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Testing many things (CMSes, themes etc.) on the internet for me and many others is sometimes a big pain and it has many disadvantages. You need to buy a domain, to pay for hosting, to use your internet providers slow upload speeds to upload a files over ftp, whenever you want to change some configuration of Apache or PHP you have to contact your hosting provider and wait some time until they response and I could continue with other disadvantages.
There are many all in one packages, which will install all together like WAMP or XAMPP, but I do not like them. In my opinion, they make a lot of uncontrolled rubbish on the computer and they are not often up to date. But they are good as a very fast solution for people who do not want to learn how it all works and they only need the fastest way to install local web server, to test their projects.
This tutorial is more complicated, than WAMP or XAMPP solution, but the biggest advantage is that you have all over your control – because you configure all by yourself. And you can be always up to date and enjoy the latest fixes and improvements in Apache, PHP and MySQL packages. As soon as you master this tut, you will agree that local web server can be installed, using original packages, in few minutes, like the WAMP or XAMPP. Updating with new packages is also really simple. Just install the new package over the existing one and that is it.
This tutorial is great for web developers and web designers, who needs real-time testing of web-based applications or themes for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal without a need of internet connection or web hosting. It should also cover and beware of all most important mistakes and unexpected errors, which sometimes happen and which other tutorials do not cover. So users who will follow this tutorial step by step, should have working localhost web server in 99,9 %, without any unexpected errors. I decided to write this tutorial, because I followed many tutorials on the web, but I was not able to get all work for the first time, so I spent many hours of searching and fixing unexpected errors, which are all covered in this tutorial.
I often use quotes to put syntax, commands, login names, passwords, paths and names of the folders between them. So whenever you see quotes in the tutorial, always use only what is between the quotes, it will be marked as bold text too. Sometimes there are quotes between quotes, theese quotes (between quotes) are important to use them in configuration files.
This tutorial was made on 32bit Windows 7 Ultimate in VMware Player, but I am using it on a real installation of 64bit Windows 7 Ultimate without any problem. I have also used it in on 64bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate before. So in that case it should work on any Microsoft operating system. Even if the packages are 32bit they do work on 64bit operating systems without any incompatibility issues. There are unofficial 64bit packages for Apache and PHP, but their installation is much complicated and they are not often updated. Only official support for 64bit operating systems has MySQL, but it would not work properly with 32bit Apache and PHP.
Apache 2.2.15 win32 x86 no ssl msi
PHP 5.3.2 VC6 x86 Thread Safe Installer
MySQL 5.1.46 x86 32-bit MSI Installer
Optional – WordPress 2.9.2
If you find any new versions on these packages, you can use them too, the steps will be the same.
Now we are done with pre-installation Steps.
Run the installation of Apache, click next, check that you accept the terms, click next and next again. On the next screen fill the Server settings, like on the picture below and click next again.
On the next page select Custom Setup Type and click next. All features leave as they are, change only the installation path to “C:\dev\progs\Apache\” and click Next. Now click install. After the installation you should see new icon on a windows taskbar with small green triangle which signalizes that apache is installed and running.
To test it properly open Internet Explorer, Firefox or whatever browser you are using and write “localhost” to your address bar, if everything went well you should see “It works!“.
Now we need to edit Apache configuration file! Go to the folder “C:\dev\progs\Apache\conf\” and open the file “httpd.conf” in Notepad. For better, more comfortable editing, I recommend advanced text editor like Adobe Dreamweaver or free PSPad, because you can see line numbers and navigation through the text file will be more comfortable.
That is it, save the file, exit the editor and restart Apache. You can do it by clicking on the taskbar Apache icon and then move the cursor on the Apache 2.2 and click restart. At this state if you point your browser again to “localhost” you wont see “It works!” but just something like “Index Of”. Do not worry, it is due to changing the directory from where the Apache translates the webpages. Apache installation and configuration is now completed!
Run the downloaded PHP install package. Click Next, accept the terms and click Next again. On the next screen click Browse and navigate the installation program to install PHP to “C:\dev\progs\PHP\” and click Next. Now select Apache 2.2.x Module and click Next again. At this step you need to tell the installation program where the Apache configuration file (we have edited in apache configuration) is. So navigate the installation by clicking on the button Browse to the directory “C:\dev\progs\Apache\conf\” and click Next. On the next screen click Next again and then on the Install. If all went well you should see following new lines at the end of Apache configuration file “httpd.conf“:
#BEGIN PHP INSTALLER EDITS – REMOVE ONLY ON UNINSTALL
PHPIniDir “C:/dev/progs/PHP/”
LoadModule php5_module “C:/dev/progs/PHP/php5apache2_2.dll”
#END PHP INSTALLER EDITS – REMOVE ONLY ON UNINSTALL
Now we need to configure the PHP configuration file “php.ini” which is in the folder “C:\dev\progs\PHP\“, so open it in Notepad, PSPad or Dreamweaver and change the lines like this (the PHP should also work with the original php.ini, but these changes are recommended for more comfortable using):
That is it save the file, exit editor and restart Apache. Now we need to test if PHP works. So navigate to directory “C:\dev\www\” and create new text file called “index.php” and put this”<?php phpinfo(); ?>” as a text inside, save the file and exit. Open your web browser and point it to “localhost“. If PHP is successfully installed you should see the same like on the following picture.
This is the easiest part, because all is configured in installation wizard. Just run the MySQL installation file. Click next, choose Custom and then click Next, change the installation directory to “C:\dev\progs\MySQL\“, click Next once more and then Install. After the installation completes you will see other screen, so once again click, Next, Next, check “Configure the MySQL server now” and uncheck “Register the MySQL server now“, then click Finish. On the next screen click Next, then select “Detailed Configuration” and click Next, select “Developer Machine” and click Next, select “Multifunctional Database” and click Next, other screen leave as is and click Next, select “Decision Support (DSS)/OLAP” and click Next. Now check “Enable TCP/IP Networking“, leave port number 3306, check “Add firewall exception for this port“, check “Enable Strict Mode” then click Next. Select “Best Choice For Multilingualism” and click Next. Check “Install As Windows Service“, select service name “MySQL5“, check “Launch the MySQL Server automatically” and check “Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH” then click Next. Check “Modify Security Settings” and as a “New root password” use “root” without the quotes, confirm password, other things leave as they are and click Next. Last step is to apply all settings we have done, so click on Execute and wait until you see this:
If you do not see this picture there is something wrong. And it should be many things. I will try to help in comments. But I expect there will not be any problems.
phpMyAdmin is web-based MySQL database manager. For me personally it is the best and easiest solution for managing and creating databases even if it runs on localhost. There is a solution from MySQL developers called MySQL GUI Tools, which runs on Windows operating systems, but it is not providing the easiest survey and it is a bit chaotic for me. Also many users using web hosting services for their web pages knows phpMyAdmin very well. I often install WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and vBulletin together to test themes etc. and I use single database for each CMS so that is why I use phpMyAdmin, which allows me to create databases in friendly way without knowledge of MySQL command line.
We will start with creating a directory called “pma” in “C:\dev\www\“. Now open the zip file with phpMyAdmin and extract all content of directory “phpMyAdmin-3.3.2-all-languages” to “pma” directory. Now open your favourite web browser and point it to “localhost/pma” if you are lucky, you should see phpMyAdmin login screen. You can login to phpMyAdmin by entering “root” as login name and password.
Sometimes on Vista and Windows 7, maybe on XPs operating systems too, you will get some kind of error saying that PHP is not installed or configured properly. This is one of the very often unexpected errors which I was searching for a solution for many hours, before I solved it! The solution could be simple – first is go to the directory “C:\dev\progs\PHP\“, find file called “php5ts.dll” and copy it to “C:\Windows\” and “C:\Windows\System32\” directories and restart the Apache. Maybe Apache will refuse to start and it will show some error, if so, ignore the error and start him again, it should work now! :) After this fix you should see phpMyAdmin login page by pointing your browser to “localhost/pma“. If the first solution did not help the problem has a lot to do with Windows write folder permissions and PHPs session save path and Temp directories. PHP have no rights to write to desired Temp directories. This problem is really individual and if someone will report it in comments I will help him/her individually.
So log in to phpMyAdmin and you will get to the phpMyAdmin database administration interface on the left panel, you will see actual databases, which is important to run MySQL properly, so do not delete them at any time. On the right side you will see some information about your web server, you can change a theme or language or create new database. On the bottom you will see some errors, which we are going to fix. For basic use it is not necessary, but I can’t stand something showing errors :-) First we must create some tables to unlock phpMyAdmin’s full potential, so at the left panel click on database called “test” and then click on the “Import“.
After that click on Browse button and navigate phpMyAdmin to folder “C:\dev\www\pma\scripts\” and select file called “create_tables.sql” and in phpMyAdmin right bottom corner click on “Go“. It will create new database called phpmyadmin with 9 tables. It will be used for phpMyAdmin advanced features, like creating PDFs etc. You can close the browser and look forward for the last part – editing phpMyAdmin configuration file :-). So go to the folder “C:\dev\www\pma\” and open file “config.sample.inc.php” in Notepad, Dreamweaver or PSPad.
Save the file in the same folder as “config.inc.php” and exit the editor. phpMyAdmin should now work without any errors and we are done with whole installation of localhost web server. Now you can restore your UAC settings as we were talking about at the beginning.
First we must create new database for WordPress, so login to phpMyAdmin and under the text “Create New Database” fill the name “WordPress” and click on Create. Now go to folder “C:\dev\www\” and create new folder called “wp“. If you have downloaded the WordPress 2.9.2 installation open the zip file and extract all content of the WordPress directory to “C:\dev\www\wp\“. Open your browser and point it to “localhost/wp“, If all was done well, you should see first WordPress installation page, so click on “Create a Configuration File” and then on “Lets go!” On the next page. On the following page fill database name, which is “WordPress” and User Name and Password which is the “root” for both. This is password for WordPress to write tables in the database not for accessing CMS admin panel. All other values can stay as they are, click “Submit” and then “Run the Install“. Fill the Blog title, as you wish and in the email field, fill any true email address, sending emails will not work because our Apache is not configured for sending emails, but who cares? We do not need it on localhost! ;-)Then continue with install. On the next screen it will be shown your login and password, write it down somewhere and click on “Log In” to get to the WordPress admin interface, you can change here the password to something easier to remember. You are done. If you point your browser now to “localhost/wp” you will see something like this:
Now you now basics of how to install any other CMS you prefer, installations of Drupal or Joomla are very similar.
I told you that it is not so complicated ;-) If you are like me, you like a good coffee, in your favourite café (which unfortunately has no internet connection), you like to work in company of people and not being alone at home or office, you will probably appreciate this tutorial. Most of you are most likely using WAMP or XAMPP solutions, some of you are using my solution in most advanced way, which Apache configurations offers, but I know many web designers and web developers, who do not know about these solutions and this tutorial is exactly for them.
If you are facing any problem, then let me know and I will try my best to help you.
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Hey there, I am Tomas Varil and I am from Prague, Czech Republic. I am a freelance graphic designer. I study biology at the university and graphic design is my hobby for 6 years. Last 8 months I am trying to built my own freelance portfolio and start my freelance career. You have something to tell (ask) me? Please do not hesitate to contact me on tomasvaril.com, Twitter, Behance or LinkedIn.
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 03:19
Great guide.
Got me the furhest so far in getting this up and running on Windows XP.
However, no go on PHP admin.
Getting error:
The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.
Checked everything in PHP.INI as per documentation and some other forums, but can’t find why I have this error.
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 15:07
Very good job!thanks works fine for me
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 16:40
More than excellent job, the above explanation I feel that I have a teacher at the board explaining step by step.
George Guindi
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 07:09
Your PHP MySQL library version 5.0.51a differs from your MySQL server version 5.5.17. This may cause unpredictable behavior.
can anyone help me for this?
Thursday, October 20th, 2011 14:49
Hello there,
I must admit that this is the easiest tutorial I’ve ever come up to. Thanks. I have installed MySQL with your instructions and it went well. Nevertheless I need to create a file on “http://localhost/admin/msgapi.asp”.
Could you please help me how am I suppose to do that. Because for the time being all I can see is MySQL program under the start/programs menu and there is only a “Comment Line Client” link.
Where is that MySQL now (sorry for my illiterate question) and how can I create a file as I mentioned above please?
Thanks for your support.
All the best
Sunday, September 11th, 2011 18:58
MYSQL PROBLEM
——————-
I have this problem at the last part of MySQL installation. When I clicked the Execute I turns the setup window to “Not Responding.” I think there’s something to do with the settings or what? Can anyone help me in this last step. Thank you!
Monday, September 12th, 2011 06:48
In my experience it might mean the problem is with the computer you are using. There might be incompatible programs and the likes. Sometimes rebooting helps, or maybe uninstalling some un-needed applications.
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 19:18
I am having trouble with phpadmin. I tried the first solution of copying the dll file you mentioned. This did not work.
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 03:58
I am getting an error..please help.I have extracted phpadmin on the folder pma but this happens when I open the localhost on the browser.
phpMyAdmin – Error
The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.
Thursday, August 11th, 2011 06:57
same thing I got – go back to your php download run again, select change, select your apache service version, confirm your directory. When the screen comes up with all the options for download expand the extensions + sign and find the mysqli extension and select it. you should also select all of the mysql extensions as well(needed for myphp). You will also need to update the last couple lines of your apache config with the correct paths again.
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 19:04
I ran into the exact same problem. I read, and did, your solution and all is well. Thanks bunches.. Now to complete the setup.
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 09:33
Hi, first of call great article helped me heaps.
second I’m getting a couple of errors. One when I created the PHP file to view PHP information. All I got from Local Host was ‘It Works!’
Second I installed phpMyAdmin and followed everything step by step but I still get the errors
The phpMyAdmin configuration storage is not completely configured, some extended features have been deactivated. To find out why click here.
and
The configuration file now needs a secret passphrase (blowfish_secret).
Help me please :-)
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 00:34
Tomas,
Great step by step – only a few hiccups using Apache 2.2.19 & PHP 5.2.17 … needed to go back along the way and add in some extensions for the PHP like mySQLi, mySQL(a couple of them) etc. and each time I did I had to reediit the Apache config in the last couple lines to add the paths to the PHP ini dir and dll. This is the first time I’m running a server on my XP box – mostly to test out scripts before going live with them – so I have one question.
Should I be able to just copy my html and php files into the www directory and they will work? Or do I have to do something in the code of the php files to tell it how to find php – because for the test form I copied the html form worked but the php response page just shows the code, not the echo output(therefore it is not being compiled by the PHP)??? I’m sure it’s something simple I’m missing – please help.
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 00:03
Dear Tomas Varil,
In Mysql server Instance Configuration .. start service is getting failiure ..
is i wrong in anywhere ??
Please suggest me ..
Thursday, May 5th, 2011 07:50
Hi Thomas,
After configuring the httpd file for the Apache installation, I get the error below when going to the http://localhost/. Before changing the file I got the “It works!” message.
Do you know what the problem may be? Thanks!
Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access / on this server.
Sunday, November 20th, 2011 22:45
I have also run into the 403 Forbidden error when trying to access localhost. I am on Windows 7. This happened after I installed php. Is the problem with my httpd . config file? I have check it over many times to make sure it matches exactly with your instructions.
Sunday, November 20th, 2011 23:09
Nevermind: i repaired my Apache via the downloaded file (first I rewrote the httpd.conf to httpd.conf.old to hid it), instead of restarting, I stopped the server, then started again. Then I renamed my httpd.conf file back. Now it works again…yeah
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 08:39
Hello Mohan, these errors have a lot to do with PHP windows libraries. Which installation of PHP did you used on which platform? I recommend to use latest PHP 5.3.4. Did you try to restart a computer. This often happen if computer is not restarted after PHP installation. Windows cannot find important libraries for cURL and others, because system Path to PHP installation directory is not loaded. What happen if you try to stop loading these extensions by commenting their lines at the end of php.ini?
Monday, January 3rd, 2011 11:12
PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘C:devprogsPHPextphp_curl.dll” – The specified module could not be found.
PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘C:devprogsPHPextphp_openssl.dll” – The specified module could not be found.
PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘C:devprogsPHPextphp_pgsql.dll” – The specified module could not be found.
These are the errors that I am getting while re-starting the apache server ( after editing and saving of the file ” php.ini ” ). Could you please provide me a solution ?
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 16:12
Thank you so much, you saved my day!
Monday, November 1st, 2010 23:31
FWIW to Win 7 users – I made a separate temp folder for this setup to play in:
C:myTemp
and then updated the php.ini file like so:
upload_tmp_dir=”C:myTemp”
session.save_path=”C:myTemp”
error_log=”C:myTempphp-errors.log”
I set the permissions of this folder to be promiscuous for all users.
This solves the WSOD when attempting to log into phpMyAdmin without messing with the integrity of the Windows Temp folder (which might make you attackable).
Thanks for the awesome tutorial, it taught me a lot more than a WAMP installer would have!
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 06:39
Hi,
Many thanks for this tutorial i have been able to follow everything up to the point of installing phpMyAdmin. I keep getting the error meassage “Cannot load mysql extension. Please check your PHP configuration. – Documentation”when accessing localhost/pma. I tried copying “php5ts.dll” to windows and system32 but that didn’t work. I did some googling and tried copying “libmySQL.dll” to the system32 and windows folders but still no joy. I have restarted apache after every change.
Please could you help me solve this so i can login to phpmyadmin. As i say everything else installed correctly.
You mentioned it possibly being a path issue. All directory paths are set as per your instructions and phpmysql is installed in the devwwwpma folder. I am using windows vista.
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 08:34
Ok as a follow up to me previous comment i have looked into the issue “Cannot load mysql extension” and realised in my php folder there is no “ext” folder? Should there be? Has my install of php not worked properly? In the php folder i have 13 files including php.ini and 1 folder called “dev”, is that right?
After googling further I ran a re-install through “programs and features” and did everything the same except i installed 1 extension for mysql so now i have “php/ext/php_mymsql.dll”. But i still get the error.
So next i looked in php.ini and found
“; Directory in which the loadable extensions (modules) reside.
extension_dir = “./”"
which i changed to “extension_dir = “C:dev\progs\php\ext”"
later in php.ini i found
“; extension=msql.dll”
and changed to “extension=php_msql.dll” removing the ; and changing the filename to match what i have. But then the apache server wouldn’t restart and in the error details that came up it was showing “php5ts.dll” as causing a problem.
I have added the ; back into the line “extension=php_msql.dll” to comment it out and the apache server will now restart but i still get the original error. I have also removed “libmySQL.dll” from the system32 and windows folders.
So basically to recap i have “php5ts.dll” in windows and system32 folders, the mysql extension installed in php/ext/php_msql.dll, the path set in php.ini to “extension_dir = “C:dev\progs\php\ext” but the line “;extension=php_msql.dll” is commented out with the ; otherwise apache will not restart and references “php5ts.dll” in the error that pops up.
Please could i get some help on this as i’m stuck now with my head in pieces :)
Friday, October 8th, 2010 15:42
Hello Rick, sorry it took me so long, the article is a bit old and I am not checking it quite often and also there is no way to subscribe to the comments. You are still writing about php_msql.dll which is not the right library for MySQL. I think it is a library for Microsoft SQL. I recommend to uninstall PHP again and delete all other PHP dll remaining files which you copied to System32 and other folders. After you are done, grab a newest copy of PHP 5.3.3 VC6 thread safe x86 version and install it the same like it is described in this article. And let me know if it works.
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 12:03
PHP Installation and configuration
Run the downloaded PHP install package. Click Next, accept the terms and click Next again. On the next screen click Browse and navigate the installation program to install PHP to “C:devprogsPHP” and click Next. Now select Apache 2.2.x Module and click Next …. sorry this is the point where I have shipwrecked!
I dont have there Apache module and also I have one option more before selecting the modules… there is to select the webserver that I want to isntall and than nothing more, so in modules is not present the Apache and dont know what to do at this point … thanks for help, urgent
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 23:30
Hello David, it seems like you downloaded wrong installer. The installer must be VC6 threaded safe version ;)
Friday, August 20th, 2010 23:37
Hi Tomas great tutorial I’ve been looking for something this far into details for a long time.
However i am having a same problem as Abhinav.
I am seeing all the documents and folders in a form of a text. Like a directories tree but without the lines that indicate which folder is inside of which parent.
After installing apache and PHP everything was working fine i got all the messages you mentioned. Then i tried adding that php line to get the php screen showing me all the info about the php version i have installed, but all i saw was that line written on the screen.
I added a simple template to see if it will work. One template loaded nicely but all others failed. All i see are folders and files in txt form.
I’m using XP SP3.
Thank you for your time and effort.
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 16:06
Hello Rayne, sorry it took me for long. I have no idea what is causing this kind of error. It seems like PHP is not successfully loaded. Could you please provide more information if it is not solved (like where did you finished in the tutorial, did you make your own modifications of configuration file)? And if it is solved already, how did you get it to work? I recommend to try to install MySQL and then phpMyAdmin and try what phpMyAdmin say when you want to login. It has a good error reporting system, so it could lead us to solve the problem.
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 01:03
All went well till I got to the end. I log into phpMyAdmin and I get a blank page with http://localhost/pma/index.php?token=210c941d0f0b2cf4fecfb9e4d5453976&phpMyAdmin=jcdb59bblhahie5q4pn2clqim0sp8vdr
and at the bottom “waiting for http://localhost/pma/index.php….”
Any suggestions?
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 23:08
Hey Matt, just look at the comments ;) go to your phpMyAdmin’s config file config.inc.php and change the localhost to 127.0.0.1 that should help.
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 16:14
wow! nice tutorial .it’s easy to understand and work with it. For me all things are done properly thanks a lot. finally, i need other tutorial for Linux(fedora 11) on the same title or what is the difference is there ,if you can .
Monday, August 2nd, 2010 20:46
Hello, sorry it took me so long, but I was on a vacation. I do not know how it is on fedora I have tested it only in Ubuntu and it is very simple due to packages manager. So I think it will be similar on fedora if it has its packages repositories. If you are interested I can point you on how to install it on Ubuntu…
Monday, July 26th, 2010 11:52
Great tutorial. Apache successfully installed, PHP successfully installed. On the final installation screen for mySQL get a red x by start service. Cannot created Windows service for MYSQL5. Error:0.
Monday, July 26th, 2010 12:22
Actually, I did manage to get rid of the Error: 0, which was being caused by an old service not getting uninstalled. All the same, it is not starting the service.
Monday, July 26th, 2010 13:28
It helps to read, don’t you know … was installing the 32-bit version on a 64-bit machine. There was also a MySQL folder in the hidden Program Data folder that wasn’t getting deleted. NOW the service is running =-) and now I can continue with the rest of the tutorial. Hope this provides some info to those who run into the same problems.
Friday, July 16th, 2010 12:32
Hi Tomas,
Great tutorial! Thanks! I have followed your instructions to install Apache 2.2.15, PHP 5.3.2, MySQL 5.1.48, and PHPMyAdmin 3.3.4 on my Windows 7 64 bits operation system. I can successfully connect to Mysql database by using mysql_connect(“127.0.0.1″,”root”,”mypassword”) and see PHPMyAdmin login screen. However, I get a blank screen (White Screen of Death) after I enter my user name and password and IE say “Waiting for Http://localhost/PHPMyAdmin/index.php….”. I am appreciated if you can help me to resolve this problem. Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Rick Shieh
Monday, July 19th, 2010 16:00
After I changed the host from “localhost” to “127.0.0.1″ on config.inc.php, the problem has been resolved.
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = ’127.0.0.1′;
Thursday, July 8th, 2010 20:32
Ok Solved my problem. Firstly I used the V9 PHP which is meant for IIS. I then downloaded the V6 version of PHP with the windows installer. I still had the same problems. I then uninstalled and used the Zip file of the V6 non ssl install and extracted it to the folder and made the required changes to the php.ini and httpd.conf files. This was my problem on Windows7 with Apache 2.2.15 PHP 5.2.3 and MySQL Server5.1.
Thanks for all the help in this Blog it is one of the clearest and most detailed installation docs I could find.
Friday, July 9th, 2010 00:57
Yeah VC9 version is not for Apache :-) At downloads it was said to download VC6 version non ssl ;-)
Thursday, July 8th, 2010 06:58
I did exactly all steps you provided but restarting apache produce message “not able to load dynamic c:\dev\progs\php\ext\php_curl.dll
library specified module could not be found” but this file is there ?
Also, after changing configuration in httpd.conf typing localhost
still produced “It work” instead “index of”. Any ideas why it happened ?
Operating system on my machine is XP professional with service pack 3.
Thursday, July 8th, 2010 15:06
I have got this problem in XP Mode on Windows 7. When I need to downgrade to PHP 5.2.13 because I need to install Zend Optimizer which does not work with PHP 5.3.X. I did solve this php_curl.dll issue. But I cannot remember how I did that exactly :-( I think I solved this issue by copying ssleay32.dll and libeay32.dll from PHP directory to Apache/bin directory and that solved my issue with Apache crash when loading php_curl.dll library.
If Apache is showing “It works!” you should first clear cache of your browser and try it again. If that does not help, look in the httpd.conf file, if you specified the path from where the Apache should load the web pages. There is nothing other what can be done about this issue.
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Rilwis
Thursday, May 13th, 2010 12:55
I would like to use all-in-one package to do all of this stuff for me. XAMPP is a good choice, but there’re many other packages out there. It makes the install process faster, users don’t need to think about the configuration. All is ready for use.
If you’re a PHP programmer, maybe installation each component, their configuration are useful. But if you just want a rapid installation, and want to use CMS, web apps or just design, I think this is not the best choice.
AKLP
Thursday, May 13th, 2010 13:05
Awesome!
Thanks for the guide :)
I do use uniserver but knowing the “manual” way is always better.
Marek Kaczkowski
Thursday, May 13th, 2010 18:44
…or the easier solution MAMP(Mac) XAMPP(Linux/Win/Mac) package and you ready to go. Super-easy to configure and use. Peace!
McConnell Group
Thursday, May 13th, 2010 18:41
Good write up Tomas, for those who don’t have a local host of MySQL I use this to test out themes.
Tomas Varil
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 13:34
Hello Frankilin, did you edit the hosts file which is described in pre installation steps? Also check out if your firewall is not blocking 127.0.0.1 IP address by default…
Tomas Varil
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 00:44
For those of you having error with new function called tracking in latest phpMyAdmin 3.3.3. Just add line:
“$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = ‘pma_tracking’;”
below line:
“$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = ‘pma_designer_coords’;”
in config.inc.php file and restart web browser. The error should be now solved and new table called “pma_tracking” in “phpmyadmin” database will bee created.
enjoy ;-)
Abhinav
Sunday, May 30th, 2010 20:23
Installed Apache successfully. Downloaded PHP 5. 3.2 and installed it. When testing the index.php, it is giving text instead of the HTML page. Am I missing something or doing something wrong. Please help. Thank you in advance.
Fyi..I followed the instruction and updated the Apache conf and PHP ini files as directed in the steps.
Tomas Varil
Monday, May 31st, 2010 21:01
Hello Abhinav, thank you for your question. Just to make sure, could you please tell me, which version of windows you are using? Also did you get the “It works!” message after Apache install? It seems that php apache library is not loaded…or the phpinfo script is not correct…
Cuneyt
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 01:01
apache restart > request operation has failed
Tomas Varil
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 11:35
Dear Cuneyt, this could have many reasons, could you please provide more information. When did you get this error? Which part of the tutorial?
Frankilin
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 03:41
I had problem “Connection to 127.0.0.1 Failed ” on Windows 7. Anyone have anyway for solve the problem. Thank in advance.
Tony Dunsworth
Friday, May 14th, 2010 16:05
I’m getting weird errors after I’ve installed PHP and the only remedy to re-start Apache is to comment out the PHP lines at the end of the httpd.conf file. Any ideas why it’s not working for me on both Vista and Win7?
Tomas Varil
Friday, May 14th, 2010 20:08
What kind of errors you get? And when? Which part?
Tony Dunsworth
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 16:44
When I finish installing PHP and the changes to php.ini, I get the restart errors in Apache. I was able to get it to work this time and finish everything, but I still get that error from time to time in Vista. I think part of it, at that time, was installing too many features.
JC Johnston
Friday, May 14th, 2010 18:55
Great tut. I have been using the install packages like XAMPP but, for testing having everything setup, configured and installed separately is the way to go. I prefer to run my web server on a Linux server since my web hosts are on a Linux system. But since I do not have a Linux server, I can follow this tut and install it on my Windows 7 Desktop
Tomas Varil
Friday, May 14th, 2010 21:42
Linux installation for example under ubuntu is much easier, because all packages are at the repositories, they are not often up to date, but it works nicely :-) There are few things to take care, but it is not so complicated…
Bankkonto Vergleich
Friday, May 14th, 2010 20:49
Nice tutorial, but… “the biggest advantage is that you have all over your control – because you configure all by yourself. ” IMHO the biggest disadvantage is: The day after you will not remember anymore what you did exactly and where to change this and that, if you are not a terminal hero :-)
Tomas Varil
Friday, May 14th, 2010 21:51
It is not about being a terminal hero ;-) When you repeat this tutorial three times, you will agree, it is not so complicated and hard to remember the steps, which are still the same. And if you forget you can still look here for help. Anyway there was said, that you can still use WAMP or XAMPP if you feel more comfortable with it. So you have still the opportunity to select solution which more fits your needs ;-) This tutorial is for people who is interested in the problem and they like to know more and how to start…
kyle
Sunday, May 16th, 2010 22:50
At appservnetwork.com there is release of Apache 2.2.8 but at apache.org,
the latest (stable) version is 2.2.15. I’m confused, how could it be. Can someone explain me please? :)
Greg88
Monday, May 17th, 2010 09:00
because 15 is greater than 8 :D
You shouldn’t look according to place value ;)
Tomas Varil
Monday, May 17th, 2010 10:10
You can find the latest current stable releases only at Apache.org, php.net and mysql.com. That is why I use this tutorial to setup localhost web server. WAMP, XAMPP and Appserve are always bit or more otutdated…
Matt
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 01:03
All went well till I got to the end. I log into phpMyAdmin and I get a blank page with http://localhost/pma/index.php?token=210c941d0f0b2cf4fecfb9e4d5453976&phpMyAdmin=jcdb59bblhahie5q4pn2clqim0sp8vdr
and at the bottom “waiting for http://localhost/pma/index.php….”
Any suggestions?
Tomas Varil
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 23:08
Hey Matt, just look at the comments ;) go to your phpMyAdmin’s config file config.inc.php and change the localhost to 127.0.0.1 that should help.
Alex
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 21:33
Hello !
After confirguration, when I into to http://localhost and I click to pma, downloaded automated download.gz. Why ?
Annie
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 15:03
hi. i have followed the instructions for the apache installation and I am getting an error on restarting saying “syntax error on line 189. directive requires additional arguments. Could you please help me on this?
tudor
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 15:36
I have followed all the steps, installed Apache and PHP, but when I go to http://localhost/ I only see this line: “” – which is the content of the index.php file in C:\dev\www
What went wrong?
Deepak
Thursday, February 16th, 2012 14:22
i tried your solution for pma folder after that i got this message
phpMyAdmin – Error
The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.
what should i do?
Josh Brown
Saturday, February 4th, 2012 05:47
Hi there.
For all those who are getting the error “The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.” Go into the PHP.ini file (default: C:\dev\progs\PHP) and search for “mysqli.default_host =”. Replace that with “mysqli.default_host = localhost” without the quotes. PHPMyadmin should now work when going to the URL “localhost/pma”.
Regards,
Josh.
Sam
Friday, February 24th, 2012 17:18
I did exactly what you told me to do, but I still getting the “The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration” error…
Can anyone help me out?
Thanks for the efford!
omkar
Thursday, December 29th, 2011 13:34
I tried to install phpmyadmin as per the instruction mentioned by your in the link http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/how-to-setup-local-web-server-with-latest-apache-php-and-mysql-packages/
I successfully installed apache, mysql, php but i got stuck at phpmyadmin. I get following error after installting phpmyadmin. when i type http://localhost/pma in brower i get following error message.
The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.
I am currently using windows xp.
Gary
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 07:13
I had the same problem. You need to add C:\web\progs\MySQL\lib to your PATH and restart. Then clear your browser cache and try logging in again.
Jo
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 01:19
what PATH are you talking about?
Sanjay
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 15:34
hello sir,
i installed Apache properly, but when i installed PHP it does not shown phpinfo() page when i click localhost on browser(http://localhost/). it just shown It works! what should i do.
I am currently using windows xp.
Please help
Regards
Gary
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 07:11
I just went through this process. I found I just had to clear my browser’s cache to fix this particular problem.
Rean John Uehara
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 04:30
Google XAMPP and install it on your computer. Then everything should be fine!
Sanjay
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 13:12
hi sir,
i completed installation of Apache, php, Mysql successfully.
Now the problem occur after phpMyAdmin. It shows like this in browser
“Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /pma/ on this server.”
Now what i have to do please suggest me.
( am not installing XAMPP)
Thanks & Regards
Sanjay Kumar
khuze
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 19:46
I just followed all your instructions and i was there in close to half an hour. Really grateful for this step by step explanation.
Dorhero
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 09:35
Awesome! I tried several “packages” that were supposed to simplify this but something was always broken. Followed your instructions step by step and everything runs perfectly first time! Thanks for your excellence!
Daniel Lucas
Thursday, April 5th, 2012 06:27
I followed this tutorial a while ago without any problems but this time I had the same problem as a lot of the recent comments (mysqli extension not found).
My problem was that the newest versions of PHP are VC9. When following this make sure to get an older VC6 copy of PHP.
carlos
Friday, April 13th, 2012 20:32
Finally a step by step setup that actually works! thank you for this!