Steps to Setting Up PHP 5
Download PHP 5
Before you begin, get a copy of PHP 5 from the PHP download page. In particular, download the VC6 thread-safe zip package from the "Windows Binaries" section — that is, don't get the installer. For example, select the package labelled "PHP 5.2.5 zip package" if 5.2.5 is the current version.
Install PHP 5
Create a folder on your hard disk for PHP. I suggest "c:\php" although you can use other names if you wish. Personally though, I prefer to avoid names with spaces in it, like "c:\Program Files\php" to avoid potential problems with programs that cannot handle such things. I will assume that you used c:\php in this tutorial.
Extract all the files from the zip package into that folder. To do that simply double-click the zip file to open it, and drag all the files and folders to c:\php.
Upgraders: Remove the Old PHP.INI File from Your Windows Directory
If you are upgrading to PHP 5 from an older version, go to your windows directory, typically c:\windows, and delete any php.ini file that you have previously placed there.
Configuring PHP
Go to the c:\php folder and make a copy of the file "php.ini-recommended". Name the new file "php.ini". That is, you should now have a file "c:\php\php.ini", identical in content with "c:\php\php.ini-recommended".
Note: if you are using Apache 1, you should either move the php.ini file to your windows directory, "C:\Windows" on most systems, or configure your PATH environment variable to include "c:\php". If you don't know how to do the latter, just move the php.ini file to the "c:\windows" folder. You do not have to do this if you are using Apache 2, since we will include a directive later in the Apache 2 configuration file to specify the location of the php.ini file.
Use an ASCII text editor (such as Notepad, which can be found in the Accessories folder of your Start menu) to open "php.ini". You may need to make the following changes to the file, depending on your requirements
Enable Short Open Tags
Search for the line that reads:
short_open_tag = Off
If short_open_tag is set to "off", tags like "short_open_tag = On
Magic Quotes
By default, input data is not escaped with backslashes. That is, if your visitors enter an inverted comma (single quote) into your web form, the script will receive that unadorned inverted comma (single quote). This is for the most part desirable unless you have special requirements. If you want your input data to have the backslash ("\") prefix, such as, for example, to mimic your web host's settings, search for the following:
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
and replace it with:
magic_quotes_gpc = On
Do not do this unless your web host has this setting as well. Even with the setting of "Off", you can still use the addslashes() function in PHP to add the slashes for the specific pieces of data that need them.
Register Globals
A number of older scripts assume that all data sent by a form will automatically have a PHP variable of the same name. For example, if your form has an input field with a name of "something", older PHP scripts assume that the PHP processor will automatically create a variable called $something that contains the value set in that field.
If you are running such scripts, you will need to look for the following field:
register_globals = Off
and change it to the following:
register_globals = On
WARNING: Do NOT do this unless you have third party scripts that need it. When writing new scripts, it's best to always code with the assumption that the register_globals item is set to "Off".
Display Errors
On a "live" website, you typically want errors in your script to be silently logged to a PHP error file. On your own local machine, however, while you are testing and debugging a PHP script, it is probably more convenient to have error messages sent to the browser window when they appear. This way, you won't miss errors if you forget to check the error log file.
If you want PHP to display error messages in your browser window, look for the following:
display_errors = Off
And change it to:
display_errors = On
This value should always be set to "Off" for a "live" website.
Session Path
If your script uses sessions, look for the following line:
;session.save_path = "/tmp"
The session.save_path sets the folder where PHP saves its session files. Since "/tmp" does not exist on Windows, you will need to set it to a directory that does. One way is to create a folder called (say) "c:\tmp" (the way you created c:\php earlier), and point this setting to that folder. If you do that, change the line to the following:
session.save_path = "c:\tmp"
Notice that in addition to changing the path, I also removed the semi-colon (";") prefix from the line.
Alternatively, you can find out the current TEMP folder on your computer and use that. Or create a "tmp" folder in your PHP directory, like "c:\php\tmp" and set the configuration file accordingly. The possibilities are endless. If you can't decide, just create "c:\tmp" and do as I said above.
SMTP Server
If your script uses the mail() function, and you want the function to successfully send mail on your local machine, look for the following section:
[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost
smtp_port = 25
; For Win32 only.
;sendmail_from = me@example.com
Change it to point to your SMTP server and email account. For example, if your SMTP server is "mail.example.com" and your email address is "youremail@example.com", change the code to:
[mail function]
SMTP = mail.example.com
smtp_port = 25
sendmail_from = youremail@example.com
Note that after you do this, when your script tries to use the mail() function, you will need to be connected to your ISP for the function to succeed. If you do not modify the above lines and attempt to use mail() in your script, the function will return a fail code, and display (or log) the error (depending on how you configure php.ini to handle errors).
(Note that in Apache 1.x, the smtp_port line may not be present. If so, don't include it.)
How to Configure Apache for PHP 5
There are two ways to set up Apache to use PHP: the first is to configure it to load the PHP interpreter as an Apache module. The second is to configure it to run the interpreter as a CGI binary. I will supply information for how you can accomplish both, but you should only implement one of these methods. Choose the module method if your web host also installed PHP as an Apache module, and use the CGI method if they have implemented it to run as a CGI binary.
Running PHP 5 as an Apache Module
To configure Apache to load PHP as a module to parse your PHP scripts, use an ASCII text editor to open the Apache configuration file, "httpd.conf". If you use Apache 1.x, the file is found in "c:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache\conf\". Apache 2.0.x users can find it in "C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\" while Apache 2.2.x users can find it in "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\conf\". Basically, it's in the "conf" folder of wherever you installed Apache.
Search for the section of the file that has a series of "LoadModule" statements. Statements prefixed by the hash "#" sign are regarded as having been commented out.
If you are using Apache 1.x, add the following line after all the LoadModule statements:
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache.dll"
If you are using Apache 2.0.x, add the following line after all the LoadModule statements:
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2.dll"
If you are using Apache 2.2.x, add the following line instead:
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2_2.dll"
Note carefully the use of the forward slash character ("/") instead of the traditional Windows backslash ("\"). This is not a typographical error.
If you are using Apache 1.x, search for the series of "AddModule" statements, and add the following line after all of them. You do not have to do this in any of the Apache 2 series of web servers.
AddModule mod_php5.c
Next, search for "AddType" in the file, and add the following line after the last "AddType" statement. Do this no matter which version of Apache you are using. For Apache 2.2.x, you can find the "AddType" lines in the
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
If you need to support other file types, like ".phtml", simply add them to the list, like this:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .phtml
Finally, for those using one of the Apache 2 versions, you will need to indicate the location of your PHP ini file. Add the following line to the end of your httpd.conf file.
PHPIniDir "c:/php"
Of course if you used a different directory for your PHP installation, you will need to change "c:/php" to that path. Remember to use the forward slash ("/") here again.
If you are using Apache 1, you will have already placed your php.ini file in either the Windows directory or somewhere in your PATH, so PHP should be able to find it by itself. You can of course do the same if you are using Apache 2, but I find modifying the Apache configuration file a better solution than cluttering your c:\windows directory or your PATH variable.
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