Ultimate Guide to Magento CE Installation in 10 Steps - Magento experts for over 10 years.

Want to open your ecommerce but don't know how to install Magento? Here is the right solution for you! In this article you will find all the information you need to install the platform.

Creating an ecommerce, however, is not a simple thing, but as the Latins say "nihl tam arduum est quod non igenio vincas," nothing is so difficult that ingenuity cannot win. You just have to do things in stages.

Therefore, here is a list of all the steps necessary to proceed with a proper Magento installation.

How to install Magento step by step.

Below is a list of the steps we will follow:

Downloading the latest version of Magento
Database Creation
Installation of Sample data, yes or no?
Reset permissions on files and folders
Installation with Magento Wizard
Installation completed? Ni!
Disable the cache
Reindex of the Catalog
Italian language installation
Done! Start using Magento!

1. Download the latest version of the platform on the official Magento website

The current version of Magento is 1.9.0.1 updated on May 16, 2014. Once you open the site you will find a block called "Download" with the latest version of Magento and all the details.

To download the E-Commerce platform, however, you need an account. In fact, clicking the DOWNLOAD button will open a popup where you can login if you are already registered, or register.

Once registered, log in with your information.

At this point, the Magento download will start automatically and once finished, you will have to unzip the Magento zipper file inside which you will find a folder named magento;

Now upload all the contents of the "magento" folder to the root of your web space, or alternatively if you are working locally for example with XAMPP, copy and rename the magento folder to the htdocs.

2. Create the Database

As a second thing, we need a database. If you have a CPANEL or PLESK control panel, you can create a database quickly and easily through Phpmyadmin or through one of the easy-to-use wizards.

I attach a screenshot of the Phpmyadmin where you can create the database:

Once the database is created, let's save somewhere the data needed to configure the Magento installation.

The data you will need are:

Host: usually localhost
Database Name: the name of your database e.g. magento
Database Username: the user associated with the database e.g., magento-user
Database password: the password to access the database e.g. password!

To learn more about the Magento database you can also read:

3. Install sample data or not?

Now that we have the Magento platform files and a database ready to be populated, we need to figure out whether to do a clean installation or an installation with sample data.

Sample Data are the sample data that Magento provides to fill your store with sample products, preconfigured product attributes, and sample categories.

Downloading and installing Magento sample data can prove to be a very useful operation since once the installation procedure is finished, it will allow us to have a store with ready products and configurations that may prove useful in some cases.

For example, if we want to understand what the structure of a product looks like, we can open an already created product and copy its structural features.

WARNING. Sample Data must be installed BEFORE installing Magento.

4. Resetting folder and file permissions

Now we will need to select all the files inside the root and change all the permissions to "777". To do this we will need to go to our FTP client, look for the "Edit Permissions" folder and from there set the permissions to precisely "777"; If you are thinking about file security, don't worry, once the installation process is finished we will reset the file permissions to 644 and the folder permissions to 755.

5. Finally, let's install Magento!

Once you have imported the example database, you will need to go to the link on which we uploaded the Magento folder (example: http://localhost/magento/ or http://www.nomesito.it/) and this will take you to the Magento Installation Wizard that you can see in the image below:

Then click on Contine Magento Installation. At this point you will need to choose the language(Italian in this case), also based on where the actual shop is located and set the relevant currency;

Nb, even if you select Italian, most likely the whole installation process will see it in Italian and you will be able to install the language package once the Magento installation is finished.

Now it is time to enter the data for the database created in step 2. Then enter the Host, Database Name, User Name and Password in the first block.

You can also enter a prefix for the tables that will be created, in this way you will also increase the security of the data. Example: mag_

After the Database Connection block, you can configure other options in the Web Access options section.

Base Url: is the address where the Magento platform is located: http://localhost/magento/ or http://www.nomesito.it/
Skip Base Url Validation Before the Next Step: Select this option if it is not possible to validate the base URL automatically
Use Web Server (Apache) rewrites: This option is essential to have clean and easily indexable urls

Finally, in the Session Storage Options section we select File System to make the site faster. This will store sessions in the File System rather than in the database.

With these steps done, let's proceed to the next step. Here you need to configure the store administration account information.

Feel free to leave the Encryption Key field blank, Magento will create one for you.

6. Installation completed!

Once this step is completed, we have finished the installation process!

A page will then open in which you will find the encrypted key for implementing a system with an SSL certificate or safeguarding sensitive data. Remember to write down this key and, as Magento itself suggests, keep it in a safe place.

At the bottom, you will also find two links that will take you to the Frontend (the part visible to users) and Backend (the administration section of the store), respectively.

7. We disable the cache

We now enter the back-end to disable the cache by going to System -> Cache Managment, as per the instructions in the screenshot below:

The screen that will open is as follows:

At this point, you will need to select all the entries, choose "Disable" from the drop-down menu, and press the button on the right "Submit."

8. Let's do the Reindex of the catalog.

Having done this it will be necessary to perform a complete re-indexing of the catalog indexes.

To do this, simply follow the path System -> Index Managment as shown in the figure;

Again, you will need to select all the items on the screen that will open by clicking on "Index Managment."
Select in the drop-down menu of the Actions box, the Reindex Data item , as shown in the figure.

To learn more about this read also: How to update indexes or reindex of Magento catalog.

9. How to install Italian language on Magento

We are almost done. Magento installation is complete, now all that's missing is setting the Italian languagefor our e-commerce. Here's how to do it:

Go to Magento Connnect, a fairly comprehensive library where you can download Magento-specific plug-ins. Here you will find the Italian Language Pack for download.

I remember that the Italian translation of Magento is edited and followed by Antonio Carboni, a Magento Certified frontend developer who has taken this work to heart and whom I personally thank for doing and continuing this work for the community.

We unzip the zipped file and inside the "local" folder we will find a file named "it_IT"
We upload this folder to our web space following the path [MAGENTO_ROOT]/app/local.
Done! Back in the admin and if everything was done following the steps listed above, you should have Magento in Italian.

If for some reason you can't see Magento in Italian, try reconfiguring the Italian language from System / Configuration, then left GENERAL tab:

10. Done, Start using Magento!

At this point, Magentolanguage installation and configuration is complete.

If you have problems, or get stuck, or simply found this guide helpful, please leave a comment, we will try to help and/or thank you! 🙂