NOTE: Joomla! version 3.10 and version 4.0 will be released on August 17, 2021. This Wiki, may not be the proper procedure to install Joomla! 4.0.

This guide was written for Ubuntu Server 20.04 and Joomla 3.9.28. The guide may be applicable for other version of Joomla!, Ubuntu or other Debian based distributions, but they have not been tested. If you have success with using this guide on other versions of Ubuntu or other Debian based distributions please feel free to add a note to this document.

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PREPARE FOR INSTALLATION

This guide assumes you have installed a LAMP SERVER. See: LAMP_SERVER. NOTE: The command line in the instructions to install the LAMP SERVER are incorrect, the correct command line is: sudo tasksel install lamp-server^

• (Note the caret ^ at the end of the command line.)

There are several prerequisites before you start installing Joomla!.

1. Recommended PHP.INI Settings

PHP settings must be adjusted to install. The settings are usually in "/etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini"

The values for PHP.INI below are suggested values only.

 memory_limit - Minimum: 64M Recommended: 128M or better
 upload_max_filesize - Minimum: 30M
 post_max_size - Minimum: 30M
 max_execution_time: Recommended: 30

2. Create the MySql Database, the "JoomlaUser" and Grant Permissions to the Database

_Write this Information Down_

 sudo mysql -u root -p
 CREATE DATABASE joomla;
 CREATE USER 'joomlauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
 GRANT ALL ON joomla.* TO 'joomlauser'@'localhost';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 EXIT;

SECURITY NOTE You do not want Joomla to use the mysql 'root user' to access the database. The above command creates a mysql user (other than the mysql root user) with privileges to use the joomla database. You will need to chose the yourusername and yourpassword.

3. Activate Uncomplicated FireWall

 sudo ufw enable
 sudo ufw allow 'Apache Full' 

An introduction to UFW can be found here: UFW

Download Joomla!

1. Set two variables for downloading and extracting Joomla.

 SOURCEPKG=3-9-28/Joomla_3-9-28-Stable-Full_Package.zip
 SOURCEWWW=https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla3/3-9-28/Joomla_3-9-28-Stable-Full_Package.zip?format=zip

2. Create a temporary directory to download and extract the Joomla package.

 mkdir joomla
 cd joomla
 wget $SOURCEWWW
 unzip $SOURCEPKG
 rm -f $SOURCEPKG

3. Move the files and change ownership

 cd ..
 sudo mv joomla /var/www
 sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www

4. Change File and Directory Permissions

sudo find /var/www/joomla/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} +
sudo find /var/www/joomla/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} +

Your Apache Virtual Host

1. Create your Virtual Host

•  sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/mynewsite.conf
   sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/mynewsite.conf

2. Copy the following into your newly created Virtual Host

 <VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerName mynewsite.com
     ServerAlias www.mynewsite.com
     ServerAdmin webmaster@mynewsite.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/mynewsite
     LogLevel error
 </VirtualHost>

3. Enable your Virtual Host

 sudo a2ensite mynewsite
 sudo a2dissite 00-default.conf
 sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

START INSTALL

1. Main Configuration

With the above requirements met, a database created and the required Joomla! files in place, you are ready to install Joomla!. Start the Joomla! web installer by opening your favorite browser and browsing to the site's domain name. On host installation you will use http://www.mynewsite.com.

Joomla! will try to identify the Select Language field automatically from your browser's language. You can change this if needed.

1.1. Fill in the following information.

Site Name: the name of your website — this can be changed at any point later in the Site Global Configuration page. Description: enter a description of the website. This is a global fallback meta description used on every page which will be used by search engines. Generally, a maximum of 20 to 25 words is optimal. Again, this can be changed on the Site Global Configuration page at any time. For more on metadata, see Global Metadata Settings and Entering search engine meta-data.

Admin Email Address: the admin email address. Enter a valid email in case you forget your password. This is the email address where you'll receive a link to change the admin password.

Admin Username: Joomla! uses a default "admin" as the username for the Super User. You can leave it as is, change it now (which a good Security measure) or use My Profile in the Administration interface to change it later.

Admin Password: remember that super user has maximum control of the site (frontend & backend), so try to use a difficult password. Use My Profile in the Administration interface to change it later. Confirm the password in the Confirm Admin Password box.

Site Offline: click the Yes or No box. Yes - this means when installation is complete, your Joomla! website will display the 'Site is offline' message when you browse to yoursitename.com to view the home page. No - this means the site is live when you browse to yoursitename.com to view the home page. You can use the Site Global Configuration in the Administration interface to change the Offline status at any time.

When everything on the first page is completed, click the next button to proceed.

2. Database Configuration

2.1. Configuration Settings

You will need to enter the information about the database you will use for Joomla! now. It was suggested to write this information down under "PreCreate the MySql Database, the "JoomlaUser" and Grant Permissions to the Database" section.

These instructions are a reference to installing with a MySQLi database. The instructions on the installation page are self explanatory, but here they are again:

Database Type: MySQLi is the common database used

Hostname: Where is your database located? Common is localhost

Username: the username used to connect to the database

Password: the password for the database's username

Database Name: the name of the database

Table Prefix: one is generated automatically, but you can change it. For example, jos3_ can be used. Just don't forget to put the underscore character (_) at the end of the prefix.

Old Database Process: should the installer backup or delete existing tables during the installation of new tables? Click, Yes or No to select the choice.

All these choices can be edited on the Site Global Configuration page, under Server options after the installation is completed. Note, you will break your installation if you change these settings after installation unless you have a complete copy of the current database being used by the Joomla! installation. Common uses would be to update the username and password of the database or to complete a move of an existing installation to a new host with different parameters.

When all the information has been filled in, click the next button to proceed.

3. Finalize

3.1. Overview

It is now time to finalize the Joomla! installation. The last page of the web browser installation contains all the information about the installation. This includes the options(at the top) for installing sample data and the installation's configurations(at the bottom).

3.2. Install Sample Data and Email Configurations

The first options are for automatically installing sample content to the website and emailing the configuration settings.

If you are new to Joomla! it would be beneficial to install some sample data to see how Joomla! works. You can at this time choose to have the configuration settings emailed to you. If the Email Configuration choice is selected, the Email Password choice will appear. The email password is off by default for security. You can choose to have the password included, just click Yes.

Time to check the configurations of your install and the environment of the installation.

4. Configuration Check

4.1. Checking Your Configuration

If everything is in order, you will see the install at the top of the overview page. If not, this is the place to check and see what may be causing an issue.

The section is broken into 4 groups:

Main Configuration: All the website specific information, such as the website name, description, admin username, etc.

Database Configuration: Contains the information about the database Joomla! will use.

Pre-Installation Check:' These requirements must all be shown as Yes, otherwise you will not be able to install Joomla! With the exception of the PHP Version, the rest are usually controlled in the PHP.INI configuration file.

Typical PHP settings that might cause the install to fail and may need adjusting include the following with suggested values: (1) memory_limit (64M), (2) max_execution_time (30), (3) post_max_size (30M), (4) upload_max_filesize (30M). For more information, see PHP.INI configuration file file.

Recommended Settings: these are settings are recommended in your PHP configuration, but will not prevent Joomla! from being installed. You can refer to the above instructions on how they may be changed.

If everything is correct and all checks are passed, you may now click the Install button in the top right corner of the Overview page.

This will start the actual installation process. After you click the Install button, you should see a progress bar with additional information of the installation. Once the installation completes, you should see the success page!

5. Finishing Up

5.1. Success and Finishing Up the Installation

Congratulations! Joomla! 3 is now installed. If you want to start using Joomla! right way without installing extra languages there is one last step to complete the installation. You must delete the Installation Folder. Click on Remove Installation folder and a success message will appear. Now you can navigate to the Administrator log in by clicking Administrator or go right to your site by clicking Site.

6. Installing Extra Languages

Before you complete your installation by deleting the Installation Folder, click on: Extra steps: Install languages

This will continue the installation of Joomla! by taking you to a new installation page. A list of language packs is displayed.

Check the language or language packs you wish to install. Remember the following:

Language packs included in custom distributions will not be listed at this stage as they are already installed. A version of the packs proposed will match the Joomla Major version (3.0.x, 3.1.x, etc.). The minor version of the pack may not correspond, e.g. you are installing version 3.3.3 and a 3.3.2 language pack is shown. Unmatched language packs in the above example may have untranslated strings. The unmatched language packs will be offered as an update when the packs are updated by the registered Translation teams. The available update will be shown in the Control panel as well as in Extensions Manager → Update. This behavior is similar to Extensions Manager Install Languages.

Click Next and a progress bar will be display while the language pack or packs are downloaded.

6.1. Choose Default Language

When the download is complete you can choose the default language for the Site and the Administrator interface.

Make your choices for default languages. You may also choose to activate the multilingual features of Joomla! at this time too.

Click Yes next to Activate the multilingual feature, two additional choices will appear.

Install localized content, yes or no. This will automatically create one content category for each language installed and one featured article with dummy content for each content category installed.

Enable the language code plugin, yes or no. If enabled, the plugin will add the ability to change the language code in the generated HTML document to improve SEO. When you completed all the choices of language installation, click Next to proceed.

7. Finalize

You will now be presented with a very similar Congratulations! Joomla! is now installed.

The difference will be a notation of the default Administrator and Site language settings, if they were set. You will also not see the Extra Steps message in the bottom right.

Now you can delete the Installation Folder. Click on Remove Installation folder and a success message will appear.

Now you can navigate to the Administrator. Log in by clicking Administrator or go right to your site by clicking Site.

Congratulations and welcome to the world of Joomla!