installing joomla quickstart packages on xampp localhost

[Adrian32]

So I've followed the basic steps in all the tutorials and I get to the part:



Create a new folder entitled “Joomla30” in folder “htdocs” in XAMPP folder. Normally it will be located at “C:\xampp\htdocs”
Unpack the downloaded package file into the folder “Joomla30”
Go to the URL “http://localhost/Joomla30”

(http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/issue ... -made-easy)

Now obviously I want to use the quickstart templates at this point, BUT i then get this error message:

Deprecated: iconv_set_encoding(): Use of iconv.internal_encoding is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\Joomla\favouritedark_j!3_UnzipFirst\libraries\joomla\string\string.php on line 27

Deprecated: iconv_set_encoding(): Use of iconv.input_encoding is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\Joomla\favouritedark_j!3_UnzipFirst\libraries\joomla\string\string.php on line 28

Deprecated: iconv_set_encoding(): Use of iconv.output_encoding is deprecated in C:\xampp\htdocs\Joomla\favouritedark_j!3_UnzipFirst\libraries\joomla\string\string.php on line 29

I've tried different quickstart files from different companies. I've tried installing xampp on different PCs. I've tried deleting the files and PHP databases an restarting. What is going on?

[toivo]

The magazine article shows how to install a Joomla installation package on XAMPP. QuickStart packages contain a full Joomla installation and a template.

You can install Joomla first and then a separate template as a normal Joomla extension. If you install a QuickStart package, it replaces your Joomla installation, unless you expand the package into a separate folder which you have configured as another virtual host in Apache.

You can get rid of the Deprecated messages by fine tuning the error_reporting setting in the php.ini file.

[Adrian32]

Can I suggest a magazine article that focuses on installing the Quickstart package as the installation??
I'm sure it wouldn't be much different...

I know I could install the template and modules and other extensions individually after a normal installation, but that is not my question. My question is how do I install the quickstart package as the original joomla installation and why is it failing? My guess would be that it is recognizing a previous installation of Joomla (3.4.1) - if so, how do i get rid of that previous installation without deleting xampp?

Or alternatively, how do I expand the package into a separate folder which you(I) have configured as another virtual host in Apache?

I'm obviously new at this but I do believe I am following the instructions correctly.
Thank you for your quick response - I appreciate the help!

[sovainfo]

You install a quickstart package the same way you install Joomla normally. By extracting the distribution into a folder and requesting the folder in a browser. Note that the folder shouldn't contain a previous installation. Not with Joomla, nor with a quickstart.

To get rid of an installation you remove the contents of the database (tables with the prefix) and the files/folders in the folder you placed the distribution in.

Creating a virtual host is nothing more than point a subdomain to a folder in your webspace.

The messages you receive tell you there is a mismatch of quickstart and xampp. Which xampp are you using? No, it is not 3.2.1, that is the version of the cpanel, noting to do with the version of XAMPP.
When you are using the latest, try an earlier version like 1.8.1.