Category: Getting Started

With a new database freshly created, we are now ready to install OpenCart directly onto a website. You should open up a web browser and enter in the web address of where they uploaded OpenCart.

Step 1. License

You may read through the license, check “I agree to the license”, and press “Continue”.

Step 2. Pre-Installation

This step checks to see if the web server has the technical requirements and correct permissions to setup OpenCart properly. If red marks are visible on #1 or #2, you need to make sure that these components are properly installed onto the web server. You should contact your hosting service if there are any issues with this. If there are red marks on #3 or #4, there might have been an issue with uploading the files using the FTP client. If everything is configured correctly and green marks are visible (as seen below), you may press “Continue”.

Step 3. Configuration

You need to fill in the spaces below #1 by adding the database connection details (username/password, database name) established when you created the store’s database using MySQL Databases. Under #2, you should create a new username and password for administration access to the OpenCart shop. When finished, you may press “Continue”.

Step 4. Finished

Now that installation is complete, the “install” folder is no longer required. You should delete the “install” folder in the Remote Site section of Filezilla for security reasons. You now have the option to browse the frontend of your shop or choose to log into the administration side.

After the install, you should make the necessary steps towards improving the security of your server and OpenCart store directory. These steps are detailed in Basic security practices.

If you don’t have a OpenCart website and want to install OpenCart from scratch, this guide is for you.

You will need to complete two tasks before you can install OpenCart on your server. First, you will need to download the OpenCart package files. Next, you will need to have a database for OpenCart use.

Creating a database

Once you’ve completed uploading the files to a hosting-server, you should prepare an empty database for your OpenCart website. It should be created with the help of the database management tool in Hosting CPanel [the PhpMyAdmin typically].

Follow the simple instructions to create a new database through the phpMyAdmin [check the slides below]:

1. In order to access the list of databases, press the “Database” button in the top navigation menu.
2. Input the database name in the “Create new database” field.
3. Press the “Create” button.

You will see the new database in the listing. Click on the database name link in order to get access to the one.

Check the instruction accompanied by the illustrations [click on switches to move on]:

Feel free to check the detailed guide How to create a database. Should there be any issues when database creating, please contact your hosting provider to assist.

Downloading and Uploading OpenCart Package Files

1. Download the current release of OpenCart 3.x
2. Move the downloaded OpenCart installation package to the server. Use a FTP Client to transfer the OpenCart 3.x files to your server. There are several available for use, here is a detailed list of FTP Clients. Please make sure you are using a FTP client’s official release.

Hint – This can be accomplished by simply moving the downloaded package to your server, then unpacking it. Or you can unpack the files on your local computer, then move the OpenCart installation over to your server. Either way, the OpenCart installation needs to be unpacked in the root of your site.

The “root” of your site is the public folder where all web page files are stored so that a user can view the site examples include public_html and htdocs. What your Host uses depends on them.

Before setting up your OpenCart website, make sure you are fully prepared. Please complete the following preparation steps:

Software required

To feel comfortable working with the OpenCart template, we recommend downloading all the applications required. You can see the list of required software at the template Live Demo page. Requirements can vary significantly depending upon the template, the common ones will be defined only:

1. 1. To edit template source code files you need some code editor such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Notepad++ or Sublime Text, etc.
   2. To upload files to the hosting server, you may need an FTP Manager like Total Commander, FileZilla, CuteFTP, etc.
   3. Proceed with the following guide to unzip the archives, using WinZip(PC) and StuffitExpander(MAC)

Hosting

As OpenCart engine is a PHP/MySQL based application, you need to prepare a hosting environment.

If you have live hosting, please make sure it matches OpenCart system requirements and is ready to be used for OpenCart websites.

You can run OpenCart locally (on your computer) using the local server. To create a local hosting server, please use localhost applications, such as WAMP, AppServ, MAMP, etc. Any of those can be easily installed as any other software and be used to run OpenCart.

System Requirements

OpenCart needs certain technical requirements to be met for the store to operate properly. First, a web server must be created to make the OpenCart store publicly available on the web. Domain names and hosting services can easily be purchased for an affordable price.

These extensions must be enabled for OpenCart to install properly on the web server.

• Web Server (Apache suggested)
• PHP 5.4+(1.5.x at least 5.2+)
• Database (MySQLi suggested)

Required PHP libraries/modules

1. Curl
2. ZIP
3. Zlib
4. GD Library
5. Mcrypt
6. Mbstrings
7. Xml

The above PHP extensions should be available by almost all the hosting providers, during the installation process it will check if you have them all enabled. You should contact your hosting provider if some are missing.