Installing

Installing an SMF forum is very simple! It can be done in six quick and simple steps.

It is not recommended to use an auto-installer to install SMF, because many of them are known to have issues or confuse users in the long run. Installing SMF manually is not difficult and will help you to understand better how it works.

SMF is free forum software that can be installed on a webserver. To install it, you will need a webserver with PHP, and access to a database. You can create a database ahead of time (be sure to note all the important database information) or wait for the installer to help you with this step. Please see the requirements and recommendations for more information on what you need before you start an install.

Create a Database
An SMF forum needs a database to store all the information about members, posts, and topics. You can use the tools your web host provides to create a new database and a database user for SMF to log in as and use. If you neglect this step at this point, the SMF installer will offer to help you with it later on.

Once you have created your database, be sure to make note of the database name, database user name, and password. You will need these details when you run the installer.

Creating a Database with phpMyAdmin
Most shared hosting services disable the option to create a database with phpMyAdmin. However, if this option is available to you, the database can be created from the phpMyAdmin home page.

Creating a Database with a Control Panel
If your hosting service provides a control panel interface, then this can be used to create a database. Selecting the "MySQL Databases" or "Database Wizard" options should take you to a page prompting you to create a MySQL database. With different hosts, these options may have different names.

SMF 2.0 supports MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite. SMF 1.1 supports only a MySQL database.

Creating a Database User
A database user can be created through the control panel provided by your hosting service. Selecting the "MySQL Databases" or "Database Wizard" options should take you to a page, prompting you to create a MySQL database user. With different hosts, these options may have different names.

The database user requires the following permissions:  and. Additional permissions may be granted, if desired.

Get SMF
Using your browser, you can download the latest version of SMF to your desktop computer. All SMF downloads can be found at SMF Downloads. The latest recommended version will always be available at http://www.simplemachines.org/download/index.php/latest/install/.

Run the Installer
This is nearly the last step. You know where your forum directory is, because you put the files there yourself. So, point your browser at the file install.php in that directory. For example, if you put your forum in www.yourdomain.com/forum, you should point your browser at www.yourdomain.com/forum/install.php.

This script will ask you for information, some of which you have created and collected earlier.

Basic Forum Settings

 * Forum Name
 * The name for the forum being installed should go here. By default, this is set to “My Community”. This can be changed later in the Server Settings section of the administration center.


 * Forum URL
 * The URL for the forum, without the trailing slash (for example, http://www.yourdomain.com/forum). The SMF installer will probably guess this one correctly.


 * Gzip Output
 * If Gzip output tests pass, use this to save bandwidth and make pages load faster.


 * Database Sessions
 * Choose whether to store sessions in the database or in files. Database Sessions are preferred because they are more reliable, secure and may work better on sites with multiple servers.


 * UTF-8 Character Set
 * UTF-8 character sets are useful for international forums, or forums that use languages other than English.


 * Allow Stat Collection
 * This option allows Simple Machines to collect statistics from your forum, anonymously, to help the developers understand the needs of the user community.

Database server settings

 * Database type
 * The database schema can be selected here from a list of database schemas supported by the server being used. Newer schemas (for SMF 2.0) such as PostgreSQL and SQLite may be listed here if available. MySQL and PostgreSQL are recommended.


 * Server name
 * The location of the database is specified here. 99% of the time this will be localhost.


 * Username
 * The username for the database user should be placed here. If help is required for this, the hosting service provider should be contacted.


 * Password
 * The password for the database user is entered here.


 * Database name
 * The name used for the database should be placed here. If you created a database in advance, enter that. Otherwise, you can use the database name suggested by the installer to create a new database. If help is required for this, the hosting service provider should be contacted.


 * Database prefix
 * The prefix for all tables associated with this install is specified here. Prefixing tables with unique prefixes enables more than one application, or SMF install, to use the same database safely. The installer will suggest a prefix for you automatically, but you can customize it to whatever you prefer.

Creating an administrator account
The SMF installer will ask for information to create the forum's administrator account. This information includes username, password and e-mail address for the administrator account. This account will be necessary to get access to the SMF administration center, to manage and configure the forum.

Finishing the installation process
Once all steps of the installation process have been completed, check the box to remove the install files from the server. If this does not work, they will need to be deleted via FTP. All installer files should be removed from the server once the installation process is complete. SMF does not need them any longer and they are a security risk.

Tidy Up

 * If you have not already done so, delete install.php. It is a security risk to leave in place once the install has been completed.
 * Check your file and folder permissions for safety.
 * Most directory permissions are set to 755, while most files are set to 644, although this will depend on your server configuration. If in doubt, ask your host what CHMOD settings should be used for files and directories.
 * The only exceptions are your root forum directory, the attachments and cache directories, which may need to be set as high as 777 on some servers (this setting will cause 500 errors on other servers).