Zen Cart is a very popular ecommerce website management system. Thousands of businesses are using Zen Cart for their online stores. Hey are you too looking to build your online shopping store with Zen Cart? If yes then this post of mine will surely be a helping pill for you.

It is very affordable now to convert any format website design to Zen Cart engine if you hire Professional Zen Cart Developer. In this post I am briefly explaining the process of installing Zen Cart on a local host. Icing the cake; I had also explained the process of installing a new template for the Zen Cart website interface. To make it easy for everyone to follow the steps; I had incorporated the snapshot of the installation process.

Quickest Way To Install Zen Cart System And Zen Cart Template On Local Host

Installing Zen Cart Management System

• Download the Zen Cart engine installation file from the website and then copy that zip file to the local host directory with Ryan/ZenCart subfolder. After copying the installation file unzip the package with the help of unzip software.



• Now go to your Database Management tool. The database management tool can be searched by the name phpmyadmin. Moreover you can directly open the tool by following the http://localhost/phpmyadmin/. Go to the Database Menu.



• Create a new database.



• Now open the links to your installation files. As we had save the host directory with Ryan/Zen Cart subfolder; the link to the installation files will be http://localhost/Ryan/ZenCart/. Now the Zen cart welcome window will appear on the screen; click on “click here” to start a fresh CMS installation.



• In the next screen; you will see the software license window. Select ‘I agree’ checkbox and click ‘Next’.
• Now the software will check the system configuration and if your system fulfills the software installation requirement you will see green marks. Now scroll down the page and click ‘Install’ button.



• In the next step you will be asked to provide the database access details. Creating the database is a very crucial stage so follow the below provided instructions carefully.
• Enter the database access information. In the Database Username field; provide the username that you want for the database. Next field asks for the database password; Leave it blank as per now. Click on the ‘Save Database Settings’ button provided at the down of the page to confirm the changes.



• In the next step of installation process; you don’t need to perform any action. Just click on the ‘Save System Setting’ Button and move to the next step.
• Now you will be asked to provide store information. In this step you have to choose ‘Store Demo’ option and then click Save Store Settings.
• At this step you will be asked to provide the Zen Cart Aceess Details. Enter the Username & Password and Log in to jump to the next step.



• Got to the root and delete the zc_Install folder from there and also rename the admin folder so security concerns.



• Till this step you had successfully installed the Zen Cart on your local host. Now you can access the Admin Panel of the application by simply adding the admin folder name. In this example we had save the solder with the name admin123. You can directly access the folder by following the below provided link http://localhost/Ryan/ZenCart/admin123/
• After accessing the account; you are advised to change the current password with a much stronger and safe password.

Installing The Template For Zen Cart Website

Done with the Zen Cart installation process? Now you may require adding some beautiful template to your ecommerce website design.

• Download the template from the source and then unzip the package. The unzipped files will look like the below provided snapshots.



• Now got to the theme folder which is named as theme613 in this example. Rename the Admin folder with the actual name of your Admin folder. As for now we are taking the folder name as Admin123 (as in the installation process).



• Now copy all the content of the theme folder into the root folder of your Zen Cart package. If System asks for the permission to copy; accept the conditions.



• Login to the admin panel of your Zen Cart website and TOOLS‡TEMPLATE SELECTION. Click on the edit button and select the theme you want to upload. Click update to confirm the action.



• Open TOOLS‡ INSTALL SQL PATCHES and then upload the SQL files from the source. You are also advised to backup the database before inserting any installation file.



• Open the Theme Configuration window and tweak the layout as per you. After doing the edits; click on update button to save the changes.



• Go to your Home Page and see the template live.

Conclusion

I hope that this post will help you to hassle free built your online store. Any query? Feel free to share that in the comment section below.