Installing WordPress: Two Ways to Upload It to a Linux Server, with wget and with FTP, and the Web Setup

Test environment RHEL familyAlmaLinux 9.8root accountChecked 2026-10-16

Installing WordPress means uploading the WordPress files to the web root of a Linux server and then finishing the job on the browser's install screen by entering the database details and an administrator account. On an AlmaLinux 9.8 server the files are uploaded in two ways, with the wget command and by FTP, and the guide goes from choosing the language to the finished installation and checks that the admin page opens.

The installation files are WordPress 7.1.3 as of October 16, 2026; the 35.5 MB latest.zip unpacks into 3,782 files totaling 115 MB.

TOC

2-minute read

1️⃣ Preparing to install WordPress: web root, database and SSL

After the language and welcome screens, the install screen asks for a database name, a user and a password, so create the database before you open the install screen. You can create it in your hosting control panel or, if you connect to the server directly, follow the steps in Creating a MariaDB database and user to create it. Also check the web root path where the site files will go (for example /home/account/www) and the SSL certificate at this point.

If the server does not have a web server, PHP and a database yet, start with Installing APM on Rocky Linux and set them up first, in that order.

You can download the WordPress files from the wordpress.org download page as a zip or a tar.gz file.

Download WordPress Download in Korean

wordpress.org download page: the Download WordPress button

There are two ways to put the files on the server, wget and FTP, and you choose by whether you can run commands over SSH.

Category	wget	FTP
What you need	SSH access	An FTP/SFTP account and FileZilla on your PC
File transfer route	The server downloads straight from wordpress.org	Your PC sends the 3,782 files one by one
Changing ownership	chown required	Not needed if you log in with the site account
Best suited for	A server where you can run commands over SSH	Hosting where you cannot run commands over SSH

2️⃣ Installing WordPress with wget: downloading, unpacking and ownership over SSH

Connect to the server over SSH and download the installation file with wget from the parent folder of the web root (for example /home/account). The server fetches it straight from wordpress.org, so even the 35.5 MB file finishes downloading in a few seconds.

wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip

--2026-10-16 13:35:30--  https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
Resolving wordpress.org (wordpress.org)... 2620:109:b00a::4206:2afc, 66.6.42.252
Connecting to wordpress.org (wordpress.org)|2620:109:b00a::4206:2afc|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 37226383 (36M) [application/zip]
Saving to: `latest.zip'

latest.zip        100%[===================================>]  35.50M  12.1MB/s    in 2.9s

2026-10-16 13:35:34 (12.1 MB/s) - `latest.zip' saved [37226383/37226383]

Unpack the downloaded latest.zip with unzip, and a wordpress folder appears in the same location.

unzip latest.zip

Archive:  latest.zip
   creating: wordpress/
  inflating: wordpress/wp-trackback.php
  inflating: wordpress/xmlrpc.php
   creating: wordpress/wp-content/
  ... (4,251 lines — 3,782 files · 468 folders)
  inflating: wordpress/wp-login.php

Move the wordpress folder to the web root name (www here) and change its owner to the account PHP runs as. Here the owner is the site account and the group is nobody; the group name differs from server to server.

If a www folder already exists, running [mv wordpress/ www/] moves the whole wordpress folder inside www. In that case move only the contents with [mv wordpress/* www/], or empty the existing www folder first.

mv -v wordpress/ www/

renamed 'wordpress/' -> 'www/'

Find the account and group to give to chown in the user and group values of the PHP-FPM pool configuration file. Pool files are under [/etc/php-fpm.d/]: on a server with one pool per site, check the file named after the account, and on a server without that, the default file [www.conf].

grep -E '^(user|group) ' /etc/php-fpm.d/siteuser.conf

user = siteuser
group = nobody

Put the user value from the result in the owner position and the group value in the group position, and run chown.

chown -R siteuser:nobody www/

List the files to check that the owner has changed.

ls -l www/

total 236
-rw-r--r--  1 siteuser nobody   405  Feb  6  2020 index.php
-rw-r--r--  1 siteuser nobody 19903  Jan  1  2026 license.txt
-rw-r--r--  1 siteuser nobody  7407  Jul  6 16:51 readme.html
-rw-r--r--  1 siteuser nobody  7718  Jul  7 03:06 wp-activate.php
drwxr-xr-x  9 siteuser nobody  4096 Oct  6 16:05 wp-admin
-rw-r--r--  1 siteuser nobody   351  Feb  6  2020 wp-blog-header.php
-rw-r--r--  1 siteuser nobody  2323  Jun 14  2023 wp-comments-post.php
... (rest omitted)

When the list shows the site account and nobody in the owner and group columns, the work on the server is done, and you go on to open the install screen in a browser.

3️⃣ Installing WordPress over FTP: uploading with FileZilla

On hosting where you cannot run commands over SSH, upload the folder you unpacked on your PC to the account folder on the server with FileZilla (FTP/SFTP). FTP sends the 3,782 files from your PC one by one, so the upload takes longer than wget, where the server downloads the files itself.

FileZilla screen: the unpacked wordpress-6.8.1 folder uploaded to the account folder on the server

When the upload is finished, right-click the folder in the server pane on the right (Remote site), choose [Rename], and change the name to the web root name, [www].

FileZilla screen: the Rename item in the right-click menu of the folder on the server side

FileZilla screen: www typed in the folder name field on the server side

Files uploaded with the site account become owned by that account, so the step of changing ownership with chown is not needed.

4️⃣ Web setup for WordPress: language, database and admin account

Once the files are uploaded, opening the domain shows the install screen instead of the site, because wp-config.php does not exist yet. On the first screen choose the install language and click [Continue], and the following screens appear in the language you chose. The picture below is the screen with Korean selected, and the pictures after it follow the default, English (United States).

WordPress install language screen: the Select a default language list and the Continue button

The next screen explains the information the installation needs. Check the five items — database name, username, password, database host and table prefix — and click [Let’s go!].

WordPress install guide screen: the five database items and the Let’s go button

On the database connection screen, enter the database name, user and password you created beforehand. Leave the host as localhost if the database is on the same server, and you may change the table prefix from the default wp_ to another value. Click [Submit] when you are done.

WordPress install database connection screen: the Database Name, Username, Password, Database Host and Table Prefix fields and the Submit button

If the connection details are correct, a confirmation screen with a [Run the installation] button opens, and clicking that button takes you to the site information screen.

WordPress install confirmation screen: the All right, sparky! message and the Run the installation button

On the site information screen, enter the site title, the administrator username, a password and an email address, and click [Install WordPress]. To keep search engines from collecting the site until you publish it, check [Discourage search engines from indexing this site]. You can change this setting again after the installation in [Settings › Reading].

WordPress install site information (Welcome) screen: the Site Title, Username, Password, Your Email and Search engine visibility fields and the Install WordPress button

When the [Success!] screen appears, the installation is finished, and you can click [Log In] to sign in right away with the administrator account you entered.

WordPress install completion screen: the Success message and the Log In link

🧭 WordPress install screen simulator

wp-admin What is WordPressSimulator

Click the button at the bottom of each screen to move through the installation. Change the database password to see the connection error screen.

wp-admin/setup-config.php › Select a default language

5️⃣ Opening the admin page: logging in to wp-admin

Adding /wp-admin after the domain opens the login screen, where you enter the username and password you chose during installation.

WordPress login screen: the username or email address and password fields and the Log In button

After you log in, the Dashboard screen appears with the menu on the left, and you can click through the screen each menu opens in the admin screen simulator of the WordPress dashboard post.

WordPress admin Dashboard screen: the left menu and the Welcome to WordPress notice

🔢 FAQ & Recommended Content

On the RHEL family install it with [dnf install unzip], and on the Debian family with [apt install unzip]. If you cannot install it, download the tar.gz file (latest.tar.gz) instead of the zip and extract it with [tar -xzf latest.tar.gz], which creates the same wordpress folder.

[Error establishing a database connection] appears when the database name, user, password or host differs from the real value on the server. Compare them, including upper and lower case, with the values you created in the hosting control panel, and leave the host as localhost if the database is on the same server.

[Unable to write to wp-config.php file] appears when PHP has no permission to write wp-config.php in the web root. The same screen also shows the note [You can create the wp-config.php file manually and paste the following text into it.] together with the text to paste. Change the owner of the web root with chown to the account PHP runs as, and then continue. If you cannot change the owner, create wp-config.php yourself with the displayed content and click [Run the installation] to continue the installation.

The folder name is added to the address as it is. If you upload to a blog folder under www, the site address becomes example.com/blog/. After the installation you can check it under the WordPress Address and Site Address in [Settings › General] on the admin screen.

🔗 Recommended Reading

Next step wp-config.php Basic Settings Once the installation is finished, you set defaults such as memory and revisions in wp-config.php, which holds the database connection details. The guide also covers three ways to open the file: SSH, SFTP and cPanel. Read post →

Settings 7 WordPress Admin Settings The seven items you set in the General, Writing, Reading and Permalinks settings menus right after installation.

Plugin WordPress Plugin: Definition and Role Three criteria for choosing a plugin that adds security, performance, SEO or backup features.

Hosting WordPress hosting: five evaluation criteria A guide to choosing hosting by stability and speed, for when you have not chosen the server to install on yet.

🪐ReferencesOfficial docs 1

📡How to install WordPress

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