Error "Sorry, I need a wp-config-sample.php file to work from. Please re-upload this file from your WordPress installation."

Question

I have been getting this error while installing Wordpress locally:

"Error establishing a database connection This either means that the username and password information in your wp-config.php file is incorrect or we can't contact the database server at localhost. This could mean your host's database server is down."

I searched the web for a solution. Most people said to check if MySql server is online (MAMP says it is) or change the wp-config-sample.php file.

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'wp_demo');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'root');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'root');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

I have done it and still to no avail. The last step was changing the "wp-config-sample.php" filename to "wp-config.php" which netted me this error:

"Sorry, I need a wp-config-sample.php file to work from. Please re-upload this file from your WordPress installation."

I am using Win 7, MAMP 3.3.1 PHP 7.1.5. Localhost is on port 8888. MySql is port 8889

Solution

Change db_host from localhost to 127.0.0.1:8889