Since I shot a video on how to install PrestaShop v1.5 a while back, I figured I’d put together another tutorial which shows you how to install PrestaShop v1.6. Interestingly enough, a lot has changed since v1.5.
First thing that I’ve noticed is that I can now use Safari to list items which I think is great and I’m glad they fixed that. I also really like the new modern look of PrestaShop and the fact that the new stock theme uses responsive web design.
Below you can view the full installation tutorial:
Can’t view the video? Watch it on YouTube
Download PrestaShop:
To start you’re going to want to download the latest version of PrestaShop which at this time is version 1.6.x.
Upload PrestaShop:
After downloading PrestaShop, you are going to want to unarchive the file if you are using an FTP client to upload the files. Now if you are using an online based file manager which provides you with the ability to unarchive files, then you can upload the archived file and unzip it through your file manager.
If you don’t have an FTP client, you can use FileZilla which is a free FTP client and it’s actually the same FTP client that I’m using in the video.
Next you’re going to want to decide on how you want people to access your PrestaShop store because when you download PrestaShop, all the files and folders are in a folder named “prestashop”.
So if you were to leave all the files in that folder, people would have to visit http://yourdomain.com/prestashop rather than http://yourdomain.com/.
So if you want your store to be visible when someone enters http://yourdomain.com/, then you will want to upload all of the files and folders from within the “prestashop” directory, directly to the root directory of your site.
Install PrestaShop:
After uploading the files and folders, you’re going to want to go to: http://yourdomain.com/install if PrestaShop is installed in the root directory. Now if PrestaShop is installed in a subdirectory such as “prestashop”, then you’re going to want to go to http://yourdomain.com/prestashop/install
The installer will now ask you to choose a language and on the next step it will ask you to agree to the license agreement terms.
On the third step, the installer will check whether your system compatible with PrestaShop.
Diagnosing compatibility issues:
If you received the error “Oops! Please correct the item(s) below, and then click “Refresh information” to test the compatibility of your new system.”, you will want to correct those issues prior to proceeding.
For example, in the video I had incorrect permissions on files and folders. In other words, the installer was telling me that the user “Apache” needs to have recursive write permissions. I ended up correcting this issue by giving all of the directories that were mentioned on the page 777 permissions. Since the installer mentioned recursive write permissions, I basically gave all of the subdirectories and files within those directories 777 permissions as well.
After changing your folder permissions to 777, you will want to make sure that your server isn’t missing any PHP parameters that will prevent you from being able to proceed with the installation.
In my case I didn’t have any required PHP parameters missing but PrestaShop did list recommended PHP parameters which was the Mcrypt PHP extension. While this parameter is recommend, I decided to proceed with the install because it wasn’t required.
If you’d like to install any PHP parameters you can do so via shell, by contacting your web host or if you are on a virtual private server or dedicated server with cPanel installed, you can install the missing extension(s) via EasyApache.
On the fourth step you will be asked to enter in your store information. After entering in your store information, proceed to the fifth step which is “system configuration”.
Setup your database:
Here you will be asked to enter in a “database server address” which depends on your server setup. On many web hosting accounts this is “local host” but if that doesn’t work, you will want to find the URL of your database and enter it here.
As for the database name, database login and database password, this information was created when you setup up your database.
As for “tables prefix” this is the prefix that you would like to use for your PrestaShop tables. You can either use “ps_” which is the default or you can enter in your own value.
Note that this value only needs to be changed if you are installing PrestaShop in a database which already contains tables which might already be using the “_ps” extension to prevent those tables from being overwritten.
On the sixth step which is “store installation”, the installer will finish setting up your store.
When finished, you will be presented with a link to the back office as well as the front office.
Required post installation steps:
After installing PrestaShop, you won’t be able to access the admin panel until you delete the install folder and rename the “admin” directory to something else.
While PrestaShop auto generates a name for the admin directory, I actually renamed the admin directory to “myadmin” because it was easier for me to remember.
Test your new installation:
At this point the only thing left to do is to test whether PrestaShop is working correctly by making sure that you can upload images and list products.
In the video I actually tested whether PrestaShop was installed correctly by uploading an image.