Go to http://bitnami.org/stacks/ and select the MAMP stack for Mac OS, WAMP for Windows, and LAMP for Linux. On the next page, click on Installer and double-click the EXE as soon as it has been downloaded. You should see the following window or a dialog you have to confirm if files downloaded from the Internet aren't executed directly on your computer:

Click on Next to get to the next installation screen. Here you'll see a screen with a number of preselected components. We don't need them, as we're going to install concrete5 as our Content Management System (CMS) and framework. phpMyAdmin can't be unselected, but that's okay.

Click on Next once more and you'll be asked to specify the installation folder. You can keep the suggested value but feel free to change it if you prefer a different location. For this book, we used Version 5.4.10. Your version might be higher. Cause the WAMP folder will have the version number in the name, all follow-up.

Click on Next again and you'll be asked to enter the MySQL password for the user root. It's important to keep it saved as this is the main user to access your database. You'll need this password later when we install concrete5.

There are a few more screens; click on Next and you'll have to enter the port number for Apache as well as MySQL in the following screen. You can keep the port number 80 for Apache and 3306 for MySQL. However, it might be possible that another application is already using one or both of these ports, in which case you have to disable the existing application or use a different port number. It's not a problem if you change these numbers; just make sure that you remember the port numbers as you'll need them later when we install concrete5.

Go to the directory where you've installed Bitnami and open the folder mysql; it should look as follows:

The my.ini file contains several settings related to MySQL. Open the file and insert the following line immediately after the mysqld section:

lower_case_table_names = 0

The mysql section should look like as follows:

Now that MySQL is properly configured, locate the manager tool in your start menu. You should be able to find it in All Programs | Bitnami WAMP Stack | Manager tool and open it. You should see the following dialog:

Select MySQL Database and click on the Restart button in the right pane. The buttons go gray. When the buttons return to their regular state the restart of MySQL is complete.

If everything worked you should be able to open your browser and enter http://localhost/.

Go to the directory where you've installed Bitnami and open the folder apache2 and then conf.

Within that directory, open the file called httpd.conf.

Look for a section which starts with <Directory "C:/BitNami/wampstack-5.4.10-0/apache2/htdocs"> and then look after a property called AllowOverride. You'll have to change its value from None to All.

The relevant part should look like as follows afterwards:

DocumentRoot "C:/BitNami/wampstack-5.4.10-0/apache2/htdocs"
<Directory "C:/BitNami/wampstack-5.4.10-0/apache2/htdocs">
    #
    # Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
    # or any combination of:
    #   Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatchExecCGI MultiViews
    #
    # Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
    # doesn't give it to you.
    #
    # The Options directive is both complicated and important.Please see
    # http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#options
    # for more information.
    #
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

    #
    # AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in.htaccess files.
    # It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
    #   Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
    #
    AllowOverride All

    #
    # Controls who can get stuff from this server.
    #
    Require all granted
</Directory>

After you've saved the change, go to the Bitnami Manager tool, select the Apache Web Server process, and restart it.