Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This video will show you how to add new themes to your local wordpress installation, including ones that you download from elsewhere in the .zip format.
The video assumes you already have a local wordpress installation up and running,. If you do not, check out this other video on how to create a local wordpress installation using XAMPP: youtu.be/CTQN2HdjvYo
The first method is to use the Wordpress admin panel. This is the same method used if you want to upload a theme to a non-local Wordpress site. Just go to the appeareance menu on the left of the admin interface, and choose themes. In the themes window, go to add new at the top, and then upload theme at the top. This will bring up an option where you can browse your computer for the theme you downloaded. You can also just drag the .zip file to the browse button, and then hit install now. After a few seconds the theme will be uploaded and extracted. If you go back to the themes panel you will now see the theme there, ready to be activated.
If you want to use the folder installation method instead, you will have to extract the theme first. Right click on the .zip file, and go to extract all. Then, go into the folder it created, and make sure you copy the folder that has the theme content directly inside it (there will probably be another folder with the same name inside the one it created when extracting, which is likely the one you want). Right click on this folder and select copy.
Then go to your XAMPP installation. Mine is at C:\xampp but you could have selected somewhere else in your XAMPP installation. Then go into xampp, into htdocs, and then into your wordpress installation there. Then go into wp-content, and then themes. This is where you can right click and paste the theme. Now you can go into the wordpress admin panel and the themes page, and the theme will appear there, ready for activation.
Check out my facebook at: facebook.com/pages/All-How-2s/198429346974010
or my twitter: twitter.com/AllHow2s
Or my website where I have a lot of other great tutorials (such as how to take a screenshot, or how to get the start button back on Windows 8): allhow2s.com
This video will show you how to add new themes to your local wordpress installation, including ones that you download from elsewhere in the .zip format.
The video assumes you already have a local wordpress installation up and running,. If you do not, check out this other video on how to create a local wordpress installation using XAMPP: youtu.be/CTQN2HdjvYo
The first method is to use the Wordpress admin panel. This is the same method used if you want to upload a theme to a non-local Wordpress site. Just go to the appeareance menu on the left of the admin interface, and choose themes. In the themes window, go to add new at the top, and then upload theme at the top. This will bring up an option where you can browse your computer for the theme you downloaded. You can also just drag the .zip file to the browse button, and then hit install now. After a few seconds the theme will be uploaded and extracted. If you go back to the themes panel you will now see the theme there, ready to be activated.
If you want to use the folder installation method instead, you will have to extract the theme first. Right click on the .zip file, and go to extract all. Then, go into the folder it created, and make sure you copy the folder that has the theme content directly inside it (there will probably be another folder with the same name inside the one it created when extracting, which is likely the one you want). Right click on this folder and select copy.
Then go to your XAMPP installation. Mine is at C:\xampp but you could have selected somewhere else in your XAMPP installation. Then go into xampp, into htdocs, and then into your wordpress installation there. Then go into wp-content, and then themes. This is where you can right click and paste the theme. Now you can go into the wordpress admin panel and the themes page, and the theme will appear there, ready for activation.
Check out my facebook at: facebook.com/pages/All-How-2s/198429346974010
or my twitter: twitter.com/AllHow2s
Or my website where I have a lot of other great tutorials (such as how to take a screenshot, or how to get the start button back on Windows 8): allhow2s.com
