1. Get Drupal

Download the most recent version from http://drupal.org/ onto your own computer. Download the “.zip” file to your local computer, and then decompress it.

Once you have decompressed the file, you should have a folder called “drupal-7.14” on your computer. (If you use Windows, you may need to download a free program like Stuffit Expander to decompress it.)

2. Copy the default settings file

Inside the “drupal-7.14” folder on your computer, open the “sites” folder, then the “default” folder. Locate the file named “default.settings.php” and make a copy of it, in the same directory, with the name settings.php.

When you've finished this step, you should have two identical files named “default.settings.php” and “settings.php” inside the “default” folder.

3. Create a MySQL database

Drupal uses a MySQL database to store data. We recommend creating a new database specifically for Drupal, rather than using an existing one. To create the database on our servers, follow our instructions explaining how to create a MySQL database.

There's no specific format you need to follow when naming the database. The rest of these instructions will assume that your database is called dpexample — if you use a different name, just use that name instead of “dpexample” when following the instructions below.

4. Put the Drupal files on your website

Use our web file manager or an FTP program to publish the contents of the “drupal-7.14” directory (not the directory itself) to whatever location on your website you want to use for your Drupal files (usually the top level of your website).

5. Start the installation script

Run the installation script by going to the directory that you uploaded Drupal to. For instance, if you uploaded it to the top level of your site, you would go to:

http://www.example.com/

The Drupal installation page should appear. Choose the Standard profile and click Save and continue

6. Choose your language

Choose the default English option unless you wish to use a different language, then click Save and continue.

7. Enter your database details

Enter your database details as shown below:

• Database type: Choose MySQL, MariaDB, or equivalent
• Database name: dpexample
• Database username: dpexample
• Database password: Enter the password you choose when you created your MySQL database

Then click Save and continue.

The installation script will then take a few minutes to install some modules. When it has completed installing the modules, the “Configure site” page will appear.

8. Drupal settings

Enter your site and administrator details:

In the “Site Information” section, the “Site name” and “Site email address” are public and will be displayed by Drupal when messages are sent. Therefore you might not wish to enter your private email address here. One alternative would be to create an email forwarding alias such as public@example.com which forwards to your email address and use that instead.

In the “Site Maintenance Account” section, the “Username”, “E-mail address” and “Password” that you choose will become the values used to login and administer Drupal.

Once you have entered these details scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save and continue which should complete the installation.

Finally click on the link to “visit your new site”.

9. Start using Drupal

That's it! The basic installation of Drupal is now complete and you should be able to see the login page. You are now ready to start using Drupal.