How to Install PHP on a Windows PC

To develop web pages with your Windows PC, you'll need to use PHP to write the scripts that make up those pages. PHP code is similar to HTML except that it can create images, read or write files, talk to remote servers and query databases. PHP works well with the Apache web server to make most of the web sites you see today.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Download the installation file from the php website. This is a ZIP file, so you'll need some sort of unzipping software to download the installation file properly.

2. Unzip the file with a program such as WinZip and place it somewhere easy to find, like C:\php.

3. Enter an email address of your choosing, which will be used later as a login, and make sure the button next to "Display all errors warnings and notices" is checked.

4. Pick the web server software you are using. Most people work off Apache, but PHP can work with multiple server softwares. Make sure ".php" is checked.

5. Open Windows Explorer and find the file (if you're using Apache) "C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf" or wherever you installed your web server software. Installing the file within your web server software will make it easy to find later.

6. Open the file httpd.conf in notepad and type the following: "LoadModule php5_module c://hp/php5apache2.dll" "AddType application/x-httpd-php.php" This will add the PHP application to your computer.

7. Restart Apache (or whatever web server you're using) and this should automatically install PHP.

Tips & Warnings

• You need to have web server software installed prior to installing PHP. Apache is the most commonly used web server software. It's easy to download and highly compatible with PHP, which will make this downloading process that much easier.