Manual:Installation guide

Welcome to the MediaWiki installation guide which provides instructions on how to manually install and configure MediaWiki on a web server. Note that some users may find MediaWiki software bundles a convenient alternative to manual installation.

The first part of this guide gives broad general instructions, while the last section contains a list of appendices that give more detailed installation notes for specific system configurations and other less common uses of the software.

Quick installation guide
For experienced users only, here is the quick version of the installation instructions. Most users will want to read the more detailed version, below.


 * 1) Check that your system meets the minimum requirements (web server, PHP5 (do not use 5.3.1; 5.3.2+ is OK, 5.3.3 is released), and either MySQL4 (and later) or PostgreSQL 8.1 (and later)).
 * 2) Download MediaWiki  and extract the archive to a web-accessible folder on your server.
 * 3) Point your browser to the directory where you extracted it (e.g., http://localhost/mediawiki/index.php, if installed on a local machine, otherwise localhost should be your domain).
 * 4) Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

These instructions are deliberately brief. There is a lot that could go wrong, so if in any doubt, you are advised to read the full instructions below.

Main installation guide

 * Before installation
 * Read what MediaWiki is
 * Check the MediaWiki feature list
 * Installation requirements - Check these before going any further!
 * Installing MediaWiki
 * Configuring MediaWiki:
 * Initial configuration (using the configuration script)
 * Further configuration
 * Installing extensions

Advanced uses
The following pages give instructions about how to install/configure MediaWiki for other, less common purposes.
 * Installing from Subversion
 * Installing MediaWiki on a memory stick

Advanced configuration
The following pages cover some of the more advanced configuration options:
 * Advanced configuration
 * Wiki administration

MediaWiki Help
The following page explains how to get a copy of the MediaWiki help pages on your own wiki
 * Copying help pages

System-specific instructions
The following pages give more detailed installation instructions aimed at specific systems:


 * FreeBSD
 * GNU/Linux
 * Debian
 * Fedora
 * Gentoo
 * Mandriva
 * Red Hat Enterprise Linux
 * Slackware
 * SuSE 9.3
 * Ubuntu
 * Damnsmalllinux
 * Mac OS X
 * NetWare
 * Solaris
 * Solaris 10
 * Solaris 9
 * Windows
 * Windows XP
 * Windows Server 2003
 * Windows Server 2008
 * Newcomers guide
 * Streamlined Guide
 * Simple Windows Apache Installation