This topic is very complex, since there is an unmanageable number of providers and an even more unmanageable combination of installed Apache, PHP, and MySQL versions and Webspace administration tools such as Visas and Plesk.

These are the sticking points:

• A PHP safe mode, possibly activated in the php.ini

• Prohibited conversion of URLs with Apache because of the non-activation of the so called rewrite engine

• Directory rights in Linux that are set differently than in Windows

In principle the simplest approach that actually always works is the following:

1. Load the Joomla! 1.5 beta.zip file onto your local PC and unpack it in a temporary directory.
2. Load the just unpacked files by means of FTP onto your rented server. The files must be installed in the publicly accessible directory. These directories are usually named htdocs, public_html, or simply html. You can specify a subdirectory within the directory into which you install your Joomla!. Many web hosts allow you to link your rented domain name to a directory. This name is necessary to call your website from a browser.
3. You have to find out what your database is called. Usually one or several databases are included in your web-hosting package. Sometimes the user name, database name, and password are fixed; sometimes you have to set them up. There is usually a browser-based configuration interface at your disposal. You can see an example of such an interface in the following figure. You will need these access data for Joomla!’s web installer.

You can get going after you have loaded these data onto your server and are in possession of your access data.