How to install Liferay Portal (on Windows XP)

 - Java 6 JDK
(http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/widget/jdk6.jsp)
 - Mysql Community Server 5.x
(http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/).
You'll need a database manager (Mysql Administrator or
other).
 - Liferay Portal 5.2.3 CE bundled with Tomcat 6.0
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/lportal/files/Liferay%20Po
rtal/liferay-portal-tomcat-6.0-5.2.3.zip)
 - Notepad++
(http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download)

Unzip all the files in your HD. Remember the path in order to
the next step.
 We need to add a new user variable. Click on
"Environment Variables" at "System
Properties" section on "My Computer". Click
on "New" and add the variable with this
values:
variable name: JAVA_HOME
variable value: C:\Java\jdk1.6.0_20
(you have to put your jdk path here)
Fig. 1. Environment Variable "JAVA_HOME"
 Then, edit the system variable “Path” and add
the new variable and save all changes.
variable value: %JAVA_HOME%\bin; (don’t
delete the other values)
Fig. 2. "JAVA_HOME" added to "Path"
 Liferay Portal works with a database called “hsql”
 To work with a Mysql database, create a database called
“lportal” and a user with all the grants to that database.
Then create a file called “portal-ext.properties” on
“C:\liferay-portal-5.2.3″. Copy and paste the next code in
it:

jdbc.default.driverClassName=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
jdbc.default.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost/lportal?useUnicode
=true&characterEncoding=UTF-
8&useFastDateParsing=false
jdbc.default.username=lportal
jdbc.default.password=lportal

 Where the words in bold are: database name, username

and password.
 On “C:\liferay-portal-5.2.3\tomcat-
6.0.18\webapps\ROOT” delete the folders
“sevencogs-theme” and “sevencogs-hook”
(these are sample themes and hooks).
 Run Liferay Portal. Go to
C:\liferay-portal-5.2.3\tomcat-6.0.18\bin (or
wherever your folder is unzipped)
and execute “startup.bat”. After a few
minutes, the welcome page will appear on
your browser.
Fig. 3. Liferay Portal Home page
 To get to the portal administration, sign in
as:
username: test@liferay.com
password: test