Installing WordPress on 1and1.com - Part Five

Loading WordPress, Final Host Settings and Testing the Installation

We will be using an FTP client to upload WordPress to our website.  If you don't have an FTP program, there are a number available.  I use FTP Desktop, and really like it.  Others include CuteFTP and Filezilla. These all work on Windows XP, and have no idea whether they are of use to you "lucky" people who may be using Windows Vista.

We need information from 1and1 to be able to FTP files to our site.  So log in again, using your ID and password.  Click on "FTP Account" in the left sidebar. There is a default username and password set up for the root directory.  We can use that or we can use the username and password for our particular domain.  Let us just use the default values.

Open the FTP program and enter the following information:  Host: use your domain some use the http:// address, others use the ftp://.  1 and 1 uses the http://. so we enter http://example.com

Then click more settings if necessary to enter the username and password, along with an easily remembered Name for the account. 

Close the window, and click on the just created icon for your domain.  It should open and show you the contents of your directory.  Initially it should be empty.  If you get error messages, refer to the documentation you have for your FTP client to determine changes necessary to make a connection.  After connection,  go to the directory containing your wordpress file.  It should be called "wordpress, and contain many folders and files. 

Use copy and paste or drag and drop to place the wordpress file into the FTP window.  After upload, we will have a file named "wordpress" in our directory on 1and1.  We want to rename this file.  I suggest renaming it similarly to the database name you chose when the database was setup.  If your domain name id example.com, your file name would be example.

Now, we need to go back to the 1and1 site and make one final adjustment. If you go to Domain Administration you will see  webspace (/   ) under destination. \

First check the box to the left of the domain you are working on.  Then In the header, click the down arrow to the right of Destination.  click "Edit Destination"In the window that follows, do the following:

1. Under Select Destination Type, leave the default "Home Directory"
2. Under Home Directory, click the arrow beside Existing directory, and click "Create new directory"
3. In the box, enter "example", or the same name you entered in the previous step when you used the ftp program to upload WordPress, and renamed the file
4. Then click "OK" near the bottom of the window.
5. In your browser go to http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php  ( Substitute your domain name for example.com)  You will be asked some questions including your email address, and blog name. You will be assigned a password to login to your account. That's all.  Your blog is now ready

You are ready to begin posting to your new WordPress blog.  To log in to your blog go to http://example.com/wp-admin and enter your user name (Admin) and password. (see above) Then go to your profile and change your password to one more easily remembered.