The key steps to install PHP on Windows include: 1. Download the appropriate PHP version and decompress it. It is recommended to use the Thread Safe version with Apache or Non Thread Safe version with Nginx; 2. Configure the php.ini file and rename php.ini-development or php.ini-production to php.ini; 3. Add the PHP path to the system environment variable Path for command line use; 4. Test whether PHP is installed successfully, execute php -v through the command line and run the built-in server to test the parsing capabilities; 5. If you use Apache, you need to configure the PHP module and PHPIniDir in httpd.conf, and ensure that the module version matches, the path is correct and takes effect after restarting Apache. Common problems are mostly caused by path errors, module mismatch or service failure, and can be solved by checking the log.

Installing PHP is actually not difficult on Windows, you can basically do it by following the steps. The key is to select the right version, configure the environment variables, and ensure that they can cooperate with the web server you use (such as Apache or Nginx).

Download the appropriate PHP version

First, go to the PHP official website to download the Windows version of ZIP package. It is recommended to select the "Thread Safe" version. If you are using it with Apache, if you are running in FastCGI mode (for example, with Nginx), then select "Non Thread Safe".

• It is recommended to decompress to a fixed path, such as C:\php , so that the configuration is convenient afterwards.
• After decompression, remember to rename php.ini-development or php.ini-production to php.ini , this is the main configuration file

Configure environment variables

In order to enable the command line to use the php command directly, you need to add the PHP path to the system environment variable:

1. Open System Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Environment Variables
2. Find Path in "System Variables" and click Edit
3. Add a new record, the content is your PHP directory, such as C:\php

This way you can open the command line anywhere to execute PHP scripts.

Test whether PHP is installed successfully

You can test it with the command line first:

 php -v

If you see an output like this, the instructions are already installed:

 PHP 8.2.12 (cli) (built: Jul 18 2023 16:59:47) (ZTS Visual C 2019 x64)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.12, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies

You can also write a simple PHP file to see if it can be parsed:

 <?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save it as info.php and start the built-in server with the command:

 php -S localhost:8000

Open the browser and visit http://localhost:8000/info.php , and you can see the PHP detailed information page, which means there is no problem.

If you are using Apache

Then you also need to configure Apache to handle PHP requests. Mainly add the following lines to Apache's httpd.conf file (the specific path is modified according to your own situation):

 LoadModule php_module "c:/php/php8apache2_4.dll"
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir "C:\php"

Notice:

• Make sure Apache's module path is correct
• The Apache module names corresponding to different PHP versions may be different. You need to confirm whether they match.
• Apache can only take effect after restarting

Basically all this is it, and it’s not a big problem to follow the steps. However, the prone to errors is usually the path not written correctly, the module version does not match, or the service is forgotten to restart. When encountering problems, you can read more logs, especially Apache's error.log and PHP error prompts.

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