Running the Drupal installation script

This is the moment when you find out whether all of the pre-installation steps taken by your administrator were completed successfully. If so, you will see a screen similar to the following:

A variety of things can go awry at this point, and the reasons for this include the following:

• The web server entry is misconfigured or pointing to the wrong folder
• The URL doesn't match the one that was configured
• The host's entry for the URL is needed but is missing or has been mistyped
• The Drupal files aren't in the correct place, or the web server entry is pointing to the Drupal folder rather than the web/folder within it
• The file permissions are incorrect

Hopefully, you will receive the page shown in the preceding screenshot; if not, the preceding issues can be quickly resolved so that you can.

You will notice that the URL in the address bar is different than the one you entered. When Drupal determines that the site has not been installed, which in this case is determined by there being no viable database, it redirects the request for the home page (the URL you entered) to the installation page, located at d8quickstart/core/install.php.

Let's take a look at some of the things on this first screen. The Drupal version number is given at the top left of the page; this is 8.5.4 in my case. It is up to you regarding which version you install, but it should definitely be 8 dot something, and it is worth noting that installing older versions, such as installing 8.5.3 rather than the current (at the time of writing) 8.5.4, would risk using a version containing a security issue that has since been fixed. 

The default installation language is shown.

You can select a different language than that presented. Drupal offers dozens, but do continue with English if you want your screens to match the examples that are used in this book.

Lastly, the list of steps down the left-hand side are not clickable because they are used as a progress indicator rather than a menu. As you proceed through the installation, the current step will be highlighted, just like Choose language is now. Let's move on by clicking the Save and continue button.

An installation profile is a configuration or collection of settings and software that's predetermined to be used for a specific purpose. Currently, Drupal has only three available in a normal installation: Standard, Minimal, and Unami, with Standard being the default setting, and the one we want. From here, click the Save and continue button.

If Drupal finds the files and folders that it needs to continue, it will move quickly past the Verify requirements step to Set up database. Otherwise, it will display a list of the issues that need to be addressed before it can continue. Some issues that frequently arise from steps during the pre-installation that were missed or performed incorrectly include the following:

• In the Drupal file folder structure, there is a default folder within a sites folder, and inside the default folder should be a files folder. It is not present in the Drupal installation files and needs to be created manually. Often, this step is missed, or the folder is created but in a way that will not allow Drupal to write to it.
• The default sites folder contains a file called default.settings.php. That file needs to be copied within the same folder and named settings.php. This, too, is often missed, or the file is present but will not allow Drupal to write to it.
• Missing PHP extensions, such as ext-gd. Messages of issues such as this should be referred to your server administrator.

Once things are as Drupal expects to find them, it will move on to inquiring about the database configuration:

It's time to make use of the database credentials that you obtained. In the text boxes provided, enter the database name, database username, and database password, and then click the Save and continue button.

At this point, Drupal will begin installing itself, entering configuration information into the database and initializing data structures. A meter will keep you informed of its progress, as shown in the following screenshot:

Once Drupal has installed itself, there is a final step in the process, that is, providing the site configuration. You will need the information that you obtained earlier to answer these questions: