How to install CMSimple in XAMPP Windows 11

This is my second post on CMS Installation Tutorial Series that I am currently posting here on my blog. And for this post I will be showing you how to easily install CMSimple version 5.8 in XAMPP using your Windows 11 pc.

CMSimple is a free content management system. It aims to be simple, small and fast. As it is written in PHP it runs on Linux/Apache servers, or on Win32 with Apache or IIS. CMSimple is licensed under the terms of the GPL3.[source]

This cool CMS was developed by Preben Bjorn Biermann Madse and Peter Harteg. Its first stable released was on February 4, 2015.

Now, it's time for us to start this tutorial. But first, please complete the given requirements below before proceeding.

Requirements to install CMSimple in XAMPP using Windows 11 pc

• XAMPP 8.0.x, download here [via Mediafire]
• CMSimple_5-8, download here [via Mediafire]

Assuming that you already downloaded XAMPP and CMSimple, continue doing the tutorials below.

Table of Contents

• XAMPP installation on Windows 11
• Running XAMPP Control Panel's Apache and MySQL
• Copying CMSimple installer to HTDOCS folder
• CMSimple installation via Localhost or 127.0.0.1
• Accessing CMSimple website ADMIN account
• Viewing website created via CMSimple

Here are the steps on how to install CMSimple in XAMPP using Windows 11 pc

XAMPP installation on Windows 11

1. After downloading XAMPP using the given link above, open it. For the antivirus related question, just ignore it and press the YES button to proceed.

2. On the warning message regarding User Account Control (UAC) just ignore it also and press the OK button to continue.

3. In the Setup Wizard for, just click on NEXT.

4. In the Select Components, just leave it and press NEXT again.

5. In the Installation folder, leave it also as it is and press the NEXT button.

6. In Language, English is pre-selected, just leave it also. You can also change it to your own local language if you want to. Press the NEXT button to continue.

7. Your XAMPP is now ready to install. Press the NEXT button to proceed.

8. Wait for the Installing to finish.

9. When done, uncheck the "Do you want to start the Control Panel now?" and press FINISH to exit.

10. Done! You have successfully installed XAMPP on your pc. Continue to the next tutorial below.

Running XAMPP Control Panel's Apache and MySQL

1. Open Start in your pc and search for xampp. Right-click XAMPP Control Panel and click on Run as Administrator.

2. Inside XAMPP, press the two Start buttons for Apache and MySQL.

3. To confirm that your Apache and MySQL are running, you will see green-colored background on both. When done, press X to hide the panel to system tray.

4. If there is a Windows Security Alert produced by Windows Defender Firewall, just click the Allow access button to exit.

5. Done! You just ran XAMPP on your Windows 11 pc and started the Apache and MySQL services. Continue to next tutorial below.

Copying CMSimple installer to HTDOCS folder

1. Now, after downloading the CMSimple.zip file using the given link above, you need to extract the zip file. After extracting, you need to copy the CMSimple folder to the XAMPP's htdocs folder. First, open Start and search for "this pc". Click This PC to open your Computer drive.

2. Inside This PC, click on your C drive.

3. Inside c drive, find and click on xampp folder.

4. Inside xampp, click on htdocs folder.

5. Now, paste your CMSimple folder inside htdocs.

6. Done! You just copied your CMSimple installer folder to the c:\xampp\htdocs directory. Continue to the next tutorial.

CMSimple CMS installation via Localhost or 127.0.0.1

1. Open your internet browser. In the address bar type the 127.0.0.1/cmsimple or localhost/cmsimple and press ENTER.

2. And you just instantly created your website using CMSimple!

3. Under the welcome message, you will see there the instruction to set a password for your admin account now. The file that you need to locate is the readme.php file which is inside your CMSimple installation folder inside the htdocs folder. The complete path is c:\xampp\htdocs\cmsimple.

4. To access the readme.php file. Just go to This PC > c drive > xampp > htdocs > cmsimple folder.

5. When you already see the readme.php file, right-click on it and then press Edit with Notepad.

6. To set an admin password, the readme.php file stated that you need to run the /setup.php in your internet browser.

7. Open a new tab on your internet browser and then type 127.0.0.1/cmsimple/setup.php or localhost/cmsimple/setup.php and press ENTER. In the given space, enter your admin password and click the Submit button. Do not forget this password because you will use it later to access your admin account and edit your CMSimple website.

Accessing CMSimple website ADMIN account

1. In the Site admin login, enter your newly created password. You can leave the user as blank. Press the Login button to proceed.

2. And you just opened your CMSimple admin account.

10. Here is a sample screenshot of Page Manager inside admin account.

3. Here is a sample screenshot of User Files also inside the admin account. You can upload files here.

4. The Settings page of your CMSimple website.

5. And the Plugin Manager page that can be use to install external plugins to make your CMSimple site look more professional.

Viewing website created via CMSimple

1. To view your CMSimple website, just type 127.0.0.1/cmsimple or localhost/cmsimple and press ENTER using your internet browser. Below is the sample homepage of CMSimple website.

And you just successfully created a website using the CMSimple CMS locally in your pc. You can start posting articles and editing your website now. And when done, you can upload your website online on a free web hosting if you want to try it first for free. And then, consider uploading the website in a paid web hosting service with cPanel.

If you have question, leave a comment below. Cheers!

Important notes:

• Always open XAMPP and start MySQL and Apache before opening your CMSimple website
• Do not forget your admin username and password. You write it on a piece of paper or Notepad