Installing SMF

There are two ways it can generally be installed. The easiest
way being to use a “one click” installer such as Fanastico. You
may however need to manually install it if your host doesn’t
offer an installer or if it is down for maintenance.

The SMF forum on this site was installed manually.

Located here:SMF Forum
And one with TinyPortal here:SMF Forum with TinyPortal

The installation process is relatively easy and mostly straight
forward.

1) Make a folder on you computer named SMF so it will be
easier to find.

2) Go to the SMF site and download either the current version
of SMF or their Webinstall. An important note: The SMF Webinstall may not work on all shared servers.

3) if you downloaded the current version of SMF unzip the
files in you SMF folder, it will open all of the needed files and
folders inside that folder.

3a) If you decided to try their Webinstall, simply follow their
instructions here: Webinstall instructions

4) On you site create a folder for your SMF forum.
Typically this will be named either www.yoursite.com/sfm/
or www.yoursite.com/forum/.

5) Create a MySQL database. You can use whatever name
for it you want but the easiest would simply be smf.

5a) Depending on your host you may have to create a password
for the MySQL database. Many host use a default password
though, usually the same one you were given when you bought
your hosting package.

6) Upload the files you unzipped in the SMF folder on your
computer to the folder you made on your site. It will take
a while because SMF has a lot of image files in it’s themes
folders.

7) After you have uploaded the files use you browser to
go to: www.yoursite.com/sfm/install.php this will start the
installation process.

8.) Enter the needed information in the required fields and just
follow the on screen instruction. Some of the information won’t
need to be changed but most of it is fill in the blanks…

Basic Settings
Forum name: Just enter the desired name of your forum
Forum URL: This will probably be filled in by the installer
Gzip Output: This will be checked already so there is no need
to change it.
Database Sessions: This will also be checked so there so there is
no need to change it.
UTF-8 Character Set: This is unchecked. If you are planning to use
international language packs it might be a good idea to check it.
Allow Stat Collection: This is unchecked also, If you want to help
SMF to visit your site to get ideas on how to improve the software
you can check it but you are not required to.

MySQL Server Settings
MySQL server name
MySQL username
MySQL password
MySQL database name
MySQL table prefix

This is all pretty much straightforward fill in the blanks stuff.
If you are in doubt about some it always remember to ask
someone before you get in over your head.

Create Your Account
Your username: Your preferred screen name
Password; Your password
Password: Verify your password
Email Address: Your email addy (must be a valid one)

This creates the forum’s root Admin account (your’s). It will require
your MySQL Database Password so the software can be sure you are
authorized to create the Root Admin.

And now you have reached the final page of the installer.
Congratulations, the installation process is complete!

Check the one box to remove the install.php and click the provided link
to get into you new forum.

And that’s it.