installation-windows.md

Installation on Windows - Step by Step

Here is a step by step procedure for Windows:

1. You first need to install Composer. On Windows just download the installer and run it.

2. Open a Windows Explorer window and navigate to the root folder of your MediaWiki installation. That's the one with the LocalSettings.php file in it.

3. Open composer.local.json in an editor capable to do UNIX style line endings (e.g. Notepad++ or Kate, but not the standard Notepad!) and add the Chameleon skin to the require section:

   "require": { 
       "mediawiki/chameleon-skin": "~3.0"
   },

   Remark: If you do not have a composer.local.json file, but a composer.local.json-sample, rename the -sample file and add the "require" section. It should then look like this:

   {
       "require": {
           "mediawiki/chameleon-skin": "~3.0"
       },
       "extra": {
           "merge-plugin": {
               "include": [
                   "extensions/example/composer.json"
               ]
           }
       }
   }

   Save the file and close the editor.

4. Shift right-click in an empty space in the Windows Explorer window and select Open Command Prompt here or Open Powershell window here. A command line window will open.

5. On the command line run the command composer require "mediawiki/chameleon-skin:~3.0"

6. If there were no errors, close the command line window.

7. Open LocalSettings.php in an editor capable to do UNIX style line endings (e.g. Notepad++ or Kate, but not the standard Notepad!) Include

   wfLoadSkin( 'chameleon' );

   as the last line.

   To set Chameleon as the default skin, find $wgDefaultSkin and amend it:

   $wgDefaultSkin='chameleon';

   Save the file and close the editor.

8. Done: Open your wiki in a browser and navigate to the Special:Version page to verify that the skin is successfully installed. (If you have set Chameleon as default skin it should also be obvious that the skin has changed.)

9. If not, force reload the page to refresh your browser cache. (Press Ctrl+F5 on Firefox, Ctrl+Shift+F5 on Internet Explorer.)