How to install Exponent CMS in XAMPP Windows 11

Exponent CMS is a free, simple open-source content management system. It was developed by OIC Group, Inc.. You can build a website, blog or store website out of it. And for this tutorial, I will show you how to make a simple blog using Exponent. But first, you need to download the required below. I also provided the links for your convenience.

Download requirements on how to install Exponent CMS in XAMPP using Windows 11 pc

• XAMPP, download here [via Mediafire]
• Exponent-2.7.0, download here [via Mediafire]

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

Table of Contents

• XAMPP installation on Windows 11
• Running XAMPP Control Panel's Apache and MySQL
• Copying Exponent installer to HTDOCS folder
• Creating Exponent Database
• Creating Exponent CMS New User in phpMyAdmin
• Exponent CMS installation via Localhost or 127.0.0.1
• Viewing website created via Exponent CMS
• Accessing Exponent website ADMIN account

Here are the steps on how to install Exponent CMS in XAMPP using Windows pc

XAMPP installation on Windows 11

1. Open the XAMPP file that you downloaded earlier. If a Question appears regarding antivirus running, just click YES to proceed.

2. If a Warning about User Account Control also appears, just click OK to proceed.

3. Under Setup - XAMPP, click the NEXT button.

4. In the Select Components, do not alter the default values, just click NEXT to proceed.

5. Same goes for the Installation folder, do not change it. Click NEXT to proceed.

6. In the Language, select English and press NEXT again to continue.

7. You are now ready to install XAMPP. Click NEXT to start installation.

8. Wait for the installation to finish.

9. When done, click Finish to exit the installer.

Running XAMPP Control Panel's Apache and MySQL

1. To open XAMPP, you can either click its shortcut located in your desktop or go to Start and search for "xampp" and press ENTER.

2. Inside XAMPP Control Panel, click the Start buttons for Apache and MySQL.

3. You will see that the buttons are now changed to Stop. Apache and MySQL are both running now.

4. If a Windows Security Alert appears, just click Allow access to exit.

Copying Exponent installer to HTDOCS folder

1. Go to the Exponent zip file that you also downloaded earlier. Extract it and rename the extracted folder to "exponent". Make sure all its contents are not inside a sub-folder. When done, copy the folder. Go to Start and search for "this pc" and press ENTER.

2. Inside This PC, click and open your C drive.

3. Inside C, open xampp folder.

4. Next, find and open htdocs folder.

5. Inside htdocs folder, PASTE here your exponent folder.

Creating Exponent Database

1. We are now going to create the database needed to install Exponent site. Open your web browser. In the address bar, type 127.0.0.1 and press ENTER.

2. Inside, click on phpMyAdmin.

3. Inside phpMyAdmin, click Databases.

4. In the Create database, name it as exponent_db for this tutorial. Next to it set the value to utf8mb4_unicode_ci and press Create button.

5. In the Create new table, name it as component_table and set the columns to 4. Click Create to proceed.

6. For Structure, name it as exponent and for Type it is already set to INT.

7. For Collation, set it to utf8_unicode_ci and leave all the other field blank.

8. Save your work.

Creating Exponent CMS New User in phpMyAdmin

1. Unlike other CMS, Exponent requires you to create a new User Account inside phpMyAdmin to be able to install it. Open your web browser again and go to 127.0.0.1. Inside, click on phpMyAdmin. Then, find and click on User accounts.

2. Then, click click on Add user account.

3. Under Login Information, do the following: Username - name it as "exponent" for this tutorial. Host name - set it to local, then localhost. Password - enter your desired password for your database and confirm it (do not forget it).

4. For Database for user account, check both "Create database with same name and grant all privileges." and "Grant all privileges on wildcard name (username\_%)."

5. For Global privileges, just check the Check all. When done, click GO to save your User Settings.

6. You just added a new user.

Exponent CMS installation via Localhost or 127.0.0.1

1. We are now ready to install our Exponent site. Open your web browser again and go to 1270.0.1/exponent/install/index.php and press ENTER.

2. In the Welcome to Exponent CMS - Please select a language, select English - US and then click on Begin Installation in Selected Language to proceed.

3. For the System Requirements Check, just leave it and click on Configure your Database.

4. Under Configure Database, do the following: Address - localhost, Port - 3306, Database name - exponent_db, Username - exponent, Password - the password you created during creation of New User inside phpMyAdmin. When done, click on Install Database to proceed.

5. In the "Checking Database Configuration" just click on Continue Installation to proceed.

6. In the Site Configuration, just name your site and so on. You can leave the other fields as default and just change them later. When done, click on Add Configuration Settings to continue.

7. In the Pick Your Theme, you can choose what sample content to install. For this tutorial, I selected Blog Site (You can pick your own too). When done, just click the theme that you wanted for your website to proceed. I selected the Simple Theme.

8. Under Create Administrator, do the following: Username - admin, Password - your admin account password and confirm it (do not forget it), your First and Last name, and a valid email address. When done, click on Create Administrator to proceed.

9. You have successfully created a website out of Exponent CMS.

Viewing website created via Exponent CMS

1. To view your Exponent website homepage, just go to 127.0.0.1/exponent.

Accessing Exponent website ADMIN account

1. To login your Exponent website admin account, just go to 127.0.0.1/exponent/login/loginredirect. Enter your username and password. Press Log in to proceed.

2. Inside your Exponent website admin account, you will see Settings and links that can modify your website. As owner and admin of your site, these settings are only available to you.

Thank you for reading this tutorial guys. I do hope that you have learned a lot. If you have a question, you can leave a comment below. Cheers!