Installing Umbraco 5
In this tutorial I will show you how to install Umbraco 5 on a server or on a local development machine. I will be using Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5 on Windows 7 Enterprise.
You will need to have the following software installed before you start this tutorial.
- Internet Information Services (IIS) 6+
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or Microsoft SQL Server Express.
- .NET Framework 3.5 or higher
- Microsoft MVC 3. Get it here.
Getting Umbraco
There are two ways to install Umbraco. You can use the Web Platform Installer or you can download a zipped archive from Codeplex. Codeplex is a place where open source software projects are hosted.
The Web Platform Installer can be found on Umbraco.com's download page. Personally, I prefer going to Codeplex and downloading the zip file, because it gives me more control over where files end up, so I'll demonstrate the installation process using the zip file.
- Go to umbraco.codeplex.com and download the latetst Umbraco version. I downloaded the file "Umbraco 5.0 CMS Web Application".
- Once downloaded, unzip the package to a destination of your
choosing. I unpacked the archive to C:\PROJECTS\UmbracoSite
Setting up IIS
Next thing is to set up your web server.
- Open the Internet Information Service (IIS) Manager
- In the tree on the left, right-click the Sites folder and choose Add Web Site...
- In the panel that appears, choose a Site name,
select the Physical path (this is where you just
unpacked the zip archive), type in a Host
name and click OK.
Note: I chose a host name that I use for local development. In the next step I will map this hostname to my local ip address (127.0.0.1). If you are installing Umbraco 5 on a server you must fill out your real domain name here and your domain name should be configured in DNS to point to your server's IP address.
- Still in IIS Manager, in the tree on the left, click
Application pools. Find you application pool (it
has the same name as your site), double click it and set the .NET
framework version to 4.xxx.
Edit your hosts file
If you are installing Umbraco 5 for local development, you must link the host name you just supplied to IIS to the IP address of your computer. If you are installing on a server you can skip this step. Address translation on a server is handled by a DNS server.
Windows has a special file called "hosts" that allows you to link hostnames to IP addresses.
- Open your hosts file with a text editor. In Windows 7 it is located in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Note: In Windows 7 you might have to adjust the rights settings of the hosts file before you are allowed to save it, or you can copy it to your desktop, change it, and then copy it back to its original location.
- Add the line below to the hosts file. If you chose a different
host name, use that one.
127.0.0.1 loc.umbracosite.com
- Save the hosts file and close and open you browser, so it picks
up the new hosts file entry (Chrome will do this without
restart).
Enable application development features for IIS
For the Umbraco installer to work you need to enable .NET application development features for IIS.
- Go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off.
- In the small window that appears go to World Wide Web Services
> Application Development Features and check the ASP.NET
check box.
Then click OK and wait for a couple of moments for the features to install
Prepare your database
Umbraco 5 can run on SQL Server (Express) 2008 or on SQL CE 4, a free embedded database.
- If you chose to use Sql Server, prepare a database with a user that is allowed to create tables.
If you don't know how to create a database, look here.
Visit your development url
Now open your browser and visit loc.umbracosite.com (or the name you configured). You should see the Umbraco introduction page below. If it doesn't show up, and you're seeing an error message like "Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Mvc... etc", than you don't have Microsoft MVC installed and you should read the next paragraph.
Start the installation wizard
- Start the installation wizard by visiting loc.umbracosite/Install or by clicking the link on the introduction page.
You will be presented with a nicely styled welcome page. Click the "Lets get started" button to go to step 2 pf the wizard.
Database settings
In the second step of the wizard you will be asked to provide information about your database. I am going to assume you will be using an external SQL Server database.
Provide your databases' connection details and click Install. The database installation process will take a while to complete.
- When the database installation completes, click the continue button to go to the next step.
Create a user
When I installed Umbraco 5 for the first time the wizard skipped the "create user" step and went right to the login screen. Perhaps this is some bug. I removed the UmbracoSite folder and the database and started over and the second time I did get to the Create User screen below.
- Fill out your name, email a username and password and continue to the next step.
Install a starter kit?
If you want to install a starter kit, you can do it in this step of the wizard. I like my Umbraco plain and simple so I can create my own functionality, so I am skipping this step with the SKIP button.
Log in!
You have now successfully installed Umbraco. You can now login to Umbraco at loc.umbracosite.com/Umbraco with the credentials you filled out in the "create user" step.