How to install CMSMS in XAMPP Windows 11

CMSMS or CMS Made Simple is a another free content management system that we can use to create yet another cool website for free. This award-winning CMS was first released in July 2004. Now, to start making our website, please download the CMSMS and XAMPP installers below.

Requirements:

• xampp-win32-7.3.0-0-VC15-installer [download here]
• cmsms-2.2.16-install.expanded [download here]

Assuming that you downloaded the files above, continue to the tutorials below.

Table of Contents

• XAMPP Installation
• Opening XAMPP and running Apache and MySQL
• Copying and pasting CMSMS folder inside htdocs
• Creating needed database for CMSMS installation via phpMyAdmin
• Creating needed User Account for CMSMS installation via phpMyAdmin
• Installing CMSMS website using localhost via web browser
• Opening CMSMS website homepage and login page
• Accessing CMSMS website admin page

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

XAMPP Installation

1. Open the XAMPP installer that you downloaded. If there is a question, just press YES to proceed.

2. If there is warning, just press OK to proceed.

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

4. In the Select Components, press NEXT again.

5. In the Installation folder, do not change it, press NEXT to continue.

6. In the Bitnami for XAMPP, just leave it also and press NEXT to proceed.

7. We are now ready to install XAMPP. Press NEXT to start.

8. Wait for the installation to finish.

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

Opening XAMPP and running Apache and MySQL

1. To open or run XAMPP, go to This PC > C drive > xampp > and open xampp-control.exe file.

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

3. Apache and MySQL are both running now if you 2 Stop buttons under Actions.

4. If there is a Windows Security Alert, just press Allow access.

Copying and pasting CMSMS folder inside htdocs

1. Extract the CMSMS zip file that you downloaded and copy both "cmsms" and "cmsms-installer". Then go to This PC.

2. Inside This PC, open C drive.

3. Inside C, open xampp folder.

4. Inside xampp, open htdocs folder.

5. Inside htdocs, paste your cmsms and cmsms-installer folders.

Creating needed database for CMSMS installation via phpMyAdmin

1. We need a database to install CMSMS. Open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1 and press ENTER.

2. Inside XAMPP, click phpMyAdmin.

2. Inside phpMyAdmin, click Databases.

3. Inside Databases, under Create database, name your database as "cmsms_db" and next to it, set charset to utf8mb4_unicode_ci and press Create to proceed.

4. In the Create table, name it as "cmsms_table" and set columns to 4. Press Go to proceed.

5. In structure, name it as cmsms and set Type to INT.

6. For Collation, set it to utf8_unicode_ci and leave all the other fields blank.

7. Save your work.

Creating needed User Account for CMSMS installation via phpMyAdmin

1. We also need a new user account in our cmsms_db. To create, open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1 again.

2. Then go to phpMyAdmin.

3. Inside, click User accounts.

4. Then click Add user account.

5. Under Login Information, do the following: User name - cmsms_user. Host name - Local/Localhost. Password - your desired user password (do not forget it).

6. Under Database for user account, just check both options.

7. In the Global privileges, just press Check all.

8. In SSL, "require none" is already selected, just leave as it is and press Go to proceed.

9. You have added a new user.

Installing CMSMS website using localhost via web browser

1. We are now ready to install CMSMS. To start, open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1/cmsms-installer and press ENTER.

2. In the Destination, change it to C:\xampp\htdocs\cmsms. For Language, select English. In enable advanced mode, select NO. Press NEXT when done.

3. In "Detect existing software" just press INSTALL.

4. Under TESTS, just press NEXT to proceed.

5. In the Database Information, do the following: Database Hostname - localhost. Database Name - cmsms_db. User name - cmsms_user. Password - your user password. Time Zone - select your country's time zone. When done, press NEXT to proceed.

6. Under "Admin Account Information" do the following: User name - admin. Email Address - enter a valid email address. Password - your desired admin password (do not forget it). When done, press NEXT to continue.

7. In Site Settings, under Web Site Name, just name your site and press NEXT to proceed.

8. In the "Install Application Files" just press NEXT.

9. Same goes for Database Work, just press NEXT to proceed.

10. And you have successfully installed CMS Made Simple website.

11. In the warning regarding deletion of cmsms-installer. You just need to delete it.

12. Go to This PC > C drive > xampp > htdocs > and delete cmsms-installer folder.

Opening CMSMS website homepage and login page

1. To open your CMSMS website homepage, just go to 127.0.0.1/cmsms or localhost/cmsms.

Accessing CMSMS website admin page

1. To open your CMSMS login page, just go to 127.0.0.1/admin/login.php.

2. Login your username and password and press Submit to proceed.

3. Below is an example of CMS Made Simple administration account page.

Creating website has never been this fun! And I do hope that you enjoyed doing this tutorial. If you have a question, just leave a comment below. Cheers!