Installing Apache
This tutorial will provide instructions on how to install Apache on Windows. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with installing on a Mac and am not providing those instructions on siteforstarters.com.
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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on November 10, 2010 at 6:23 am
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i prefer to use large party hats because they are kinda cool and nice “