Install WordPress – step-by-step guide and first setup

In short

With WordPress hosting, WordPress is already installed – you just log in. With Webspace, you install WordPress in the web panel with one click (new website → Install an app → WordPress) or by hand using the files from wordpress.org. Afterwards, take ten minutes for the first settings: language, time zone, permalinks, search engine visibility and a secure admin login.

The WordPress admin area in these examples is set to German, so menu names appear in German with the English meaning in parentheses at first use.

Which way suits you?

Which product do you have?

WordPress hostingWordPress is already there: log in and set it up→

Webspace, new siteInstall with one click (recommended)→

Webspace, special requirementsInstall by hand or with WP-CLI→

Existing WordPress siteMove it instead of reinstalling→

WordPress hosting: logging in

With the WordPress plans, WordPress is already set up with WP Toolkit. Here is how to get into the admin area:

• From the web panel: Open the website in the web panel. In the website’s WordPress section (WP Toolkit) you can log in to the WordPress admin with one click, without a password.
• Directly: Open https://your-domain.com/wp-admin, or, as long as the domain has not been switched over yet, https://name-xxxx.staging.nexthosting.app/wp-admin, and log in with your WordPress login details.

Then continue with First settings.

Webspace: installing WordPress with one click

1. In the web panel, open Websites and click Add new.
2. Choose Install an app and then WordPress.
3. Enter the domain the site should run on. Without a finished domain, it is reachable via the preview address.
4. Set the admin login details:
   • Username: not admin, and not your club or company name. Attackers try these names first.
   • Password: long and unique, ideally from a password manager.
   • Email: an address you really read. WordPress sends error messages and password links there.
5. Confirm. The web panel creates the files, the database and wp-config.php.
6. Open the site via the preview address and log in at /wp-admin.

The one-click way has advantages: the database and login details are created automatically, and the installation immediately appears in WP Toolkit, where you manage updates, plugins and themes in one place.

Several WordPress sites

Every WordPress site is its own website in the web panel, with its own folder and its own database. How many you can create depends on your plan. Do not install several WordPress sites in subfolders of the same website – that makes updates, backups and SSL needlessly complicated.

Installing WordPress by hand

This makes sense if you need a specific version or want to understand exactly what happens.

1. In the web panel, create an empty website (Start from scratch); see Create a website.
2. Under Databases, create a database with a user and note the database name, user, password and host. See Databases and phpMyAdmin.
3. Download the current version from wordpress.org.
4. Upload the ZIP to public_html in the file manager and unpack it there. Move the contents of the wordpress folder directly into public_html (otherwise the site ends up under /wordpress). Alternatively use SFTP/FTP: Uploading files.
5. Open the site in the browser. The installation wizard asks for the database details and writes wp-config.php.
6. Enter the site title, admin user, password and email and click WordPress installieren (Install WordPress).

With WP-CLI (SSH)

If you have SSH (Webspace in every plan, WordPress hosting from Basic), it is faster. You create the database beforehand in the web panel.

cd ~/public_html
wp core download --locale=de_DE
wp config create --dbname=DATABASENAME --dbuser=DATABASEUSER --dbpass='PASSWORD' --dbhost=localhost
wp core install --url=https://your-domain.com --title="My Club" \
  --admin_user=board_maria --admin_email=maria@your-domain.com --prompt=admin_password
wp language core install de_DE --activate

The database host is usually localhost; what counts is the value the web panel shows you next to the database. --prompt=admin_password asks for the password so that it does not end up in your shell history. Use a different --locale (for example en_US) if you want the admin area in another language.

wp-config.php by hand

If the wizard cannot write the file, copy wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php and enter the database details:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'databasename' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'databaseuser' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );
define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4' );

$table_prefix = 'wp_';

Also replace the lines with AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY and so on with new random values from the WordPress key generator.

What a WordPress installation looks like

• Directorypublic_html/ the folder visitors see

  • Directorywp-admin/ admin area, change nothing in here

    • …
  • Directorywp-includes/ WordPress core, change nothing in here

    • …
  • Directorywp-content/ your area

    • Directoryplugins/ installed plugins, one folder per plugin

      • …
    • Directorythemes/ installed themes

      • …
    • Directoryuploads/ images and files from the media library, by year/month

      • …
    • Directorylanguages/ language files

      • …
  • wp-config.php database access and settings, keep it secret
  • .htaccess rules for pretty links and redirects
  • index.php
  • wp-login.php

On updates, WordPress replaces wp-admin and wp-includes completely. So never put your own changes there; put them in a child theme, a plugin or the settings. For backups, wp-content and the database matter most.

First settings after installation

Log in at /wp-admin and work through this list:

1. Language and time zone: Einstellungen (Settings) → Allgemein (General). Set the language to your preference and the time zone to a city such as “Berlin” (not “UTC+2” – otherwise daylight saving time will be wrong); choose the date format you like.
2. WordPress address and site address: also under Allgemein. Both should start with https://. Only change them once your domain already points to the website; otherwise you lock yourself out (help: Solving WordPress problems).
3. Permalinks: Einstellungen → Permalinks → choose “Beitragsname” (Post name) and save. This gives readable addresses like /club-festival-2026/ instead of /?p=123 and writes the .htaccess file.
4. Search engines: While you are building the site, tick “Suchmaschinen davon abhalten, diese Website zu indexieren” (Discourage search engines from indexing this site) under Einstellungen → Lesen (Reading). Remove it again before going live – otherwise Google will not find you.
5. Home page: Under Einstellungen → Lesen, decide whether the home page shows the latest posts or a static page.
6. Delete sample content: Remove the post “Hallo Welt!” (Hello world!), the “Beispiel-Seite” (Sample page) and unused plugins (e.g. “Hello Dolly”).
7. Comments: Under Einstellungen → Diskussion (Discussion), turn off comments if you do not want any, or set “Kommentar muss manuell genehmigt werden” (comments must be approved manually).
8. Profile: Under Benutzer (Users) → Profil (Profile), choose a public name that is not your username.
9. Theme: Choose a well-maintained theme from the official directory (see Maintaining WordPress) and delete unused themes except for one default theme.

The default WordPress .htaccess

WordPress writes these rules when you save the permalinks. If they are missing, only the home page and the admin area work and all other pages return 404:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Put your own rules before # BEGIN WordPress, because WordPress overwrites the block in between. More in .htaccess basics.

Users and roles

Give each person their own login instead of sharing one admin password. You create new users under Benutzer → Neu hinzufügen (Add new).

Role	Can	Good for
Administrator	everything, including plugins, themes, users	one or two responsible people
Editor	edit and publish all posts and pages	press officer, content team
Author	write and publish their own posts	regular writers
Contributor	write their own posts but not publish them	guest authors, interns
Subscriber	only their own profile	members’ areas

Always assign the smallest role that is enough. Delete logins nobody needs any more – for example an agency’s login after the project ends.

Frequently asked questions

I forgot the admin password.

On the login page, click “Passwort vergessen?” (Lost your password?). If no email arrives, you can log in with one click via WP Toolkit in the web panel and set a new password under Benutzer. With SSH it also works like this: wp user update USERNAME --prompt=user_pass.

Should I run WordPress with or without www?

Both work. Pick one variant and enter it for the WordPress address and site address. WordPress then redirects the other variant automatically.

Can I use WooCommerce?

Yes. For a shop, Nexthosting recommends at least WordPress Pro. Install WooCommerce like any other plugin and set up Redis as the object cache (Maintaining WordPress).

Can I install WordPress in a subfolder?

Technically yes, but we recommend a separate website for each WordPress installation. Then updates, backups, staging and SSL have no special cases.

Further reading

• Maintaining WordPress: updates, plugins, security
• Solving WordPress problems
• Staging and cloning
• Connecting a domain to a website
• .htaccess basics