How to Install Drupal 7

How to Install Drupal 7: Installation Tutorial

Installing Drupal 7 can seem overwhelming to the beginner. However, the process is actually easy if you take it step by step. Once you're set up, Drupal 7 makes it easier than ever to get started editing your website out of the box. This tutorial is written to be used with Hostgator hosting, but the instructions are extremely general and should be able to be used with any hosting company that supports Drupal.

Drupal 7 requires a manual installation, though it’s still pretty easy to set up as long as you have a little guidance. Drupal 7 was first released in Januray 2011, and at the time of this writing (March 2011) there still aren't many tutorials that show beginners to Drupal how easy it is to get started with a Drupal 7 website. These steps are specific to

Now that you have gotten yourself set up with both a domain name and a hosting account, you'll want to make sure you have your domain name pointed to your hosting account. After that, you are ready to get started with your Drupal 7 Installation!

View the Full Drupal 7 Install Tutorial on DrupalTutorial.info to see this illustrated with pictures.

Setting up your database for Drupal 7

1. Log in to your Hostgator control panel. If you have a different hosting company besides Hostgator, then log into your main hosting control panel.
2. Find and click the link for ‘MySQL Databases’
3. Enter a short name for your database in the empty spot for ‘New Database: yourname_’
4. Click 'Create Database' Be patient.
5. Click the ‘Go Back’ link
6. Further down the page, under ‘Add New User’, add a short name to the end of ‘Username: yourname_’
7. Type in a password(twice) for this user, then click “Create User”.
8. Click ‘Go Back’ again
9. Towards the bottom of the page under ‘Add User To Database’, change ‘Username:’ to the username you made and change ‘Database:’ to the name of the one you created.
10. Click ‘Add’
11. Check the box for ‘All Privileges’, then click ‘Make Changes’. Then click ‘Go Back’ one more time.
12. Finally, you’ll want to make a note of your database name, and the username and password you just made in the previous steps.

Getting Drupal 7 in your hosting space

1. Go to http://drupal.org/project/drupal and download the .zip file for the latest version of Drupal 7. You can also use the .tar.gz file, but most computers can open .zip files without having to install extra software.
2. Unzip the drupal folder to your desktop, and within that folder, navigate to /sites/default
3. In the ‘default’ folder, make a copy of ‘default.settings.php’ and rename the new copy ‘settings.php’
4. Now close that drupal folder, and reopen it. You should now be back at the main level(root) of the drupal folder(you should be able to see the ‘sites’ folder).
5. Open your FTP client(like Filezilla) and log in so that you’re able to move files to your server.
6. On the server side, navigate to /public_html/
7. Highlight and delete the ‘default.html’ file.
8. Select everything in the drupal folder you reopened and drag it into the ‘public_html’ folder on your server

Installing Drupal 7

1. Navigate to your website address with /install.php added after it. Example: www.MyExampleWebsite.com/install.php
2. On the ‘Select an installation profile’ screen, leave ‘Standard’ selected and click ‘Save and Continue’
3. Choose the language you wish to install Drupal in and click ‘Save and Continue’
4. Drupal will ‘Verify Requirements’ on its own and skip to the next screen
5. This is where you’ll want to enter the info you took note of a little while ago. Your database name will be just that(like yourname_drupal1), and your username and password will be the ones you attached to that database
6. Drupal will install itself on your database…
7. Next you’ll have a short form of site information to fill out; make sure to take a note of your site login. Everything else can be changed later when the site is up and running. Once everything is filled out, click ‘Save and Continue’
8. You’re finished! Click the 'Visit your new site' link at the bottom of this page and you’ll be directed to your new Drupal 7 website!