How to set up Simple Machines

Simple Machines is a popular forum solution used on some forum websites like TIGSource. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to set it up and run your own forum.

Prerequisites

We recommend you use the latest PHP version.

Type/Name	Recommended	Alternatives
Database	MySQL/MariaDB	PostgreSQL, SQLite
Web server	Anything that supports PHP	...
PHP	PHP 7.0 or higher	...

Create the database

Your forum needs a database to store all of its contents, users and stuff like that. We assume you have MySQL/MariaDB installed, so here's the quick and easy way to set up:

CREATE DATABASE myforum;
CREATE USER 'forumuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myforum.* TO 'forumuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Change, unless you want to get hacked.

Upload the files to your webserver

You can download the latest version by simply going to this website and clicking "ZIP" (or GZ/BZ2) under "Full Install". Upload the files to your webserver, Usually, this is under /var/www/html, but it might be different.

Run the installer

Please make sure your webserver is configured to use PHP, or install.php will be treated as a regular text file.

SMF includes a simple, easy-to-use installer out of the box. To install, go to myforum.com/install.php (Change the domain, of course) and follow the instructions.

When setup completes, you are asked if you want to delete install.php. You should do this. It may not work on all systems, but you can delete it yourself.

You're done!

You've successfully set up your own forum.

External links

SMF Online Manual
SMF Community