takes the pain out of trying to find answers.

After you successfully have installed Zen Cart you given the option to visit either the online store or the admin area. This part is up to you.

http://localhost/<name of your store> to access your test store
http://localhost/admin ... to access the admin panel
bookmark these for easy access

When you first access the test store the first thing you notice is that there are two red warning signs at the top of your page ... these will always be present on your test site until you follow the instructions on the warnings.

Anyway, I hope this works for you.
See this link:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=54
on how to migrate your files up to your server

Brian

[schoolboy]

xampp-win32-1.6.0a-installer.exe

Goh Koon Hoek suggests an EARLIER version???

[Briank58]

xampp-win32-1.6.0a-installer.exe

Goh Koon Hoek suggests an EARLIER version???

I never understood what you meant by that.

NOW I KNOW!!!
You're trying to promote your book!
I just bought and received it,
very informative ...

[Ajeh]

1 down ... 399 pages to go ...

[Briank58]

1 down ... 399 pages to go ...

399 pages exactly! (I had to check)


oh .. buy the book ... everything I posted about setting up a local configuration is in there! with much more detail!

[wasana]

This thread was incredibly helpful and easy to follow. It's been over six months since I did any Zenning and I was dreading things - now I'm all charged up! Thanks.

hint for the challenged - rename the zc-install and for includes/configure just right click the file - properties - read only (this will probably be located C:\xampp\htdocs\<your_store_name>)

The Zen - eStart book is on the way but now I don't have to wait!!

life is good!

[oxicottin]

I perfer Wamp5 but to each his own I will give it a try. Thanks for the wounderful tut....

[minniemouse]

After much confusion and hair pulling I decided to setup Zen Cart on my home system running XP Professional. I've got to say that when you see a test site running on your own comp it really makes things much clearer.

I'll try to give as concise as possible step by step procedure for getting this all working and hopefully this will help all you fellow Zen'rs setting up and configuring a site (which can later be uploaded to a server).

Files to download

Download Zen Cart
zen-cart-v1.3.7-full-fileset-12302006.zip
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=171544

Download Xampp for Windows
xampp-win32-1.6.0a-installer.exe
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html
Xampp is the program which runs MySQL, PHP and Apache webserver on your local system (make sure you have the disk space as this is a 250+ mb download)

Install Xampp
Double-click on xampp-win32-1.6.0a-installer.exe to start the Xampp installation. Follow the install instructions up to where it asks if you want to run Apache/MySQL/FileZilla as a service. (I chose to run MySQL & PHP as a service. Filezilla is an ftp program and is non-essential for testing on a local system) Running these applications as a service means that they will run at bootup on Windows. If you don't want this then you can manually start them from the Start Menu>Programs>Apache Friends>Xampp>Xampp Control Panel

Open Xampp control panel (if installed as a service the icon will be in the systray or start manually as indicated above). Start Apache and MySQL (if not already started).

Create the Database
In your browser's address bar type:
http://localhost/xampp
If everything is installed successfully you'll see the Xampp opening screen. Choose your language to proceed to the next page.
Towards the bottom of the navigation bar on the left side click on "phpMyAdmin". You will now see a page that shows information on Server & Protocol hosts etc.

There are only two fields that need to be populated in order to create your database:

CREATE NEW DATABASE - enter in the name of your database (zencart, zen ... whatever ... make note of whatever you call it as you'll need this info when setting up Zen Cart).

COLLATION ... click on the down arrow and at the very bottom of the list select utf8_unicode_ci ... this should match identically the field a little higher up "MySQL connection collation:".

Once you've populated the Create New Database name field and Collation field click Create ... when you see the screen that says " Database <name you selected> has been created." You are done!

Install the Zen Cart Files
For Zen Cart to work correctly with Xampp it needs to be installed in the Xampp subdirectory htdocs
C:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\

Unzip the file zen-cart-v1.3.7-full-fileset-12302006.zip to the above directory. By default this will probably create a directory called:
zen-cart-v1.3.7-full-fileset-12302006
rename this to something simple (ie: store, zen, zencart)

Install the Zen Cart Program
In your browser's address bar type:
http://localhost/<name of your store> (the directory you just changed in htdocs)

You should now see the Zen Cart Installer page:
Follow the steps up to the Database Setup page ...
You now need to enter the name of the database you created earlier with phpMyAdmin into the Database Name field. Click "Save Database Settings " and you should see all the pretty ~'s scrolling across the screen.

On the Store Setup page I found it very helpful to install Zen Cart with the Store Demo. This is a mockup store with products etc. Some of the things that are very useful are the attributes set for certain products, tax rates etc which you can access via the admin page. Seeing actual examples really makes all the difference and takes the pain out of trying to find answers.

After you successfully have installed Zen Cart you given the option to visit either the online store or the admin area. This part is up to you.

http://localhost/<name of your store> to access your test store
http://localhost/admin ... to access the admin panel
bookmark these for easy access

When you first access the test store the first thing you notice is that there are two red warning signs at the top of your page ... these will always be present on your test site until you follow the instructions on the warnings.

Anyway, I hope this works for you.
See this link:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=54
on how to migrate your files up to your server

Brian

Hello, I have followed the above instructions but when Icome to Create the Database and type the following url into a browser I get a HTTP 403 forbidden error.

The website declined to show this webpage
HTTP 403
Most likely causes:
This website requires you to log in.

I seem to be getting this alot, when I have tried to install Zen Cart I also get this error

Can anyone please help ?

[jund]

Is your live server (not the localhost one) a windows server?
jund

[minniemouse]

I am trying to install this on my local machine rather then a server, I would like to have a play around before uploading to a live server.

Thanks
Emma