How to Install Omeka S on Windows 10

Omeka S is a web-based platform designed for building digital exhibitions and archival collections. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the steps for installing Omeka S on Windows 10.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure that your computer meets the following requirements:

  • Windows 10
  • A web server software, such as XAMPP or WAMP
  • PHP 7.2 or higher
  • MySQL 5.5 or higher
  • Git

Step 1: Download Omeka S

The first step in the installation process is to download the latest version of Omeka S from the official website: https://omeka.org/s/. Once you’ve downloaded the file, extract it to a directory on your computer where you want Omeka S to be installed.

Step 2: Create a MySQL database

Next, we need to create a MySQL database that Omeka S can use to store its data. This can be done through your web server software’s control panel. Here are the general steps:

  1. Open your web server control panel.
  2. Find the section for creating a new MySQL database.
  3. Enter a name for your database, and click “Create” or “Submit” to create the database.
  4. Make a note of the username and password that you set when creating the database.

Step 3: Configure Apache

You’ll need to make some changes to your Apache configuration to allow Omeka S to run properly. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open your Apache configuration file (httpd.conf), which is typically located in the “conf” directory of your Apache installation directory.
  2. Find the section for the “DocumentRoot” and change it to the directory where you extracted Omeka S in Step 1.
  3. Add the following lines at the end of the file:
<Directory "<Path to Omeka S directory>">
    AllowOverride all
</Directory>

Be sure to replace <Path to Omeka S directory> with the actual path to the directory where you extracted Omeka S in Step 1.

Step 4: Install Omeka S

Now that we’ve done all the preparatory work, we can finally install Omeka S. Follow these steps:

  1. Open a command prompt (press Win+X, then click “Command Prompt”).
  2. Navigate to the directory where you extracted Omeka S using the “cd” command. For example: cd C:\xampp\htdocs\omeka-s
  3. Run the following command to install the required packages:
composer install
  1. When prompted, enter the following information:
  • Database name
  • Database username
  • Database password
  • Host (usually “localhost”)
  • Port (usually “3306”)
  • Table prefix (optional)
  1. After you’ve entered this information, wait for the installation to complete. Omeka S will now be installed and ready to use!

Step 5: Access Omeka S

The final step is to access Omeka S through your web browser. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open your web browser.
  2. Enter the following URL in the address bar: http://localhost/omeka-s
  3. Follow the prompts to set up your Omeka S installation (create an administrator account, choose a theme, etc.)

Congratulations! You’ve now installed Omeka S on Windows 10.