Title: Hidden Installation
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Hidden Installation

 *  [mliving](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mliving/)
 * (@mliving)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hidden-installation/)
 * Is there a way I can install WordPress on the root of my domain but keep everything
   hidden until I get everything working and the pages populated.
 * I’m currently testing it at home on an internal server but I want to start setting
   up the production site on a remote host but want to be able to keep everything
   hidden with a placeholder page until everything in WordPress is ready to go.
 * Thanks
    mliving

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [Michael Bishop](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miklb/)
 * (@miklb)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hidden-installation/#post-210147)
 * would renaming the index.php file do it?
 *  [brainwidth](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brainwidth/)
 * (@brainwidth)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hidden-installation/#post-210149)
 * You can use .htaccess to redirect traffic to your placeholder while you work 
   on your production platform.
 *  Thread Starter [mliving](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mliving/)
 * (@mliving)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hidden-installation/#post-210157)
 * What is the default index extension of WordPress? index.php?
 * If there are multiple index pages with different extensions like:
    index.html,
   index.htm, index.php. Which index page with load first?
 * I don’t want to muck with .htaccess and frankly don’t know why you need it with
   WordPress… feel free to explain.
 * Thankd
    mliving
 *  [Michael Bishop](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miklb/)
 * (@miklb)
 * [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hidden-installation/#post-210170)
 * mliving, I do know that to have permalinks, that is, an archived post to look
   like, [http://www.yoursite.com/category/posttitle](http://www.yoursite.com/category/posttitle)
   
   you need htaccess. Some use it for fighting spam. Personally, the only time I
   tried to alter the htaccess file, I did something wrong, and had to go through
   some kinds of hassle to replace it with a backed up copy, so until I learn more,
   I don’t touch it.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Hidden Installation’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [htaccess](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/htaccess/)
 * [installation](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/installation/)

 * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/)
 * 4 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Michael Bishop](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miklb/)
 * Last activity: [21 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hidden-installation/#post-210170)
 * Status: not resolved

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