Manual:Config script

Once you have uploaded/installed MediaWiki on web server, the first thing you need to do is complete the basic setup by running the supplied configuration script. This script allows you to tell MediaWiki the information it needs in order to get the wiki up and running.

Opening the MediaWiki Installation form
In the following examples, it is assumed that your website is located at  which is physically located on your server at. You will need to adjust the examples to use the appropriate locations for your situation.


 * 1) Use your web browser to browse to the main wiki page.  This is   inside the web-accessible folder that you installed MediaWiki into, and is typically   (e.g. , assuming you installed MediaWiki to  ).


 * 1) You will see the version of MediaWiki installed and a link to "Please set up the wiki first." Click on the link to begin the configuration script. For reference (in case you want to go there directly), this is located in the wiki's   directory (so using the example above you would go to  ).
 * 2) If the script spots any configuration errors then it will not allow you to continue.  See below for details about the error messages you might encounter, and what to do if you do.
 * 3) If all the tests pass, you will be presented with a form to fill in the information that MediaWiki now requires.

Filling up the Form fields
Follow the instructions on the form to fill in the required entries (refer to the following table if you're uncertain what to enter) and after that click on the "Install MediaWiki!" button. The script will now populate the database and write a configuration file.

After the setup script has finished running successfully, a file called LocalSettings.php is created in the "config" directory. This file contains all the information needed by MediaWiki to run. Since it stores the specified database user's password in plain text, it is strongly suggested that you create a wiki specific database account (i.e. not root). (see Database username in the table below)


 * 1) Move this file to the main wiki directory (if you installed MediaWiki to /home/example/web/w, move it there).
 * 2) Set stringent permissions on the LocalSettings.php file.
 * 3) * Set chmod 600 and chown (Owner read and write, no other permissions).
 * 4) Delete the "config" (older versions) or "mw-config" (newer versions) directory.

Once you have done the above, your wiki should be ready to use. Browse to the address you installed it to (in our example http://www.example.com/w/index.php and start editing!

[TODO: This section does not currently include all fields - it needs to be expanded. --HappyDog 22:21, 29 August 2007 (UTC)]

[TODO: The Database character set section is not well explained(sorry for that). If someone can elaborate it will be great - it needs to be expanded and clarified. -- RandallFlagg 00:42, 19 December 2007 (GMT+2)]

Installation errors
When you run the config script it makes various checks of your system, and tells you if there are any problems.
 * Parse error: parse error, expecting `T_STRING' in [...]\wiki\includes\Namespace.php on line 52
 * Text needed.
 * Attempting to connect to database server as wikiuser...failed with error [2004] Can't create TCP/IP socket (10106).
 * Often found in the internet that you should turn on named pipes in the MySQL configuration, but this did not help me (this
 * appeared under Win2000 with MySQL 5.0)
 * "Warning: main [function.main]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/convertLinks.inc) is not within the allowed path(s):"
 * Apparently the include path sometimes needs to be set. Put [ php_value include_path '/var/www/vhosts/yourhost.com/httpdocs/pathtowiki'  ] in you .htaccess file.
 * (MediaWiki 1.10.1&1.11.2) After 'Running the script' 1. The text is: 'Setup has completed, your wiki is configured.' Selecting 'your wiki' opens a new screen with the address: http://localhost:8080/mediawiki/index.php and the error '404: The page cannot be found'.
 * Path to php5isapi.dll is incorrect. In IIS manager go to web sites right click on web site go to properties then go to home directory tab and then click on configure find php in the list and then click edit and fix the path (C:\progra~1\php\php5is~1) Should be ("C:\program files\php\php5isapi.dll")
 * Warning: getrusage is not supported in this PHP build
 * Text needed
 * Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_LNUMBER, expecting ';' in .../wiki/includes/GlobalFunctions.php on line 75


 * Creating tables...Query "CREATE TABLE `user` ( user_id int" ..."You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'TYPE=InnoDB' at line 20 (localhost)".
 * In the latest version of MySQL, TYPE= syntax has been changed to ENGINE=. Modify the entire tables.sql script.

Fatal error: Call to undefined method domdocument::loadXML in C:\xampp\htdocs\w\includes\Preprocessor_DOM.php on line 568
 * Warning: domdocument::domdocument expects at least 1 parameter, 0 given in C:\xampp\htdocs\w\includes\Preprocessor_DOM.php on line 566
 * Set  in LocalSettings.php.
 * Creating tables... using MySQL 4 table defs...Query "CREATE TABLE `v_job` ( job_id int(9) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment, job_cmd varchar(255) NOT NULL default , job_namespace int NOT NULL, job_title varchar(255) binary NOT NULL, job_params blob NOT NULL default , PRIMARY KEY job_id (job_id), KEY (job_cmd, job_namespace, job_title) ) TYPE=InnoDB " failed with error code "Specified key was too long; max key length is 1024 bytes (h41mysql79.secureserver.net)


 * Warning: ini_set has been disabled for security reasons in .../includes/AutoLoader.php on line 5


 * Your system has a combination of PHP and libxml2 versions which is buggy and can cause hidden data corruption in MediaWiki and other web apps. Upgrade to PHP 5.2.9 or later and libxml2 2.7.3 or later! ABORTING (http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=45996 for details).


 * Your session data was lost! Check your php.ini and make sure session.save_path is set to an appropriate directory.

[TODO: This section should list all potential error messages and how to fix them. Or perhaps they should be on a separate page (depends how many there are, I guess... --HappyDog 22:05, 29 August 2007 (UTC)]

Configuration errors
[TODO: This section should list all errors that can occur when submitting the form, and how to handle them. Or perhaps on a separate page, if necessary]

Warning: $wgSecretKey key is insecure, generated with mt_rand. Consider changing it manually.
 * What about the $wgSecretKey e.g.

a) what is this and b) what is the solution ?

Answer: It means your system doesn't support /dev/urandom so the key was generated with mt_rand. You can manually edit the wgProxyKey field in LocalSettings.php.


 * Specified key was too long
 * Answer

Advanced configuration

 * Manual:$wgEnableUploads to enable image/files upload.
 * Also see Manual:Short URL for having more user friendly url to article pages.
 * See Manual:Configuring MediaWiki for links to more advanced configuration.
 * See Manual:Wiki family to setup multiple instances of MediaWiki with single set of MediaWiki files.