Module 2 · 2.1

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Installing WooCommerce and the setup wizard

Module 2: Installing and setting up · Reading time: 9 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can install WooCommerce in a test shop first and work through the setup wizard deliberately, so you know what each choice leads to.

Key concepts: test shop, subdomain, installing a plugin, setup wizard, store profile, store address, industry, recommended extensions, coming soon mode, sharing data (usage tracking), WooCommerce > Status

Why you start with a test shop

Installing WooCommerce takes a minute. Setting up a shop properly takes days. During those days you try things out: a different theme, a payment provider in test mode, an invoicing plugin, a shipping rule that turns out to be wrong. If you do that on your live site, visitors see a half-finished shop, test pages end up in search engines and your mail server has to deal with test emails. On an existing site with visitors, a faulty plugin can take the whole site down (WordPress course, lesson 1.2).

That is why you start with a test shop: a separate WordPress installation that only you use. There are three common ways to do this:

A subdomain, for example test.example.com, with its own WordPress installation. Theehuis Example creates test.shop.example.com this way, installs WordPress there and then WooCommerce. Only when everything works does the setup move to shop.example.com.
A clone of your existing site (staging). If you already have a WordPress site with content, you copy it to a subdomain and add WooCommerce there. How to create and shield a staging site is covered in the WordPress course, lesson 8.3. Lesson 7.3 of this course covers the pitfalls that come with a shop.
A local installation on your own computer. Handy for developers, but payment providers and webhooks (lesson 4.4) cannot reach your computer. For this course we recommend an online test shop.

For the exercises in this course, a test shop on a subdomain is enough. The automatic checks look at what a visitor sees, so the test shop must be reachable over https (WordPress course, lessons 2.1 and 3.1).

Two things you sort out in the test shop straight away:

Keep search engines out. In WordPress, go to Settings > Reading and tick the box to discourage search engines, or use the WooCommerce coming soon mode (see below). Better still: put a password on the folder (WordPress course, lesson 8.3).
No real customers and no real payments. Use made-up names and your payment provider's test mode.

Installing WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an ordinary plugin. You install it like any other plugin (WordPress course, lesson 5.3): in the WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, search for "WooCommerce", click Install now and then Activate. Check that the author is WooCommerce and that the plugin comes from wordpress.org. There are fake plugins with almost the same name; never install a plugin from an unknown website.

Some hosts offer an installer that sets up WordPress with WooCommerce in one go. That saves a few clicks, but afterwards you go through the same wizard. At WebOké you install WordPress with Installatron in DirectAdmin (on a subdomain or in a subfolder) and add WooCommerce in the WordPress admin. Other hosts work in a similar way, for example with Softaculous or WP Toolkit.

Before you install, check the system requirements. WooCommerce recommends (as of November 2026) PHP 8.3 or higher, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or higher, a WordPress memory limit of at least 256 MB, and https. It often works with less, but then you are more likely to run into strange errors when the shop is busy or during large imports. Lesson 7.2 goes into this in more detail.

The wizard: what it asks and what it means

After activation, WooCommerce opens a setup wizard. Its layout sometimes changes between versions, but the questions are always of the same kind. What matters is that you know what each question does.

About you and your store. The wizard asks where you are (just starting, already selling), what you sell and in which industry. WooCommerce mainly uses this to make recommendations. It does not change any settings you cannot adjust later.

Where your store is based. This one does matter. The store address (country and province or region) is the basis for the default currency, the VAT calculation and the shipping zones. If you accidentally choose a different country here, WooCommerce will later calculate from the wrong basis. Theehuis Example chooses Netherlands; the currency then becomes the euro. You fill in the full address later in the general settings (lesson 2.3).

Recommended extensions. The wizard suggests free extensions: a payment service, a shipping integration, marketing, tax calculation. They are often already ticked. Be deliberate here. Every extension is code you have to keep updated, that can contain bugs and that sometimes sends data to another party. Install only what your plan (lesson 1.3) needs. You can add anything later; removing something is harder, because extensions leave traces in the database and sometimes in your settings.

Sharing data. WooCommerce asks whether it may share data about how you use the plugin. This is a choice, not an obligation. Read what is shared and decide deliberately. For a test shop it makes little difference; for your live shop, if you say yes, it belongs in your record of processing activities (lesson 5.5).

After the wizard, WooCommerce creates four pages: Shop (the product list), Basket, Checkout and My account. On a new installation, the basket and checkout are built from blocks (this has been the case since WooCommerce 8.3). On a new installation, orders are also stored in their own tables (HPOS, the default since 8.2). Lessons 1.2 and 2.2 explain what that means.

Coming soon mode

New stores start in coming soon mode. Visitors then see a message that the store is coming soon, while you, as a logged-in administrator, see everything as normal. You can choose whether only the store pages or the whole site are hidden.

That is handy, but watch out for three things:

It is not security. Anyone who knows the Store API address may still be able to retrieve product data (lesson 2.4). For a test shop, a password on the folder is stronger.
Cache. A page cache can keep the message and continue showing it after you have switched the mode off, or show the real store while the mode is still on. Clear the cache after switching (lesson 6.4).
Forgetting to switch it off. Switching it off is on the go-live checklist (lesson 7.4). A store that shows "coming soon" for months sells nothing.

After the wizard: look first, then configure

Before you add products, take a look at WooCommerce > Status (System Status). It gives you one overview of what WooCommerce knows about your server: the PHP version, the WordPress memory limit, the database version, whether scheduled tasks are running, which plugins are active and whether the theme overrides WooCommerce templates. At the top there is a button to copy a report. That report is often the first thing a developer or an extension's support team asks for. Note down the PHP version and the memory limit: you will need them for the exercise and in lesson 7.2.

A common mistake is importing a hundred products straight after the wizard. First do the settings from modules 2 and 4 (address, accounts, VAT, shipping, payments), and only then the products. Otherwise you will have to adjust the prices and tax classes of all those products later.

In practice: what it looks like in WooCommerce

As an example, a test shop on a subdomain at WebOké. Other hosts and control panels work in a similar way.

In DirectAdmin, create a subdomain, for example test under shop.example.com, and make sure it has a certificate.
Install WordPress on that subdomain with Installatron (or manually, WordPress course lesson 2.3).
Under Settings > Reading, turn off visibility to search engines, or put a password on the folder.
Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, search for "WooCommerce", check the author, install and activate.
Go through the wizard: choose the correct country, tick only the extensions you need, and make a deliberate choice about sharing data.
Open WooCommerce > Status and note the PHP version and WordPress memory limit.
Under Pages, look at the four pages WooCommerce has created.

Summary

Start in a test shop on a subdomain or in a staging site, hidden from search engines and without real data.
Install WooCommerce only from wordpress.org or the plugin screen, and check the author.
In the wizard, the country of your store matters most: it determines the currency, the VAT basis and the shipping zones.
Tick recommended extensions only if your plan needs them; fewer plugins means less maintenance.
Coming soon mode hides the store from visitors but is not security; switch it off when you go live.

Quiz

1. Why do you set up a shop in a test shop first? Because otherwise WooCommerce will not install
Because a test shop is faster
Because you can experiment without visitors, search engines or customers being affected by half-finished or wrong settings
Because you do not need to set up VAT in a test shop

In a test shop, things are allowed to go wrong. On your live site, visitors see it, and a faulty plugin can affect the whole site.

2. Which question in the wizard has the biggest consequences for later settings? Which country your store is based in
How many products you expect
Which industry you are in
Whether you are already selling

The country determines the default currency and is the basis for VAT and shipping zones. The other questions are mainly used for recommendations.

3. The wizard suggests five free extensions, all ticked. What do you do? Install them all, they are free
Install them and remove them straight away
Install nothing, extensions are always unsafe
Install only what your plan needs, untick the rest

Every extension has to be kept updated and can share data or contain bugs. You can always add something later.

4. You have switched off coming soon mode, but visitors still see the message. What is the most likely cause? The mode cannot be switched off
The page cache is still showing the old version
The Store API is closed
VAT has not been set up

A page cache keeps the page as it was. Clear the cache after switching.

Exercise

Exercise D2.1: A test shop and the setup wizard. Create a test shop and work through the wizard deliberately. This is a do-it-yourself exercise: you tick the items off yourself and answer the questions.

Tick off:

test shop on a subdomain or in staging;
search engines blocked, or coming soon mode on;
WooCommerce installed from wordpress.org or the plugin screen;
wizard completed;
recommended extensions deliberately chosen or declined;
data sharing deliberately chosen.

Answer:

Which extensions did the wizard suggest, which did you install and why?
Which pages did WooCommerce create (names)?
What does WooCommerce > Status say about the PHP version and the WordPress memory limit?

After "done" you will see the model answer: at most the extensions your plan needs; four pages (Shop, Basket, Checkout, My account); a PHP version and a memory limit (lesson 7.2 comes back to this).

Exercise D2.1: A test shop and the setup wizard

You do this exercise yourself; no one checks it. Tick off what you've done and mark the exercise as done.

Test shop on a subdomain or in staging
Search engines blocked or coming soon mode on
WooCommerce installed from wordpress.org or the plugin screen
Setup wizard completed
Recommended extensions deliberately chosen or declined
Data sharing deliberately chosen

Which extensions did the wizard suggest, which did you install and why?

Which pages did WooCommerce create (names)?

What does WooCommerce > Status say for PHP version and WordPress memory limit?

Also save my answers in My courses (so you can view and download them on any device). Don't include any passwords or other secrets.

Here's how you could approach this

At most the extensions your plan needs; four pages (Shop, Cart, Checkout, My account); a PHP version and memory limit filled in (lesson 7.2 comes back to this).

Your ticks and notes only stay in this browser; we don't send them anywhere. If you're signed in, we only save in My courses that you've done the exercise.

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