Jun 2, 2026 · LMS · 1min read

Installing Chamilo on localhost

A local installation guide for Chamilo LMS, setting up a lightweight online learning and course platform at http://localhost/chamilo.

Chamilo is an open-source LMS platform that emphasizes ease of use and quick deployment, making it suitable for training institutions and small to medium-sized enterprises for online training. Compared to Moodle, it has lower resource consumption in certain scenarios.

Prerequisites

PHP 7.4+ or 8.x (refer to the Chamilo documentation)
MySQL/MariaDB
Apache + mod_rewrite or Nginx
Extensions: gd, intl, mbstring, curl, zip, etc.

Installation Steps

Download Chamilo LMS from chamilo.org or GitHub.
Extract to htdocs/chamilo/.
Create a database chamilo_local in phpMyAdmin with character set utf8mb4.
Ensure directories like app/cache/, app/upload/, and main/default/courses/ are writable.
Access http://localhost/chamilo in your browser.
Configure the database and admin account according to the installation wizard.

Database Configuration

Item	Value
Database Host	`localhost`
Database Name	`chamilo_local`
User	`root`
Password	Local MySQL password

Common Paths

Path	Description
`/chamilo`	Platform homepage / Login
`/chamilo/main/admin`	Admin area
`/chamilo/main/inc/`	Core include files (do not modify)

Comparison with Moodle

Item	Chamilo	Moodle
Positioning	Easy deployment, training-oriented	Comprehensive features, large plugin ecosystem
Data Directory	Mostly configured within installation directory	Separate `moodledata`
Resource	Relatively lower	Relatively higher

Frequently Asked Questions

Unable to write after installation
On Linux/macOS, execute chmod or chown on directories like app/cache, upload, etc., for the web user.

URL Rewriting
Enable Apache mod_rewrite; use the official .htaccess provided.

Version and PHP
Older versions of Chamilo may not support PHP 8.2+, please refer to the official compatibility table.

Conclusion

Chamilo can be accessed locally at http://localhost/chamilo, and can be installed with PHP + MySQL, making it suitable for lightweight LMS and training course prototype development.