Installing SMF 2.0

You can download the 2.0 version of the Simple Machines Forum (SMF) software from http://download.simplemachines.org/. After you've placed the software on your server and extracted the files to an appropriate directory (you can use tar -zxvf smf_2-0-rc4_install.tar.gz on a Linux system, if you downloaded the .tar.gz 2.0 RC4 file), you can commence the installation process.

Next, point your browser to the name of the domain and the directory where the forum software was extracted and put install.php at the end of the URL, e.g. http://www.example.com/forum/install.php.

1. At the first step of the installation process a welcome screen appears. You should see "We've completed some initial tests on your server and everything appears to be in order. Simply click the "Continue" button below to get started." Click on the Continue button.

2. The next step is the Writable Check. You will be informed of which files should be writable. The installation script will attempt to make the changes for you.

   Some files need to be writable for SMF to work properly. This step allows you to let the installer make them writable for you. However, in some cases it won't work - in that case, please make the following files 777 (writable, 755 on some hosts):

       * attachments
       * avatars
       * cache
       * Packages
       * Packages/installed.list
       * Smileys
       * Themes
       * agreement.txt
       * Settings.php
       * Settings_bak.php

   You will be prompted for the FTP userid and password. This installer can connect via FTP to fix the files that need to be writable and are not. If this doesn't work for you, you will have to go in manually and make the files writable. Please note that this doesn't support SSL right now.

   The Install Path should be the relative path in relation to the FTP login directory, e.g. public_html/forum if you created a forum directory directly under your public HTML directory.

   Click on the Connect button.

3. You will next be prompted for the userid and password to connect to the database where your SMF tables will be created. E.g., this could be your MySQL userid and password, which might or might not be the same as your FTP userid and password. You will also need to provide the database name for your account and any table prefix you wish to use for the forum. Keep in mind that if you wish to have multiple forums supported by the database, you need to have a unique table prefix for each one. Once you've completed the fields, click on Continue .

4. At the Forum Settings screen, provide the name you wish to use for the forum. The other default values may already be fine. Change them, if not. Click on Continue.

5. Next you should see the Populated Database screen and something like the following:

   Your settings have now been saved and the database has been populated with all the data required to get your forum up and running. Summary of population:

   • Created 63 tables.
   • Inserted 779 rows.

   Click on Continue

6. You will next be asked to create an administrator account for the forum. You need to provide a username, password, and email address for the account. You will need to provide the password that grants access to your database as well (you need that before even installing SMF). Click on Continue when you've completed the fields on this page.

7. At the last step, you should see Congratulations, the installation process is complete! Make sure you check the box next to Click here to delete this install.php file now. You don't want someone reinstalling your forum software. Just checking the box will delete the file.

You can then access your forum, e.g. http://example.com/forum, if your domain name was example.com and you installed it in a directory named forum underneat your public HTML directory.

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