PHP Installation | How to Install and Configure PHP 5 | PHP: Manual Installation Steps

 PHP Installation :

Many web developers want to run Apache and PHP on their own computer since it allows them to easily test their scripts and programs before they put them "live" on the Internet. This article gives a step by step guide on how you can install and configure PHP5 to work together with the Apache HTTP Server on Windows. The procedure has been tested to work on both Windows XP and Vista.
If you have not already installed Apache on your machine, check out one of the guides listed below. This "How To" guide assumes that you have already completed installing Apache.

• If you are using Apache 1.3.x, see the guide How to Install the Apache Web Server 1.x on Windows.
• If you plan to use one of the Apache 2 or 2.2 web servers on Windows XP, see the tutorial How to Install and Configure Apache 2 on Windows instead.
• If you are using Apache 2.2 on Windows Vista, please read How to Install Apache 2.2 on Windows Vista.

Note: those planning to install PHP 4 on Apache 1.x should read my article How to Install and Configure PHP4 to Run with Apache on Windows instead.

Steps to Setting Up PHP 5 :

1. Download PHP 5

   Before you begin, get a copy of PHP 5 from the PHP download page. In particular, download the VC6 thread-safe zip package from the "Windows Binaries" section — that is, don't get the installer. For example, select the package labelled "PHP 5.2.5 zip package" if 5.2.5 is the current version.
   [Update: note that I have not tested the procedure below with any of the PHP 5.3 versions, only with 5.2.5, which was the latest version at the time I originally wrote this. In theory, the procedure should work with later 5.2 versions as well. I'm not sure about 5.3 though. A version jump from 5.2 to 5.3 usually means bigger changes than simple bug fixes. If you want to be sure the procedure below will work, just get the latest of the 5.2 series.]

2. Install PHP 5

   Create a folder on your hard disk for PHP. I suggest "c:\php" although you can use other names if you wish. Personally though, I prefer to avoid names with spaces in it, like "c:\Program Files\php" to avoid potential problems with programs that cannot handle such things. I will assume that you used c:\php in this tutorial.
   Extract all the files from the zip package into that folder. To do that simply double-click the zip file to open it, and drag all the files and folders to c:\php.
   

3. Upgraders: Remove the Old PHP.INI File from Your Windows Directory

   If you are upgrading to PHP 5 from an older version, go to your windows directory, typically c:\windows, and delete any php.ini file that you have previously placed there.
   

4. Configuring PHP

   Go to the c:\php folder and make a copy of the file "php.ini-recommended". Name the new file "php.ini". That is, you should now have a file "c:\php\php.ini", identical in content with "c:\php\php.ini-recommended".
   Note: if you are using Apache 1, you should either move the php.ini file to your windows directory, "C:\Windows" on most systems, or configure your PATH environment variable to include "c:\php". If you don't know how to do the latter, just move the php.ini file to the "c:\windows" folder. You do not have to do this if you are using Apache 2, since we will include a directive later in the Apache 2 configuration file to specify the location of the php.ini file.
   Use an ASCII text editor (such as Notepad, which can be found in the Accessories folder of your Start menu) to open "php.ini". You may need to make the following changes to the file, depending on your requirements:

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