How to Install PHP on Windows

Windows operating system is a very powerful one. Further, it gives many benefits to users. In addition, you can make its efficient use for many purposes. PHP is a server-side programming language. Thus, it is very useful for creating many applications. You can make many applications based on the PHP language. There are various ways to install it. But, many users don’t know ‘How to Install PHP on Windows?’. You should not worry at all. We are here for you people. We are providing here detailed information regarding the same topic. You can use it for better results. It will provide you with many beneficial outcomes. We have also covered an article on ‘How to Install phpMyAdmin on Your Windows PC‘. Thus, let’s have a look at ‘How to Install PHP on Windows?’.

How to Install PHP on Windows?

PHP works as a base for many applications. Moreover, you can create websites ranging from small size to large. So, this language is very useful for use. You should surely go for it. We are delivering here a tutorial on ‘How to Install PHP on Windows?’. We assure you that this comprehensive data will be helpful to you in many ways. You can apply it to your system also. It will provide many positive results as an output. On the other end, be ready to grab this beautiful opportunity. Let’s start this amazing journey of information.

Pre-requirements

To install PHP, it is necessary to check your system version. So, it is said that it’s not possible to install PHP on Windows versions older than 2008/Vista. So, it is highly necessary to have an updated version of Windows.

Process Used to Install PHP on Windows

There are various methods available for this purpose. But, we are providing here some of them for you.

You can manually install PHP. It is possible to install by following the steps mentioned below. So, just follow them to complete the process.

1 ) Choose the Official PHP Downloads Page

First of all, you should choose the official PHP downloads page. So, visit the website for downloading purposes. (windows.php.net). Then, select the page for downloading.

method 1 how to install PHP on Windows step 1

2 ) Choose the Proper Zip File

After that, you should select the .zip file as per your system configuration. So, let’s select the ‘VS16 x64 Thread Safe’ file for this purpose. It is useful for running it as an Apache module further.

zip files window

3 ) Extracting the Zip File

In addition to the above step, you should extract the zip file. So, right-click on the downloaded file & choose the ‘Extract Here’ option to fulfill this operation.

zip file extraction window

4 ) Configuring the php.ini Configuration File

Now, it is necessary to configure the php.ini configuration file. So, you should do some important changes. There are 2 configuration files available. Those are ‘PHP.ini-development and php.in-production’ as shown in the image below. Thus, we’ll choose the ‘php.ini-production’ file for better performance & security purposes.

configuration window

Further, copy the file you want for local development. Then, rename it as ‘php.ini’ file. In addition, copy the ‘php.ini-production’ file to the ‘C:\php\php.ini’ file.

5 ) Open the Text Editor

Here, open the ‘php.ini’ file in the editor you want. Then, find the following line.

;extension_dir = “ext”

This is the path direction. So, let’s change it as given below..

extension_dir = “C:/php/ext”

Thus, this is all about php.ini configuration file changes.

6 ) Configure the PATH Environment Variable

Now, search for the ‘environment’ in the Windows search bar section & select the ‘Edit the system environment variables’ option. Moreover, follow the ‘Advanced > Environment Variables section’ path. Then, edit the PATH environment variable and simply add ‘;C:\php’ to the end. After that, reboot your system for effective results output.


In this way, following the above-mentioned steps, you can install PHP on Windows.

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