When you click on the zip package link, it will take you to a page instructing you to choose a mirror site. Pick whichever mirror package is closest to you, and if there is more than one mirror site in your country, it does not really matter which one you pick.

When you click on the mirror site link, a File Download page will appear asking, “Do you want to open or save this file?” Note: If your PC doesn’t recognize .zip files, then download a zip program like WinZip, 7Zip, or another zip program (most programs are free). Once you are able, choose Save and you can save it to your C:\Temp folder or wherever you want. All you are saving at this point is basically a compressed file that you need to decompress/unzip later, so it doesn’t matter where you put it. When the download is complete, in the File Download screen choose the Open button, or if you selected the Open file button, double click on the new file (should be named something like php-5.2.9-1-Win32.zip and look like a stack of books) and your zip program should open up automatically. If it doesn’t, that probably indicates a problem with your zip program. I use a program called WinRAR and the following instructions are based on that program, but zip programs are all basically the same, so it should not be difficult to follow the instructions if you have another program. In WinRAR, select the folder named “..” and click the Extract to icon at the top of the screen. That will open a new Extraction path and options screen. Make sure you are on the General tab and in the box underneath Destination path, create a new folder named C:\php5 and click OK.

In the php5 folder you just unzipped, look for a file named php.ini-dist. Make a copy of the file and name it php.ini through either of the following methods:

1. Right click on php.ini-dist and choose Copy from the dropdown menu. Then, go to an open area of the same folder and click Paste. This will create a file named “Copy of php.ini-dist.” Rename this file “php.ini.”

2. Open php.ini-dist, go to File – Save-As, and in the screen that appears, enter php.ini in the File Name box and click Save.

Just to be safe, you should also make a backup copy. Just follow the previous step number one and just leave it titled Copy of php.ini-dist.

After you rename the file, double click it to open the file. You will notice that it is written in plain text (don’t be scared) and is really long.

Quick note: in the php.ini file, any of the lines that begin with a semicolon (;) are ignored and only the lines without a semicolon are accepted. Therefore, if you want to enable a line you would remove the semicolon and if want to disable a line you would add a semicolon. Just keep that in mind as you follow these instructions.

Hint: One trick to finding information in files like these is to type Ctrl+F, which brings up the Find command and it will search for whatever you type in the Find what field. The direction buttons tell it what direction to search. If you just opened the document, you can leave the Direction button as Down and it will begin looking from the beginning of the document down to the bottom.

One more note: in many of these steps I will explain how many lines down you need to navigate as a point of reference. These numbers may not be accurate depending on the program you use to read the file or if something changed in a different version, so don’t be alarmed if the numbers are not completely accurate.

1. Search for the following line:

error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE (Make sure you do NOT use a line with a semicolon in the beginning.)

and change it to

error_reporting = E_ALL

2. 19 lines down, make sure that the display_errors line is on. If it is set as Off, turn it back on. It should look like the following:

display_errors = On

3. 107 lines down, look for the following line:

register_globals = Off

This is the default setting. Do not change it NO MATTER WHAT. Turning it on gives malicious users the opportunity to mess with your site, so don’t do it.

4. 75 lines down, look for the following line in the Paths and Directories section (it’s easy to find because it has a ton of semicolons surrounding it to look like a box):

extension_dir = “./”

and change it to

extension_dir = “C:\php5\ext\”

This obviously tells PHP where to find your folder. If you chose a different folder name or put it in a different location, replace C:\php5 with the location you chose.

5. Scroll down until you reach the Dynamic Extensions section (easy to find like the last section), and slightly further down you will see a whole bunch of extension=php lines. These basically are extra features you can add to PHP if you know what you are doing. All of these lines have been disabled (because they have semicolons in front of them), and you can enable any of them by deleting the semicolon in the beginning of the line. We will enable four lines. I’m not sure what exactly these lines do, but I was told at some point to enable them and I suggest you do the same. The section begins with ;extension=php_bz2.dll and the lines are listed in alphabetical order.

Enable each of the following lines by deleting the semicolon in the front of the line:

;extension=php_gd2.dll

;extension=php_mbstring.dll

;extension=php_msql.dll (make sure you find this line exactly; there are several that look very close)

;extension=php_xsl.dll

6. Way further down (roughly 250 lines) look for the following line:

;session.save_path = “/tmp”

Delete the semicolon and change the information in the quotes to C:\WINDOWS\Temp

7. Save the file and close it.

Add PHP to startup procedure

Open your computer’s control panel by clicking the Start button in the bottom left corner and either going to Settings-Control Panel or straight to Control Panel.

Double click the System icon, click the Advanced tab, and click the Environment Variables button. In the bottom section of the screen that opens, highlight the Path line, and click the Edit button. This will open a small screen titled Edit System Variable. In the Variable Value field, go to the very end of the line and type a semicolon followed by the path of the PHP folder you created (in my case the path is C:\php5). Therefore, if you followed my instructions, the end of the line will look like ; C:\php5. Click OK.

With the Environment Variables screen still open, in the TOP section, click the New button, which will open a screen titled New System Variable. In the Variable name field, type PHPRC and in the Variable value field, enter the path of your PHP folder (in my case C:\php5.

Click OK in each of the boxes to close them. Windows will now be able to find the PHP files it needs when it starts up. Now we need to tell Apache how to work with PHP.

Configuring Apache to work with PHP

Now, you need to make some changes to the Apache configuration file so that it works with PHP.

Quick note: Apache uses forward slashes rather than the backward slashes we used with the php.ini file. Also, disabled lines have a # sign rather than a semicolon (;).

1. The Apache configuration file, titled httpd.conf, is located at C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf. Go to the file and double click it. If you happen to be prompted as to what program to open it with, use Notepad or any other text editor.

2. After opening the httpd.conf file, scroll down to the section with a whole bunch of LoadModule lines. At the end of the list, add the following line (make sure you do not put a # in the beginning):

LoadModule php5_module c:/php5/php5apache2.dll

If you installed php in a different folder than C:\php5, change that portion to the correct location, and don’t forget to use a forward slash rather than a backward slash. Note: if you have any spaces in your folder name, you need to put quotes around the path.

3. 54 lines down, look for the following line:

DocumentRoot “C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2″

Each web server needs a folder to be used as the server root, and the server root is where you keep all your web files. Rather than keep them in the current location, most people suggest that you create a separate file. I created a folder named htdocs that I keep in my C: drive. If you choose to do that, go to your C: drive and create a folder named htdocs. Then, change the line indicated above so that it now looks like the following:

DocumentRoot “C:/htdocs”

Scroll down 25 lines and look for the following line:

<Directory “C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2”>

and change it to

<Directory “C:/htdocs”>

4. 68 lines down, look for the following line:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.html.var

and add index.php and index.htm

This basically just tells web servers what to display if someone leaves out the http:// in the url (which almost everyone does now).

5. Much further down (around 450 lines) look for the section with a lot of lines beginning with AddType. After the last of those lines (probably following the AddType application/x-gzip .gz .tgz line), add the following line:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Save the file and close it.

6. Now, you need to check that PHP is working. Create a file in a text editor like Notepad, or if you happen to have Dreamweaver, you can create it with that.

Add the following code to the new file:

<?php phpinfo(); ?> and save the file as phpinfo.php and save it in the htdocs folder you just created (C:\htdocs).

Restart Apache, following the instructions in the article Installing Apache. Open your browser, cross your fingers, and type http://localhost/. Hopefully, you will see a page with information about PHP. If you run into any problems, go through the instructions again and make sure you didn’t make any typos.

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider making a donation.

When you click on the zip package link, it will take you to a page instructing you to choose a mirror site. Pick whichever mirror package is closest to you, and if there is more than one mirror site in your country, it does not really matter which one you pick.

When you click on the mirror site link, a File Download page will appear asking, “Do you want to open or save this file?” Note: If your PC doesn’t recognize .zip files, then download a zip program like WinZip, 7Zip, or another zip program (most programs are free). Once you are able, choose Save and you can save it to your C:\Temp folder or wherever you want. All you are saving at this point is basically a compressed file that you need to decompress/unzip later, so it doesn’t matter where you put it. When the download is complete, in the File Download screen choose the Open button, or if you selected the Open file button, double click on the new file (should be named something like php-5.2.9-1-Win32.zip and look like a stack of books) and your zip program should open up automatically. If it doesn’t, that probably indicates a problem with your zip program. I use a program called WinRAR and the following instructions are based on that program, but zip programs are all basically the same, so it should not be difficult to follow the instructions if you have another program. In WinRAR, select the folder named “..” and click the Extract to icon at the top of the screen. That will open a new Extraction path and options screen. Make sure you are on the General tab and in the box underneath Destination path, create a new folder named C:\php5 and click OK.

In the php5 folder you just unzipped, look for a file named php.ini-dist. Make a copy of the file and name it php.ini through either of the following methods:

1. Right click on php.ini-dist and choose Copy from the dropdown menu. Then, go to an open area of the same folder and click Paste. This will create a file named “Copy of php.ini-dist.” Rename this file “php.ini.”

2. Open php.ini-dist, go to File – Save-As, and in the screen that appears, enter php.ini in the File Name box and click Save.

Just to be safe, you should also make a backup copy. Just follow the previous step number one and just leave it titled Copy of php.ini-dist.

After you rename the file, double click it to open the file. You will notice that it is written in plain text (don’t be scared) and is really long.

Quick note: in the php.ini file, any of the lines that begin with a semicolon (;) are ignored and only the lines without a semicolon are accepted. Therefore, if you want to enable a line you would remove the semicolon and if want to disable a line you would add a semicolon. Just keep that in mind as you follow these instructions.

Hint: One trick to finding information in files like these is to type Ctrl+F, which brings up the Find command and it will search for whatever you type in the Find what field. The direction buttons tell it what direction to search. If you just opened the document, you can leave the Direction button as Down and it will begin looking from the beginning of the document down to the bottom.

One more note: in many of these steps I will explain how many lines down you need to navigate as a point of reference. These numbers may not be accurate depending on the program you use to read the file or if something changed in a different version, so don’t be alarmed if the numbers are not completely accurate.

1. Search for the following line:

error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE (Make sure you do NOT use a line with a semicolon in the beginning.)

and change it to

error_reporting = E_ALL

2. 19 lines down, make sure that the display_errors line is on. If it is set as Off, turn it back on. It should look like the following:

display_errors = On

3. 107 lines down, look for the following line:

register_globals = Off

This is the default setting. Do not change it NO MATTER WHAT. Turning it on gives malicious users the opportunity to mess with your site, so don’t do it.

4. 75 lines down, look for the following line in the Paths and Directories section (it’s easy to find because it has a ton of semicolons surrounding it to look like a box):

extension_dir = “./”

and change it to

extension_dir = “C:\php5\ext\”

This obviously tells PHP where to find your folder. If you chose a different folder name or put it in a different location, replace C:\php5 with the location you chose.

5. Scroll down until you reach the Dynamic Extensions section (easy to find like the last section), and slightly further down you will see a whole bunch of extension=php lines. These basically are extra features you can add to PHP if you know what you are doing. All of these lines have been disabled (because they have semicolons in front of them), and you can enable any of them by deleting the semicolon in the beginning of the line. We will enable four lines. I’m not sure what exactly these lines do, but I was told at some point to enable them and I suggest you do the same. The section begins with ;extension=php_bz2.dll and the lines are listed in alphabetical order.

Enable each of the following lines by deleting the semicolon in the front of the line:

;extension=php_gd2.dll

;extension=php_mbstring.dll

;extension=php_msql.dll (make sure you find this line exactly; there are several that look very close)

;extension=php_xsl.dll

6. Way further down (roughly 250 lines) look for the following line:

;session.save_path = “/tmp”

Delete the semicolon and change the information in the quotes to C:\WINDOWS\Temp

7. Save the file and close it.

Add PHP to startup procedure

Open your computer’s control panel by clicking the Start button in the bottom left corner and either going to Settings-Control Panel or straight to Control Panel.

Double click the System icon, click the Advanced tab, and click the Environment Variables button. In the bottom section of the screen that opens, highlight the Path line, and click the Edit button. This will open a small screen titled Edit System Variable. In the Variable Value field, go to the very end of the line and type a semicolon followed by the path of the PHP folder you created (in my case the path is C:\php5). Therefore, if you followed my instructions, the end of the line will look like ; C:\php5. Click OK.

With the Environment Variables screen still open, in the TOP section, click the New button, which will open a screen titled New System Variable. In the Variable name field, type PHPRC and in the Variable value field, enter the path of your PHP folder (in my case C:\php5.

Click OK in each of the boxes to close them. Windows will now be able to find the PHP files it needs when it starts up. Now we need to tell Apache how to work with PHP.

Configuring Apache to work with PHP

Now, you need to make some changes to the Apache configuration file so that it works with PHP.

Quick note: Apache uses forward slashes rather than the backward slashes we used with the php.ini file. Also, disabled lines have a # sign rather than a semicolon (;).

1. The Apache configuration file, titled httpd.conf, is located at C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf. Go to the file and double click it. If you happen to be prompted as to what program to open it with, use Notepad or any other text editor.

2. After opening the httpd.conf file, scroll down to the section with a whole bunch of LoadModule lines. At the end of the list, add the following line (make sure you do not put a # in the beginning):

LoadModule php5_module c:/php5/php5apache2.dll

If you installed php in a different folder than C:\php5, change that portion to the correct location, and don’t forget to use a forward slash rather than a backward slash. Note: if you have any spaces in your folder name, you need to put quotes around the path.

3. 54 lines down, look for the following line:

DocumentRoot “C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2″

Each web server needs a folder to be used as the server root, and the server root is where you keep all your web files. Rather than keep them in the current location, most people suggest that you create a separate file. I created a folder named htdocs that I keep in my C: drive. If you choose to do that, go to your C: drive and create a folder named htdocs. Then, change the line indicated above so that it now looks like the following:

DocumentRoot “C:/htdocs”

Scroll down 25 lines and look for the following line:

<Directory “C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2”>

and change it to

<Directory “C:/htdocs”>

4. 68 lines down, look for the following line:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.html.var

and add index.php and index.htm

This basically just tells web servers what to display if someone leaves out the http:// in the url (which almost everyone does now).

5. Much further down (around 450 lines) look for the section with a lot of lines beginning with AddType. After the last of those lines (probably following the AddType application/x-gzip .gz .tgz line), add the following line:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Save the file and close it.

6. Now, you need to check that PHP is working. Create a file in a text editor like Notepad, or if you happen to have Dreamweaver, you can create it with that.

Add the following code to the new file:

<?php phpinfo(); ?> and save the file as phpinfo.php and save it in the htdocs folder you just created (C:\htdocs).

Restart Apache, following the instructions in the article Installing Apache. Open your browser, cross your fingers, and type http://localhost/. Hopefully, you will see a page with information about PHP. If you run into any problems, go through the instructions again and make sure you didn’t make any typos.

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider making a donation.

1. Scroll down a little on the page and on the left hand side of the page, you will find a section titled MySQL Community Server with a Download box beneath it. Click the Download box.

2. Slightly below this section is another section titled MySQL Community Server. Beneath it, in the section titled Current Release (Recommended), there will be a link named something like MySQL 5.1—Generally Available (GA) release for production use. The number (5.1 in this case) will change with new versions, but you can use whichever version they are using in this section.

In the page that opens, scroll down to the section titled Windows downloads. Choose Windows Essentials (x86) and click the Pick a mirror link on the right.

When the new page opens, in the New Users section click the Proceed button. In the next page, you can either fill in your information or click the » No thanks, just take me to the downloads! link.

In the next page, click one of the links in the United States that is probably the closest to you; try to choose HTTP if you can.

After you click the link, in the screen that pops up, click Save and save it wherever you want. I saved mine in the C:\Temp folder. When the download is complete, in the File Download screen choose the Open button, or if you selected the Open file button, double click on the new file. In the screen asking you, “Do you want to run this file?” click Run. This will bring up the installation wizard which will walk you through the installation process.

Click Next to begin. In the next screen, make sure the Typical button is selected and click Next. In the next page, if there is something you would like to change, click the Back button and change it. Otherwise, click Next.

In the next page that opens, you can either enter your information or click the Skip Sign-Up button. Click Next and MySQL will complete the installation.

When everything is finished, you will be taken to a Wizard Completed screen. Check the “Configure the MySQL Server now box and click the Finish button.

In the welcome screen that opens, click Next.

In the next screen, make sure to click the Detailed Configuration button.

The next screen gives you three options. The Developer Machine option will work just fine and you should select that. Unless your computer will act as a live server, you don’t want the other options because it will slow down everything else on your computer.

In the next screen, unless you have a good reason, choose the Multifunctional Database button.

The next screen lets you choose where to put your InnoDB tablespace. If you chose Non-Transactional Database Only in the last step, this option will be grayed out. The default location is C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\data (again, your version number might be different). The default location is fine, but if you want to change the location, the dropdown menu gives you other suggested options. If you want to use a different drive, you can click the button to the right that has three dots. When you are finished, click the Next button.

Make sure you keep the Decision Support (DSS)/OLAP option in the next screen. Then, click the Next button.

MySQL communicates with Apache and PHP through port 3306. Unless you are running two different versions of MySQL on your computer, you can keep it at port 3306. Make sure that Enable TCP/IP Networking is checked and click the Next button.

In the next page, you will probably want to choose the first option, Standard Character Set. Click Next.

In the next screen, the Install MySQL as a Windows Service box is checked. This means that MySQL will automatically begin when your computer starts up and then run in the background. If you happen to have MySQL already installed as a Windows Service, this box will be grayed out. If you don’t want MySQL to start automatically, uncheck the Launch the MySQL Server automatically box.

The Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH option is also selected by default. Basically, this option allows you to work directly with MySQL in the command line if you ever need to. Make sure it is selected and click the Next button.

If a Service Name Exists pop up menu appears, click No, and pick another name from the drop down menu in the Service Name field.

In the next screen, the box next to Modify Security Settings is checked by default. You will also notice that “root” is written beneath the shadow figure. MySQL gives that name to the administrator who can access everything in the database. Enter and retype your password in the fields to the right, and uncheck the Enable root access from remote machines box, unless you access your server from a different computer.

Do not check the Create an Anonymous Account box. It’s just not a good idea.

Click Next.

Finally, you are finished and can click Execute.

If you have Norton or another similar internet security program running, you might get some pop-up messages suggesting that you block connections, but you don’t want to do that because MySQL will not work if you do. Instead, select the option to allow all connections using all ports.

That should take you to a screen saying that everything went well. Click the Finish button and, believe it or not, you are finished!

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Here are some of the programs that you can download from the Web:

WS_FTP (http://www.ipswitch.com)

CuteFTP (http://www.cuteftp.com)

FTP Explorer (http://www.winsite.com)

Fetch (http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/softdev/fetch.html)

LeechFTP (http://stud.fh-heilbronn.de/~jdebis/leechftp/downloads.html)

FileZilla (http://filezilla.sourceforge.net)

Core FTP Lite (http://www.coreftp.com/download.html)

First, you need to make sure that your host provides and FTP account. What I mean by that is in order for you to use an FTP program like FileZilla, your host needs to allow access to a file system. If they don’t, you will not be able to use FTP. Most hosts will tell you if they provide an FTP account, but you also can check if there is an FTP account available by typing ftp.example.com or ftp://ftp.example.com. If a page opens asking for your password or shows the contents of your home directory, you are in luck, there is an FTP account available. If not, don’t worry, you can still transfer your files (I will show you how in a future article). If your host does not offer an FTP account, it probably indicates that they are not the best host.

If you choose to use FileZilla like I did, you can download it easily for free. Go to http://filezilla-project.org/ and on the main page click on the Download FileZilla Client and on the following page choose the appropriate file to download (in my case it was FileZilla_3.2.1_win32-setup.exe). You can pretty much save the file wherever you want. I saved mine in the C:\Temp folder.

The following instructions are based on version 3.2.1, so things might be slightly different if you have another version. Once you have downloaded FileZilla it is pretty much ready to go immediately.

Plug in host information

I believe when you first open FileZilla, the contents of your computer should show up immediately on the left side of the screen in the Local Site area. When you open up FileZilla, you will need to plug in information regarding your webhosting account so that you can connect your computer to your webhost. (If you don’t have a webhost account, you must set one up before you can move forward. See the Choosing a webhost section for details on how to do that.)

To plug in your host information, go to File-Site Manager and when the next screen opens, make sure you are on the General tab. Note: If you have already created a site and are creating an additional one, you will need to click the New Site button and insert the name in the text box first. In the Host field, you will type your host name, which in most cases is ftp.example.com. If you aren’t sure what name you should use, you can probably find that information from your web host-I found my information through my web host’s website as well as in an email they sent me when I first set up the site (or you could just give it a shot and hope it works)! In the Server Type field, choose FTP – File Transfer Protocol or a similar name if you are using another version. Unless you have a specific reason, leave the Port field blank. In the Logontype field, choose Normal from the dropdown menu. In the User and Password fields you should be able to use the same information that you set up your Control Panel through your host. You can leave the Account and Comments fields blank. If all goes well, the contents of your host server should now show up on the right side of the screen.

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Although you could use Microsoft IIS (Microsoft Internet Information Services), I recommend using Apache as your local web server. Most web hosts use Apache, so it makes sense for you to use it on your local computer.

To download Apache, go to http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi. Scroll down to the section titled something like Apache HTTP Server 2.2.11 is the best available version (the number will change depending on the most recent version). My instructions will be based on version 2.0.63, but the instructions should be very similar for whatever version is current. In this section look for the Win32 Binary download, and you want to use the “without crypto (no mod_ssl)” version. The correct version should have a link that is titled something like apache_2.2.11-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi. Click the link and in the screen that pops up, click Save and save it wherever you want. I saved mine in the C:\Temp folder.

Once you do that, double click the file and click Run. This will bring up the Apache installation wizard which will walk you through the installation process. Click Next to start. The first page that appears is the Apache License Agreement. Read through the agreement, click the button stating that you will accept the terms, and click Next. Read the next page with information about Apache and click Next.

That will bring up the Server Information screen. In the Network Domain and Server Domain fields, enter localhost, which tells Apache you are running this on your own computer. In the Administrator’s Email Address field, enter an email address. It doesn’t even need to be a real email address since it does not matter at all to make Apache work. Make sure the for All Users, on Port 80, as a service button has been selected. This will tell Apache to work in the background automatically. Click Next.

In the Setup Type screen that appears, make sure the Typical button is selected and click Next.

In the Destination Folder screen that appears, it lets you change where you will install Apache. By default, they should install it into C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache 2.0 (or whatever your version number is).Unless you have a reason to change it, you can use the default location. Click Next.

In the final screen, click Install to finish the installation.

If you have Norton or another similar internet security program running, you might get some pop-up messages suggesting that you block connections, but you don’t want to do that because Apache will not work if you do. Instead, select the option to allow all connections.

If Windows also tries to block Apache, make sure to click the Unblock button.

Now, open a browser and type http://localhost/ and hopefully it should bring up a page that says something at the top like “If you can see this, it means that the installation of the Apache web server software on this system was successful.” That’s it! You should have Apache installed now.

If you happen to get an error message, it might mean that the Apache server is not running. Try restarting the server and typing http://localhost/ again. This next section shows you how to do that.

Apache Basics

When you follow Apache’s default installation as we did, Apache is set up to start automatically when you turn on the computer and then runs in the background. The Apache icon will appear in the bottom right corner of your computer in the taskbar. It looks like a circle with a party hat on, and when it is running there will be a green arrow in the circle, and when it is not running it will have a red dot in the middle.

To start, stop, or restart Apache, left click on the Apache icon, put the arrow on Apache2, slide over and click either start, stop, or restart. You can also double click the icon for additional options, but you shouldn’t need to change anything with Apache too often and I will not get into those details here.

The next step is to Install PHP.

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