These are the official installation guides and resources for Movable Type.

Installation Guide Index

• Installation Guide Index (this page)
  • Tools Necessary for Installation
  • Before Installing
• Quick Install Guides
  • Install via FTP using the Configuration Wizard
  • Install via SSH with manual configuration of the mt-config.cgi
• Detailed Step-by-Step Installation Guide
• Windows Server Installation Instructions
• Upgrade Guide

Reference

• File System & Directories
  • File System Tour
  • Web Root
  • cgi-bin
  • Application Directory ($MT_HOME)
  • Static Directory ($MT_STATIC)
  • Static Support Directory
  • Themes Directory
  • Plugins Directory
  • Plugins Static Directory
  • Addons Directory
  • Addons Static Directory
  • Blog Directories
• Configuration Wizard
• Troubleshooting
  • File Permissions
• mt-config.cgi
• Managing multiple instances of Movable Type from a single installation

Still need help? Contact Six Apart or hire a consultant to help install or deploy a project with Movable Type.

Tools Necessary for Installation

• An access to your web server. This can be via FTP (with an FTP client), via SSH, etc.
• A text editor which edits plain text files. Also called a source code editor. Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on a Mac are common. (If accessing via SSH, then vi or other command line text editor is sufficient.)
• Your web browser of choice: Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.

Before Installing

1. Because each server environment may come with differnet sets of pre-installed software, confirm that your web host meets the minimum requirements to run Movable Type. If you're unsure, point your web host to the Movable Type System Requirements page.
2. Download Movable Type. Get the latest version of Movable Type Pro or Movable Type Open Source.
3. On your web server, determine the following directories (folders):
   • web root directory where the mt-static directory will be placed. The webroot directory contains the homepage of the website.
   • cgi-bin directory where cgi scripts are executable. This directory is usually named cgi-bin, but may be CGI-BIN or cgi. If this directory doesn't exist as a sibling or child of the web root directory, ask you hosting provider for the location.

4. Have database details ready.

   For MySQL (recommended database) you'll minimally need the following:

   • database name
   • database user
   • database user password

   For PostgreSQL (supported in MT3.x and 4.x) you'll also need this info.

   SQLite (supported in MT3.x and 4.x) will require:

   • the path to the database file.

All ready? Let's install Movable Type...

• Install via FTP using the Configuration Wizard
• Install via SSH with manual configuration of the mt-config.cgi
• Detailed Step-by-Step Installation Guide