Running the Installer
Use the Tiki Installer to finalize the installation on your server.
The Tiki installer allows you to:
- Test your system for the minimum requirements.
- Configure the database connection.
- Configure general site settings.
- Open your web browser to: http://www.yourdomain.com/tiki-index.php.
 | Note:
If you copied the Tiki files to a subdirectory, include it, too. For example: http://www.yourdomain.com/subdirectory/tiki-index.php. |
On some servers using PHP5, when you access tiki-index.php, you may receive an Internal Server Error. To fix this, you must connect to the server with SSH, access the www/tiki directory, and issue the following command: sh setup.sh.
The Tiki Installer screen appears.
 | Tip:
Tiki has been translated to more than 40 different languages. To access the installer in your language, use http://www.yourdomain.com/tiki-install.php?lang=XX, where XX is the two-letter ISO code for the language. |
Welcome to the Tiki Installer.
| Tip:
The first page of the installer contains a link to the Release Notes for this version. Take a moment to review the Release Notes — they contain lots of useful information. |
- Select your installation language and click Continue. The License page appears.
- Tiki is available under the LGPL license Read the license and click Continue. The System Requirements page appears.
- Tiki can test your web server for some basic requirements. Confirm that you system meets the minimum requirements.
- To confirm that Tiki can send mail (such as the registration notification), enter your address and click Send Test Message.
You can also send a test message to Tiki. You will receive an automated response if the test was successful.
- Click Continue. The Database Connection page appears.
Set your database connection.
Tiki says that it "cannot find a database connection." Let's fix that right now.
- Here is where you add your database information. Enter the following information in each field:
- Database type: Select you specific database (if you're following along with this guide select MySQLi).
- Host name: If your database is in the same location as your web server (as it is for most web hosts), simply keep this as localhost.
- Database name: The name of your database.
- User name: The database user that has admin access to the database.
- Password: The password for the database user.
| Note:
Many shared web hosts require that you preface your user and database name with your web host's account name. |
- By default, Tiki uses UTF-8 character set for the database connection.
- Select the Always force connection to use UTF-8 option if your database uses UTF-8.
- Enter the information and click Connect. The Tiki Installer screen appears.
Use the Tiki Installer page to select an installation profile.
- Click Install.
This should take only a few moments, as Tiki busily creates the necessary database tables. Upon completion, the final installer screen appears.
After a successful installation, you're ready to enter Tiki.
- Click Continue. The Configure General Settings page appears.
Use this page to configure some general setting for your site.
Complete the following fields on the screen:
- Browser title: Enter the name of your website here. This will display in the web browser's title bar.
- Sender email: Enter the email address to be used by your Tiki. Any emails from your site (such as registration confirmations), will be sent from this address.
If you leave this blank, emails from your Tiki may use your web host provider's name instead of yours. This could confuse your visitors.
| Note:
Some web hosts may require that this be an actual email address. Check with your web host provider. |
- Secure login: If your host provides secure logins (HTTPS), you can enable it for your website.
- Logging and Reporting: Specify if Tiki should report any PHP or Smarty errors. You can select to have these warnings appear only for the Administrator.
- Administrator email: Enter your email address. This can be used to recover your admin password and account information.
- Click Continue. The Enter Your Tiki page appears.
You are now ready to enter your Tiki!
- Click Enter Tiki and Lock the Installer.
 | Warning:
If you do not lock the install script, anyone could re-run the installation program... wiping out your database. You can always re-enable the install script, if necessary. |
- For your initial login, you must update your Admin password.
Select a strong Admin password.
You are now logged in, as the Administrator. You are greeted by the default home page:
Click
Logout before continuing.
What if it doesn't work?
First (and most importantly), don't panic.
If you get an error message, take a good hard at it — it's trying to tell you what's wrong. Here are some common messages you could encounter:
Can't connect to server on 'localhost' or
Access denied for user username to database database
Tiki could not connect to your database.
- Did you enter the correct information (database name, database username, and password) on the Tiki Installer screen?
- Are you using exact same names and passwords that you selected when you created the database?
- Is the database up and running?
Tiki Installer cannot proceed: The directory '/somedirectory' is not writable
Tiki is unable to write information to a specific directory. Remember, Tiki needs read
and write access to directories on your web server. Review the
list of directories that require permission changes and try again.
Nothing Happens — Blank Screen
Make sure that your database and web server meet the
minimum requirements. The most common problem is insufficient memory allocated for PHP scripts. The
TikiWiki documentation site lists the recommended settings for your
php.ini file.
See the
Fixing Installation Problems pages for additional help.
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