How to Install WordPress on EC2 Ubuntu 22.04

How to Install WordPress on EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 (Complete Linux Guide)

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This guide walks you through how to install WordPress on EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 using the LAMP stack — Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. By the end, you’ll have a fully working WordPress site running on your own EC2 instance.

WordPress powers over 40% of all websites, and running it on EC2 gives you full control over your server, performance tuning, and scaling. If you’ve been using managed WordPress hosting and want to saved money, this is the way to go.

Prerequisites

  • An EC2 instance running Ubuntu 22.04 — follow How to deploy EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on AWS if you need one
  • SSH access to your instance
  • A security group that allows inbound traffic on ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and 443 (HTTPS)
  • A domain name pointed to your EC2 instance’s public IP (optional but recommended)
  • If you’re on a t2.micro or t3.micro instance, consider adding swap space to avoid running out of memory

Step-by-Step Installation

Step 1: Update System Packages

SSH into your EC2 instance and update the package index to make sure you’re installing the latest versions of everything.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Apache

Apache is the web server that will serve your WordPress site. If you want a more detailed walkthrough of Apache configuration, check out How to Install Apache 2.4 Web Server on EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

sudo apt install -y apache2

Enable Apache to start on boot and verify it’s running:

sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl status apache2

You should see active (running) in the output. Open your browser and visit http://your-ec2-public-ip — you should see the Apache default page.

Step 3: Install MySQL

WordPress needs a database to store posts, pages, users, and settings. Install MySQL server:

sudo apt install -y mysql-server

Run the security script to set a root password and remove insecure defaults:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

During the prompts:

  • Set the root password when prompted
  • Remove anonymous users — Yes
  • Disallow root login remotely — Yes
  • Remove test database — Yes
  • Reload privilege tables — Yes

For a deeper look at MySQL installation and configuration, see How to Install MySQL Database on EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

Step 4: Create a WordPress Database and User

Log into MySQL and create a dedicated database and user for WordPress. Never use the MySQL root account for your application.

sudo mysql

Run the following SQL commands inside the MySQL shell. Replace your_strong_password with an actual strong password:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_strong_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
  • utf8mb4 — supports full Unicode including emojis, which is what WordPress recommends
  • wpuser — a dedicated user with access only to the WordPress database

Step 5: Install PHP and Required Extensions

WordPress is built on PHP. Install PHP along with the extensions WordPress needs to function properly:

sudo apt install -y php php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-xmlrpc php-soap php-intl php-zip libapache2-mod-php

Here’s what the key extensions do:

  • php-mysql — connects PHP to MySQL
  • php-curl — allows WordPress to make HTTP requests (used by plugins and updates)
  • php-gd — image processing for thumbnails and media
  • php-mbstring — handles multibyte strings (needed for non-English content)
  • php-xml — XML parsing for sitemaps, RSS feeds, and more
  • php-zip — handles plugin and theme ZIP files
  • libapache2-mod-php — lets Apache process PHP files

If you need a specific PHP version like 8.3, see How to Install PHP 8.3 on an EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Instance.

Verify PHP is installed:

php -v

Step 6: Download and Configure WordPress

Download the latest WordPress release, extract it, and move it to Apache’s web root:

cd /tmp
curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar -xzf latest.tar.gz
sudo mv wordpress /var/www/html/wordpress

Set the correct file ownership so Apache can read and write WordPress files:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/wordpress
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/wordpress

Now create the WordPress config file from the sample template:

cd /var/www/html/wordpress
sudo cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

Generate unique security keys from the WordPress API:

curl -s https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

Copy the output. Then open the config file:

sudo nano /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config.php

Update the following values in wp-config.php:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'wpuser' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'your_strong_password' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );
define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4' );
define( 'DB_COLLATE', '' );

Also replace the placeholder salt keys with the ones you generated above. Save and close the file.

Step 7: Configure Apache Virtual Host

Create an Apache virtual host config so your WordPress site is served properly. Replace example.com with your actual domain (or use your EC2 public IP if you don’t have a domain yet):

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf

Add the following configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/wordpress

    <Directory /var/www/html/wordpress>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/wordpress_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/wordpress_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
  • AllowOverride All — lets WordPress use .htaccess for permalinks and rewrites
  • DocumentRoot — points to the WordPress installation directory

Enable the new site, enable the rewrite module (required for WordPress permalinks), disable the default site, and restart Apache:

sudo a2ensite wordpress.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 8: Complete the WordPress Setup in Your Browser

Open your browser and go to:

http://your-ec2-public-ip

Or if you have a domain configured:

http://example.com

You should see the WordPress installation wizard. Select your language, then fill in:

  • Site Title — your site name
  • Username — your admin username (don’t use “admin” for security reasons)
  • Password — a strong password
  • Email — your email address

Click Install WordPress, and you’re done. Log in at http://your-domain/wp-admin.

Post-Installation Recommendations

Your WordPress site is running, but there are a few things you should do next to keep it secure and performant.

Set Proper File Permissions

WordPress needs specific permissions to work correctly while staying secure:

sudo find /var/www/html/wordpress -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/html/wordpress -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chmod 600 /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config.php
  • Directories get 755 — readable and executable by everyone, writable only by the owner
  • Files get 644 — readable by everyone, writable only by the owner
  • wp-config.php gets 600 — readable only by the owner, since it contains database credentials

Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt

Running WordPress over HTTP is fine for testing, but you need HTTPS for production. Follow How to Secure Apache2 with Let’s Encrypt on Ubuntu 22.04 to set up a free SSL certificate.

Increase PHP Upload Limits

The default PHP upload size is 2MB, which is too small for most WordPress themes and media files. Update the PHP config:

sudo nano /etc/php/8.1/apache2/php.ini

Find and update these values:

upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
memory_limit = 256M

Restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Conclusion

You now have WordPress running on an EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 instance with Apache, MySQL, and PHP. From here, you can install themes, add plugins, and start publishing content.

As a next step, set up automated MySQL backups to S3 so you don’t lose your data if something goes wrong.