Ahhh…..PunBB. One of the better open source forum scripts out there. It feels a bit like PhpBB but PunBB is definitely more lightweight and responsive than PhpBB. I am a definite fan of it as I am always keen on scripts that are lightweight. No point having a script that comes with tons of features which nobody uses and is very slow and sluggish. It would be better to create a script that is fast and responsive and if you need additional functionality, add on or modify the script yourself. Don’t forget to thank the developers of PunBB for making such a nice script.

Anyway, installing PunBB onto your server is a very easy thing to do. This tutorial (with pictures!) will show you the steps to get it right the first time. You will need PHP support and MySQL. I believe that PunBB supports PostgreSQL and SQLite, but in this tutorial, we will not cover them. Anyway, most webhost should support MySQL, so unless you have a preference for which database to use, then MySQL should be more than sufficient for our needs. No need to complicate things, right?

Okay, we will begin the tutorial now.

Your very first step is to download the compressed file from PunBB’s website.I have downloaded the zip version as this is the most popular achieving format for Windows.In fact, Windows XP itself can handle and extract files from zip files without any problems.  So download the file and save it somewhere you can remember. The latest version at the time of writing is version 1.2.19.

I am using IZArc to extract the files from the PunBB zipped file. You can of course use any third party software to do that. Or you can simply use Window’s own utility to extract the files. It comes with a Wizard to guide you on how to extract your files too.

Remember where you extract the files to as you will need to upload those files to the server as well as modify some of the files for PunBB to work. Again, I would like to stress that it is very easy to do, so dont worry.

After you have extracted the files, you will need to upload the files to your webserver. Please note that in the newly created PunBB folder which you have extracted the files to, there are two additional folders, one of them is called “upload“. The files IN that folder is what you will need to upload to the server. Do no upload the punBB folder and its contents as this will create 2 subdirectories and your URL will change (to punbb-1.2.19\upload)! This is very important!

I am using Filezilla as my FTP Client. If you have some other FTP client which you would like to use, please by all means use it. The main reason why I am using Filezilla is because it is stable. I never had any problems with my FTP file transfers after I switch to Filezilla. Plus it is free. So if you are using Filezilla, browse to the folder which you have extracted and upload the files IN the upload folder. Ensure that you upload ALL the files in that folder.

Of course to do all these, you will need to get your FTP hostname, username and password from your webhost.

Hooray, all the files have been uploaded successfully. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection and your webhost, it should take about 10 minutes or so to complete uploading all the files.

After you have uploaded all the files, your next step is to use your Internet Explorer or any other web browser (eg Firefox) browse to the URL you have just uploaded the files to. For example, your domain name is happy.com and you have uploaded your files to a directory called “forums”, you should browse to http://www/happy.com/forums/install.php. Note the “install.php” at the end. You will be directed to the PunBB installer which will guide you the rest of the way.

First of all, it will ask you for your database name, database username, database password and the database table prefix. If you have no idea how to create a MySQL database, please read my tutorial on how to create MySQL databases on Cpanel and MySQL databases on DirectAdmin. After you have created the necessary database for your PunBB script, you will have the database server hostname (usually localhost), database name, database username and password. Remember to choose the correct type of database. For the prefix, you can add anything. In my example, I have used “punbb_”. The prefix is meant for databases which have been shared by different applications and thus a unique prefix is needed to avoid duplicate tables in the database.

Next, scroll down and key in your administrator name, password and email address.For the Base URL of your PunBB installation box, key in the correct URL of your site. It is the same URL you have browsed to in order to access the page without the “install.php” at the end. You will need to remember the administrator username and password as you will need these information to access your PunBB administrative control panel. Without those information, you are doomed! Click on Start install to continue.

Hmm….looks like there are some more steps to go.  First of all, we need to create a file called “config.php” and copy some information to it then upload it to the server. The next thing we need to do is to modify some permissions on certain folders on your web server.

Anyway, you will need to copy the contents. So select all the text in the textbox and copy them. Your settings will be different from what I have, don’t worry, PunBB will provide you with the correct settings. All you have to do is to copy them.

Now, lets go back to the folder where you have extracted the files from the punbb file to. In the upload folder, you can see the file called “install.php”. What you need to do is to open the file with a text editor in order to modify it. In my example, I am using PSPad as my text editor. You can use any text editor, the steps below should be the same. Again, don’t worry, if you can do copying, you can do this!

Okay, now select all the text and choose paste. You will need to overwrite all the text in the file.

There, all done.

Your next step is to save the file. But you will need to choose “save as” because the filename will need to be changed to “config.php”.

There, change the name to “config.php”. This is the file which you will need to upload to your web server again.

So, go back to your FTP Client and upload the “config.php” file to your server. Remember to upload that file to the same default (original) directory and not any other subdirectory. It should be in the same directory as the “install.php” file.

There you do. Nearly complete. We just have several more things to go.

Your next step is to change permissions for the cache folder. So right click on the cache folder in your webserver and then choose File attributes. If you are using some other third party FTP Client, then refer to their documentation on how to change file permission. Another word for this is called “Chmod”.

You should chmod 777 on the folder. Or just allow all permissions.

The next thing you need to do is to modify permissions for the avatars folder. It is located inside the IMG folder. You will have to chmod 777 on that folder as well. So after you have found the avatars folder, right click and choose File attributes.

Do the same just like for the cache folder.

Now, for security reasons, you should delete off the “install.php” file. So go back to your default directory in your FTP Client and look for the “install.php file”. Right click on choose Delete to delete it from your server.If you are using some other FTP Client, there should be some way to delete off the file as well.

Now, let’s go back to our browser and choose “Go to forum index” located right below the webpage.

There all done! You have just installed your very first PunBB based forum! Congratulations, you deserve a drink! However, I would suggest you to go and play around with some of the administrative settings first before you get too drank and trash your computer.

I hope that you find this tutorial useful. If you have any suggestions, please leave some comments. Thank you. And if you can afford it, please donate a few bucks so that I can continue to write more of such articles.