Installing Zen Cart.

This entry is part 3 of 20 in the series Zen Cart Tutorials

The easiest way to install Zen Cart with 2-3 clicks, is via Fantastico. Fantastico is a great tool that allows you to easily install Zen Cart with 2 -3 clicks. It comes free with some hosting servers like Hostgator (which we use to host this site).

However, if you don’t have Fantastico, follow these steps to install Zen Cart:

Before you proceed, make sure you have access to a MySQL database and the username and password to that database.

Open FileZilla and let’s us first start by uploading all the files to the site, we will create a new folder and call it store, select all the files found on the left of your screen, they will get highlighted, then drag them to the right under the directory called store you just created as shown below.
Installing Zen Cart.
Browse for two files namely.
1. /store/includes/dist-configure.php and,
2. /store/admin/includes/dist-configure.php
Rename both of them to configure.php and CHMOD them to 777.
Now change permissions for the following directories to 777.
/store/cache
/store/images
/store/includes/languages/english/html_includes
/store/media
/store/pub
/store/admin/backups
/store/admin/images/graphs
And finally you will have to CHMOD 777 all sub-directories (and their sub-directories) inside /store/images.
You will have to run the installer. Point your browser to your store
Example: www.bestwebdesignz.com/store/
You will need to agree to the terms and conditions and press continue button.

The installer now examines your server for compliance with the technical requirements for running Zen Cart. If you see any red errors, you will need to address them before proceeding further.

If everything is Ok! Click on the Install button to start the installation. Most default settings will be accepted here, but double check them for accuracy. Finally click on Save System Settings, also specify if you wish to have phpBB forum software installed on your site, then click on Save phpBB Settings button. Again the default settings are usually fine, but double check to be sure.

Enter the details of the MySQL database that you have already set up prior to installation of Zen Cart, and then Save Database Settings.

Enter Store setup information, you can always edit this later. You can optionally select to install demo data to familiarize yourself with the examples that explain and demonstrates the features in Zen Cart. The click on Save Stores Settings Button.

And Finally create an Admin Username and Password. Then click on Save Admin Settings button.

You will see, installation will be successful, you can now point to www.bestwebdesignz.com/store to see your new store, you can also point to www.bestwebdesignz.com/store/admin to start configuring and managing your new store.

Last but not the least, don’t forget to reset the permission of the /store/includes/dist-configure.php and. /store/admin/includes/dist-configure.php files to 644, so that they are no longer writeable.

The last thing you should do is delete the install folder (zc_install). Otherwise if someone runs the installer again, it will wipe out any content you added to your store.

That’s it, you now know how to install Zen Cart.

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