How to Install DVWA on Your Personal Machine for

Testing:
Instructions for Linux, Mac OS, and Windows
Sigpwny UIUC

September 18, 2014

1 BSD, Plan 9, non-Mainstream OS Users

You have my respect. Figure this shit out yourself.

2 Linux Users
Install XAMPP
Go to the XAMPP download page and grab the linux .run file. Open a terminal and
navigate to the folder you chose to download it to. Then ”chmod +x xampp-linux-x64-
versionnumber-installer.run.” This will mark the file as an executable so you can run it.
Then do a ”sudo ./xampp-linux-x64-versionnumber-installer.run.” A GUI will pop up and
you can install the software. Then you will want to ”cd /opt/lampp/” and then ”./xampp start”
Congrats. Xampp should now be running. You can now check by going to http://localhost/
in your browser and you should see the xampp logo.

Install DVWA
Download DVWA (linked version in this PDF is 1.0.8 - the latest as of the time of this writing,
but may not be the latest for you). Extract the zip file. Now copy and paste the dvwa folder

1
into \opt\lampp\htdocs

Configure DVWA
Go to your browser, then go to http://127.0.0.1/dvwa/login.php Username is admin, pass-
word is password. You should recieve a mysql error: that’s okay.
Open up \opt\lampp\htdocs\dvwa\config\config.inc.php and find the line that says:
$ DVWA[ ’db password’ ] = ’p@ssw0rd’;
and change it to:
$ DVWA[ ’db password’ ] = ”;
Now you should be able to set up the sql tables in dvwa in the browser.

3 Mac OS X Users
Install/Run XAMPP
Go to the XAMPP download page and grab the Mac OS .dmg file. Run the installer. The
default install path is /Applications/XAMPP. That will be important later. When you launch
the application, select the tab that says ”Manage Servers.” Start Apache and MySQL.
Open up a web browser and go to http://localhost/xampp/index.php and you should see
xampp.

Install DVWA
Download DVWA (linked version in this PDF is 1.0.8 - the latest as of the time of this writing,
but may not be the latest for you). Extract the zip file. Now copy and paste the dvwa folder
into \Applications\XAMPP\xamppfiles\htdocs You should be able to see the mysql error
if you navigate to http://localhost/dvwa/login.php.

Configure DVWA
To fix the mysql error, open up \Applications\XAMPP\xamppfiles\htdocs\dvwa\config\config.inc.php
and find the line that says:
$ DVWA[ ’db password’ ] = ’p@ssw0rd’;
and change it to:
$ DVWA[ ’db password’ ] = ”;
Now you should be able to set up the sql tables in dvwa in the browser.

Install Linux
Mac OS sucks.
4 Windows Users
Install XAMPP
Go to the XAMPP download page and grab the windows exe file. Run the installer. If you
get a message about User Access Control, install it, and then search the start menu for
UAC and ”change user account control settings” and turn the UAC to never. (Remember
to re-enable it after you’re done with DVWA).

Run XAMPP
Go to the start menu, search xampp and launch the ”XAMPP Control Panel” application.
Click on the red x next to Apache and MySQL and install them and allow them through the
firewall. Then in the control panel, then hit the start button to start apache and mysql.

Install DVWA
Download DVWA (linked version in this PDF is 1.0.8 - the latest as of the time of this writing,
but may not be the latest for you). Extract the zip file. Now copy and paste the dvwa folder
into C:\xampp\htdocs

Configure DVWA
Go to your browser, then go to http://127.0.0.1/dvwa/login.php Username is admin, pass-
word is password. You should recieve a mysql error: that’s okay.
Open up C:\xampp\htdocs\dvwa\config\config.inc.php and find the line that says:
$ DVWA[ ’db password’ ] = ’p@ssw0rd’;
and change it to:
$ DVWA[ ’db password’ ] = ”;
Now you should be able to set up the sql tables in dvwa in the browser.

Install Linux
Windows sucks.