phpBB Forum Software
This page explains how to set up the phpBB3 forum software on your website. phpBB3 is one of the most popular forums, and is also free and easy to install.
These instructions are based on phpBB 3.0.4, although other versions beginning with "3.0" are similar.
On this page:
- Getting phpBB
- Creating a MySQL database
- Starting the installer
- Database settings
- Administrator settings
- Advanced settings and completing the installation
- Deleting the "install" directory
Getting phpBB
First of all, download the most recent phpBB 3 full package ".zip" version from http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/ onto your own computer, then unzip the files. You'll find a folder called "phpBB3" on your computer.
Publish that "phpBB3" folder (and all the files within it) to your website using our web file manager or FTP.
Creating a MySQL database
phpBB3 uses a MySQL database to store the forum data. We recommend creating a new database specifically for phpBB3, 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 "examplephpbb3" — if you use a different name, just use that name instead of "examplephpbb3" when following the instructions below.
Starting the installer
phpBB3 uses a simple Web page to configure and install the program. The page is shown when you first view phpBB3 on your website; if you uploaded the "phpBB3" folder to the top level of your website, the page is located at an address like "http://www.example.com/phpBB/". Your installation page should now look like this:
Select the Install tab so that the following page is displayed:
Click Proceed to next step. A page displaying configuration values will be shown:
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Start Install.
Database settings
Enter the following details for the database:
- Database type: MySQL with MySQLi Extension
- Database server hostname or DSN: (leave blank)
- Database server port: (leave blank)
- Database Name: examplephpbb3 (or the name you chose for your database, if different)
- Database Username: examplephpbb3 (or the name you chose for your database, if different)
- Database Password: (the password you chose when creating the MySQL database)
- Prefix for tables in database: (do not change)
Click Proceed to next step. The test connection should complete successfully:
Click Proceed to next step.
Administrator settings
Enter the administrator details for your forum
- Administrator username: (the phpBB3 username you wish to use; many people use "admin", but it can be anything)
- Administrator password: (the phpBB3 password you wish to use)
- Contact email address: (enter your own email address)
Click Proceed to next step and phpBB3 will check your entries.
Click Proceed to next step.
Click Proceed to next step again.
Advanced settings and completing the installation
The following screen should appear. You shouldn't need to change any of the settings:
Click Proceed to next step.
Click Proceed to next step to finish the installation.
You're finished! You should be able to click the "Login" button and login.
Deleting the "install" directory
Before visitors can use the forum, phpBB will require you to delete the directory named "install" (which is found inside the "phpBB3" directory) from the server. This ensures that strangers can't run the installation process a second time and change your password. Until you delete it, you’ll see a message saying “Sorry, this board is currently unavailable”.
You can use our File Manager to connect to the server and open the "phpBB3" directory so you can see the "install" directory. Then delete the "install" directory and everything it contains, being careful not to delete anything else.
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