A common question we get on our support forum is "what is the difference between a Joomla template and the quickstart package?" and also "I tried to install the quickstart package via the Joomla installer but I get an xml can not be found error - what did I do wrong?". This overview is intended to be the definitive answer to both of these questions.

What is the quickstart package?

Our quickstart packages are complete Joomla installations that have been personalised for the given template that you are trying to install. The zip contains an entire Joomla installation as well as all of the other extensions we used on the demo site. The sample data in the quickstart package is also personalised according to the template and is different to the sample data found in the default Joomla package. But if you have Joomla already running you can't use Quickstart package with sample data and you need to install template and extra extensions independantly via the Joomla installer.

I installed Joomla using Fantastico, can I use the quickstart package?

It is not possible to install the quickstart package on top of an existing Joomla installation, so in the case that you installed Joomla via Joomla or some other auto install script it is not possible to install the quickstart package on top of this.

Does the Joomla template come with the sample data and the other extensions?

One of the benefits of Joomla is its flexibility and that means that many of the features that you see on the demo sites is achieved using separately installed Joomla modules. So if you are not able to use the quickstart packages then you need to install the template and extra extensions independantly via the Joomla installer.

Can not find xml file in installer error.

This error usually occurs when you try to install the quickstart package via the Joomla installer. Its is not possible to install the quickstart package via the Joomla installer.

Troubleshooting

Do you have Joomla already installed?

If yes, you can't use Quickstart package and have to install the template, framework and any other modules independantly. You can then use the screenshots we provide on template specific documentation page to insert the values that we have used on the demo. It certainly takes a lot more time to do it this way but it's the only way possible to implement a template into an existing Joomla site.

Did you install Quickstart package and you don't have sample data?

Than you didn't follow our documentation and you didn't install sample data during joomla installation. Recommended approach start again.