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Chapter 6. Installation on Windows systems

Table of Contents
Windows Installer (PHP 5.2 and later)
Windows Installer (PHP 5.1.0 and earlier)
Manual Installation Steps
ActiveScript
Microsoft IIS / PWS
Apache 1.3.x on Microsoft Windows
Apache 2.0.x on Microsoft Windows
Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Microsoft Windows
OmniHTTPd Server
Sambar Server on Microsoft Windows
Xitami on Microsoft Windows
Building from source
Installation of extensions on Windows

This section applies to Windows 98/Me and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. PHP will not work on 16 bit platforms such as Windows 3.1 and sometimes we refer to the supported Windows platforms as Win32. Windows 95 is no longer supported as of PHP 4.3.0.

There are two main ways to install PHP for Windows: either manually or by using the installer.

If you have Microsoft Visual Studio, you can also build PHP from the original source code.

Once you have PHP installed on your Windows system, you may also want to load various extensions for added functionality.

Warning

There are several all-in-one installers over the Internet, but none of those are endorsed by PHP.net, as we believe that the manual installation is the best choice to have your system secure and optimised.

Windows Installer (PHP 5.2 and later)

The Windows PHP installer for later versions of PHP is built using MSI technology using the Wix Toolkit (http://wix.sourceforge.net/). It will install and configure PHP and all the built-in and PECL extensions, as well as configure many of the popular web servers such as IIS, Apache, and Xitami.

First, install your selected HTTP (web) server on your system, and make sure that it works. Then proceed with one of the following install types.

Normal Install

Run the MSI installer and follow the instructions provided by the installation wizard. You will be prompted to select the Web Server you wish to configure first, along with any configuration details needed.

You will then be prompted to select which features and extensions you wish to install and enable. By selecting "Will be installed on local hard drive" in the drop-down menu for each item you can trigger whether to install the feature or not. By selecting "Entire feature will be installed on local hard drive", you will be able to install all sub-features of the included feature ( for example by selecting this options for the feature "PDO" you will install all PDO Drivers ).

Warning

It is not recommended to install all extensions by default, since many other them require dependencies from outside PHP in order to function properly. Instead, use the Installation Repair Mode that can be triggered thru the 'Add/Remove Programs' control panel to enable or disable extensions and features after installation.

The installer then sets up PHP to be used in Windows and the php.ini file, and configures certain web servers to use PHP. The installer will currently configure IIS (CGI mode only), Apache, Xitami, and Sambar Server; if you are using a different web server you'll need to configure it manually.

Silent Install

The installer also supports a silent mode, which is helpful for Systems Administrators to deploy PHP easily. To use silent mode:

msiexec.exe /i php-VERSION-win32-install.msi /q

You can control the install directory by passing it as a parameter to the install. For example, to install to e:\php:

msiexec.exe /i php-VERSION-win32-install.msi /q INSTALLDIR=e:\php

You can also use the same syntax to specify the Apache Configuration Directory (APACHEDIR), the Sambar Server directory (SAMBARDIR), and the Xitami Server directory (XITAMIDIR).

You can also specify what features to install. For example, to install the mysqli extension and the CGI executable:

msiexec.exe /i php-VERSION-win32-install.msi /q ADDLOCAL=cgi,ext_php_mysqli

The current list of Features to install is as follows:

MainExecutable - php.exe executable
ScriptExecutable - php-win.exe executable
ext_php_* - the various extensions ( for example: ext_php_mysql for MySQL )
apache13 - Apache 1.3 module
apache20 - Apache 2.0 module
apache22 - Apache 2,2 module
apacheCGI - Apache CGI executable
iis4ISAPI - IIS ISAPI module
iis4CGI - IIS CGI executable
NSAPI - Sun/iPlanet/Netscape server module
Xitami - Xitami CGI executable
Sambar - Sambar Server ISAPI module
CGI - php-cgi.exe executable
PEAR - PEAR installer
Manual - PHP Manual in CHM Format

For more information on installing MSI installers from the command line, visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/msi/setup/command_line_options.asp

Upgrading PHP with the Install

To upgrade, run the installer either graphically or from the command line as normal. The installer will read your current install options, remove your old installation, and reinstall PHP with the same options as before. It is recommended that you use this method of keeping PHP updated instead of manually replacing the files in the installation directory.