How to install Omeka in XAMPP Windows 11

Omeka is another free, open-source content management system (CMS). Websites created using it are mainly used for digital collections. It was first developed by Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. And currently, it is under Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Its first released was on February 21, 2008 and its last stable released was on March 25, 2021. For this tutorial, we are going to create an amazing website out of it. But first, download the XAMPP file and its installer below.

Requirements:

• xampp-windows-x64-8.0.23-0-VS16-installer [download here]
• omeka-3.0.3 [download here]

After download both files, continue to the tutorials below.

Table of Contents

• XAMPP Installation
• Opening XAMPP Control Panel and running Apache and MySQL
• Copying and pasting Omeka installation folder to HTDOCS
• Creating a Database for Omeka installation using phpMyAdmin
• Installing Omeka using XAMPP localhost via web browser
• Opening Omeka website homepage
• Opening Omeka website admin page

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

XAMPP Installation

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

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

3. Under Setup - XAMPP, press NEXT to proceed.

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

5. Under Installation folder, just leave it as it is and press NEXT to proceed.

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

7. We are now ready to install XAMPP, click NEXT to confirm.

8. Wait for the installation to finish.

9. After installation, click on Finish to exit the installer.

Opening XAMPP Control Panel and running Apache and MySQL

1. To open XAMPP Control Panel, you can click its shortcut located in your desktop or go to Start and search for xampp.

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

3. Apache and MySQL are both running now. You will see two Stop buttons.

4. If a Windows Security Alert appears, press Allow access to proceed.

Copying and pasting Omeka installation folder to HTDOCS

1. Extract the Omeka zip file that you downloaded. Rename the extracted folder as "omeka". Make sure all the contents of your omeka folder is not inside a subfolder. Now, copy your omeka folder and go to This PC.

2. Inside This PC, open your C drive.

3. Inside C, open xampp folder.

4. Inside xampp, open htdocs folder.

5. Paste your omeka folder inside htdocs.

Creating a Database for Omeka installation using phpMyAdmin

1. A database is needed to install Omeka. Open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1 and press ENTER.

2. Inside, click phpMyAdmin.

3. Then, click Databases inside phpMyAdmin.

4. In the Create database, name it as omeka_db and next to it, set it to utf8mb4_unicode_ci. Press Create to proceed.

5. In the Create new table, name it as omeka_table and set number of columns to 4. Press Create to proceed.

6. In the Structure, name it as omeka and set the Type to INT.

7. For Collation, select utf8_unicode_ci and leave all the other fields blank.

8. Save your work.

Installing Omeka using XAMPP localhost via web browser

1. We are now ready to install Omeka. Open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1/omeka and press ENTER.

2. If the "Omeka has encountered an error" appears, then, you need to do the tutorial below first to fix it.

How to fix "Omeka has encountered an error"

• Go to c:\xampp\htdocs\omeka and find .htaccess file
• Right-click open with Notepad
• Find # SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV development
• Change it to SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV development (remove # and space)
• Save Notepad

Refresh your installation page or restart your installation.

3. Assuming that there is no error but there is another one which is "Omeka Configuration Error", then, you need to fix it again to proceed with the installation. Continue to STEP 4.

4. Go to c:\xampp\htdocs\omeka and find db.ini file. Right-click the db.ini file and open it with Notepad. Then under [database] do the following: host = localhost, username = root, password = blank or none, dbname = omeka_db, prefix = omeka_, charset = utf8, ;port = 3306. When done, go to File then click Save. Then, refresh your installation page. If there is no error now, proceed to STEP 5.

5. We are now under Omeka Configure Your Site. Do the following: Username - admin. Password/Re-type password - type your desired password and do not forget it. Email - enter a valid email address.

6. For Site Settings, do the following: Administrator Email - enter a valid again. Site Title - enter your website name or title. Site description - you can type what your site is all about or you can leave it as blank. Leave all the other fields as blank.

7. Leave the remaining fields and do not change anything. Just press Install to proceed.

8. Done! Omeka is successfully installed.

Opening Omeka website homepage

1. To open your Omeka website homepage, just go to 127.0.0.1/omeka or localhost/omeka.

Opening Omeka website admin page

1. To open your Omeka website admin login page, just go to 127.0.0.1/omeka/admin and press ENTER.

2. Enter your username and password. When done click Log In to proceed.

3. Inside your Omeka website administration page, you will see there your Dashboard, Items, Collections, Item Types and Tags. You can use these links to modify your website.

Thank you for readting this post. I do hope that you have learned a lot while doing this. If you have a question, just leave a comment below. Cheers!