How to install SMW+ in XAMPP Windows 11

SMW+ or Simple Machines Web! is a free web page management system. This CMS is quite old and not developed or maintained anymore by its developer. SMW+ installer language is in Spanish but you can easily use Google Translate if you are using Google Chrome while installing it. Its last stable release was way back May 30, 2011. And for this tutorial we are still going to make a simple and lite website out of it. But first, download the SMW+ and XAMPP installers below.

Requirements:

• xampp-win32-1.6.3-installer [download here]
• smw-1.0.3_es [download here]

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

Table of Contents

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

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

XAMPP Installation

1. Open the XAMPP file that you downloaded. In the "Installer Language" select English and press OK to proceed.

2. In the XAMPP installation welcome page, just press NEXT to continue.

3. Under "Choose Install Location", do not change it just leave it and press NEXT to proceed.

4. In XAMPP Options, uncheck all and press Install to start the installation.

5. Wait for the installation to finish.

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

Opening SMW+ and running Apache and MySQL

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

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

3. Apache and MySQL are both running now.

Copying and pasting SMW+ folder inside htdocs

1. Extract the SWM zip file that you downloaded. Rename the extracted folder as "smw". Copy your smw folder and go to This PC.

2. Inside This PC, open C drive.

3. Inside C, open xampp folder.

4. Inside xampp, open htdocs folder.

5. And inside htdocs, paste your smw folder.

Creating needed database for SMW+ installation via phpMyAdmin

1. We need to create a database to be able install SMW+. To start, open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1 and press ENTER.

2. Inside XAMPP, click phpMyAdmin under Tools.

3. In the Create new database, name it as smw_db and next to it set Collation to utf8_unicode_ci. Press Create to create your database.

4. In the Create new table on database smw_db, name it as smw_table and set number of fields to 4. Press Go to proceed.

5. In Field, name it as smw and set INT as Type.

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

7. Press Save to save your table and your database.

8. Done! You now have a database with table.

Installing SMW+ website using localhost via web browser

1. We are now ready to start the installation of SMW+. To begin, open your web browser and go to 127.0.0.1/smw/upload and press ENTER.

2. If you see a warning, just ignore it. In the "Instalacion de Simple Machines Web", do the following: Servidor (server) - localhost. DB Name - smw_db. DB User - root. DB Pass - blank or none. Usuario (username) - admin. Contraseña (password) - your desired admin password (do not forget it). Prefijo (table prefix) - just leave it blank. When done, press Confirmar to proceed.

3. Done! You have successfully installed SMW+ website instantly.

Opening SMW+ website homepage and login page

1. To open your SMW+ website default homepage, just go to 127.0.0.1/smw/upload/index.php or localhost/smw/upload/index.php.

2. Below is an example of SMW+ website that I edited the homepage.

Accessing SMW+ website admin page

1. To login or modify you SMW+ website, you need to login your admin account. Go to 127.0.0.1/smw/upload/index.php?action=admin and press ENTER.

2. Login your username and password. Press confirmar button to proceed.

3. Below is an example of SMW+ website administration account page.

Thank you for reading this post. I do hope that you have learned a lot whiel doing this. If there is a question that you want to ask, just leave a comment below. Cheers!