Install Magento 2 extensions using Web Setup Wizard

We all agree that the concept of 'Extensions' is nice. They allow us to easily add more features and hence help us improve our webshops.

Last week we discussed some factors that every site administrator should consider while choosing an extension for their Magento webshop.
Once you have selected and purchased the right extension, the next natural step is to install it.

There are multiple ways to install new extensions in Magento 2 and we will be discussing all of them one-by-one in our posts.

The easiest method to install an extension in Magento 2 is by using the 'Extension manager - Web setup wizard' option that is available in Magento backend. In this post, we will walk you through each step of this particular method.

Before you start installing an extension using this 'Web setup wizard' method, some words of caution:

• You need an account at Magento marketplace for this installation method to work. If you do not have an account there then please create one first.
• You need to purchase the extension that you want to install from Magento marketplace. This method will not work for extensions that are not purchased from Magento marketplace directly.
• It is strongly advised that extensions should be installed by Magento experts/developers only. You should at-least have a Magento developer on stand-by while you attempt to install extensions yourself.
• Try installing any extension on a development environment first and do it on live site only when you are sure that it works well.
• When you are installing an extension on your live site, make sure that you take a backup of files and database and put the site on maintenance mode.
• It is also important that you choose the right time to do an extension installation on your webshop. We recommend that you do it while there is least amount of traffic on your webshop.
• It is important that you have set-up a file owner which shares its group with the web server user group
• Make sure that Magento cron jobs are set up and running correctly
• Make sure that Magento file system permissions are set correctly. This should always be the case for a secure and healthy live site.

Once you have covered above points, you can start with the extension installation process. You need to follow below explained steps from your Magento backend interface:

Step 1: Login to your Magento backend with a user which has administrator rights. Once logged-in, from left menu bar go to System > Tools > Web Setup Wizard >  Extension Manager
You will be taken to a new Setup page which will be a different page than your Magento backend.
 

Step 2: The page will expect you to enter your 'Public key' and 'Private keys'. These keys are used to connect to your Magento Marketplace account and officially download extensions and themes from marketplace.

If you already have your Magento marketplace 'Public key' and 'Private key' ready with you then you can enter them in respective fields and click on 'Submit' button.

If you do not have a key pair:

• You need to click on the link 'Magento Marketplace account page' and it will open Magento market place in a new browser tab.
• Once you are on Magento marketplace website, login using your Magento marketplace account details.
• If you do not have an account there already then you can create a new one. An account is needed to install and upgrade Magento extensions.
• Once logged into marketplace: Go to 'My profile' page and under 'Marketplace' tab click on 'Access Keys' link.
• On this page you will see 2 tabs, first one is for Magento 2 and second one is for Magento 1. Now since we are installing a Magento 2 extension, we need to use access keys in Magento 2 tab.
• You might already have access keys here if you have created them in past. You can just copy the values that you need to enter in that Extension manager page.
• We suggest you create separate set of keys for each of your Magento projects/webshops.
• If you do not have keys here or want to create new ones then you need to click on 'Create new access keys' button.
   

A pop-up will open where you can enter a name for the key pair that you are about to generate. It can be any name that can help you recognise the key pair later on.
 

Click on 'Ok' button and it will automatically generate a random and secure key pair for you.

Step 3: Copy these keys one by one and paste them in respective fields in the Extension Manager page and then click on 'Submit' button.



 

Step 4: You will now be connected to your Magento marketplace account. It will display an overview of all your purchases and other history. Click on Extensions 'Review and Install' button.

Step 5: All extensions available in your Magento marketplace account will get listed here. Look for the extension that you want to install and click on the 'Install' link that is present in front of it on right side.
 

Step 6: Now you have entered the extension installation process and it has 3 sub-steps in it.
In first step, it will show you a page from where you can start the 'Readiness Check'. In this step, Magento checks if your system meets all requirements of the extension you are trying to install.
 

It takes a few moments and then shows the results. If even one check fails then you need to resolve that problem before you can continue with the extension installation process.
If all results are positive then you can continue to the next step.

Step 7: The next step is a precautionary but important measure. It allows you to take a backup of your webshop before the new extension is installed in the system. You can choose to take a backup of your files (code), images (media) and database.

The backup process will run for sometime. It depends on the options you have selected and the size of your webshop. If you have alot of files and images and big database then it might take some time to create a backup.

Once done, it will tell you the location on the server where the backup files are stored.

Step 8: Now that the readiness check is passed and backup is taken, the new extension can finally be installed. That is the next step.

Once you click on 'Install' button it will start the installation process and will run for some moments and will then show the success message.

That is it! The selected extension is now installed in your webshop. After this step you can go back to the setup page and disconnect from there.
Now you can login to your Magento backend again and look for installed extension's configuration section and complete the configurations as per requirements and its user-manual.

At Hungersoft, we provide extension installation services for all our extensions at nominal fees. Don't forget to select it while you are purchasing our Magento extensions.
We can also assist you with installing other third-party extensions. Feel free to contact us for all your Magento development requirements.