MCQ Practice Portal v2.9.29 — Installation Instructions
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A. Requirements
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- PHP 8.0 or newer (8.1/8.2 recommended)
- Extensions: pdo_mysql, mbstring, openssl, zip (ZipArchive for Excel)
- MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
- HTTPS recommended for production

B. New install (shared hosting / XAMPP)
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1. Create an empty MySQL database and a user with full rights on it.
2. Extract this zip into the web root (or subfolder).
3. Visit:  http(s)://your-site/install.php
4. Enter database host (often "localhost"), database name, user, password.
5. Create the first Admin account (choose a strong password).
6. When finished, DELETE or rename install.php.
7. Open Admin login: /admin/login.php

C. Configuration file
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config/database.local.php is created by the installer.
Always keep a backup of this file when updating the application.

D. After installation checklist
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[ ] College Profile: name, logo, open practice toggles
[ ] Departments and subjects
[ ] Units/chapters
[ ] Questions (manual or Import Questions)
[ ] Managed students (Import Students — Admin only)
[ ] Test templates with open/close times if needed
[ ] Staff accounts (optional, department-scoped)

E. Updating from an older version
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1. Backup database (Admin → Backup) and files.
2. Replace application files; keep config/database.local.php.
3. Apply any new migrations under sql/ as noted in CHANGELOG_LATEST.txt.
4. Clear browser cache / hard refresh.

F. Manuals
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docs/MCQ_Practice_Portal_User_Manual_v2.9.29.pdf
docs/MCQ_Practice_Portal_User_Manual_v2.9.29.docx

Version: 2.9.29
