How to Install Magento 2.4.9 on Localhost With Docker

Older tutorials — including the first version of this post — installed Magento with XAMPP and a virtual host. That no longer works well: Magento 2.4.x requires OpenSearch, specific PHP extensions and versions, and benefits from Redis or Valkey, Varnish and RabbitMQ. The reliable way to run Magento locally today is Docker, using a tool built for Magento.

Choose a Docker Tool

We use DDEV below. On Windows, run everything inside WSL2 for good file system performance.

Step 1: Get Magento Access Keys

Magento packages are downloaded from repo.magento.com. Create access keys in your Adobe Commerce Marketplace account (My Profile → Access Keys). The public key is the Composer username and the private key is the password.

Step 2: Create the Project With DDEV

mkdir magento249 && cd magento249
ddev config --project-type=magento2 --docroot=pub --upload-dirs=media --disable-settings-management --php-version=8.4
ddev add-on get ddev/ddev-opensearch
ddev start

ddev composer create-project --repository-url=https://repo.magento.com/ magento/project-community-edition:2.4.9 .

Composer asks for your Magento access keys the first time. Check the add-on and database versions against the official 2.4.9 system requirements and adjust DDEV's database setting if needed.

Step 3: Install Magento

ddev magento setup:install \
  --base-url="https://magento249.ddev.site/" \
  --db-host=db --db-name=db --db-user=db --db-password=db \
  --search-engine=opensearch --opensearch-host=opensearch --opensearch-port=9200 \
  --admin-firstname=Admin --admin-lastname=User \
  --admin-email=admin@example.com --admin-user=admin --admin-password='Admin12345!' \
  --language=en_GB --currency=GBP --timezone=Europe/London \
  --use-rewrites=1 --backend-frontname=admin

ddev magento deploy:mode:set developer
ddev magento module:disable Magento_TwoFactorAuth Magento_AdminAdobeImsTwoFactorAuth
ddev magento cache:flush

Only disable two-factor authentication on local development environments. Keep it enabled on staging and production.

Step 4: Add Sample Data (Optional)

ddev magento sampledata:deploy
ddev magento setup:upgrade
ddev magento indexer:reindex

Step 5: Add Redis or Valkey and Mailpit

DDEV includes Mailpit for catching outgoing email. Add a Redis add-on and configure Magento's cache and sessions to use it, so your local setup behaves like production:

ddev add-on get ddev/ddev-redis
ddev restart
ddev magento setup:config:set --cache-backend=redis --cache-backend-redis-server=redis --cache-backend-redis-db=0
ddev magento setup:config:set --session-save=redis --session-save-redis-host=redis --session-save-redis-db=2

Step 6: Install Hyvä (Optional)

With the free Hyvä Theme you can develop a modern storefront locally. Follow our Hyvä installation guide; Node.js is available inside DDEV containers for the Tailwind build.

Useful Commands

Importing a Copy of Production

To debug a real store locally, import a recent database dump with ddev import-db, then update base URLs with bin/magento config:set web/unsecure/base_url and web/secure/base_url for your local domain. Always anonymise customer data first — tools such as n98-magerun2's database dump stripping options can exclude or anonymise sensitive tables. Copy only the media you need, or use a placeholder image module, to keep the environment small.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still install Magento 2 with XAMPP?

It is possible with effort, but XAMPP does not include OpenSearch and its PHP setup often does not match Magento's requirements. Docker-based tools are far more reliable.

How much RAM do I need for Magento locally?

Plan for at least 8 GB available to Docker, and 16 GB on the machine for a comfortable experience with OpenSearch running.

Should my local environment match production?

Yes. Use the same PHP, database, OpenSearch and cache versions as production to avoid surprises at deployment.