Installing PHP
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Table of Contents
1. General Installation Considerations
2. Installation on Windows systems
Windows Installer
Manual Installation Steps
ActiveScript
Microsoft IIS / PWS
Apache 1.3.x on Microsft Windows
Apache 2.0.x on Microsoft Windows
Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Microsoft Windows
OmniHTTPd Server
Sambar Server on Microsoft Windows
Xitami on Microsoft Windows
Installation of extensions on Windows
3. Problems?
Read the FAQ
Other problems
Bug reports
4. Runtime Configuration
The configuration file
How to change configuration settings
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Chapter 1. General Installation Considerations
Before starting the installation, first you need to know what do you
want to use PHP for. There are three main fields you can use PHP, as
described in the What can PHP do? section:
* Server-side scripting
* Command line scripting
* Client-side GUI applications
For the first and most common form, you need three things: PHP itself,
a web server and a web browser. You probably already have a web
browser, and depending on your operating system setup, you may also
have a web server (e.g. Apache on Linux and MacOS X; IIS on Windows).
You may also rent webspace at a company. This way, you don't need to
set up anything on your own, only write your PHP scripts, upload it to
the server you rent, and see the results in your browser.
While setting up the server and PHP on your own, you have two choices
for the method of connecting PHP to the server. For many servers PHP
has a direct module interface (also called SAPI). These servers
include Apache, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Netscape and
iPlanet servers. Many other servers have support for ISAPI, the
Microsoft module interface (OmniHTTPd for example). If PHP has no
module support for your web server, you can always use it as a CGI or
FastCGI processor. This means you set up your server to use the CGI
executable of PHP to process all PHP file requests on the server.
If you are also interested to use PHP for command line scripting (e.g.
write scripts autogenerating some images for you offline, or
processing text files depending on some arguments you pass to them),
you always need the command line executable. For more information,
read the section about writing command line PHP applications. In this
case, you need no server and no browser.
With PHP you can also write desktop GUI applications using the PHP-GTK
extension. This is a completely different approach than writing web
pages, as you do not output any HTML, but manage windows and objects
within them. For more information about PHP-GTK, please visit the site
dedicated to this extension. PHP-GTK is not included in the official
PHP distribution.
From now on, this section deals with setting up PHP for web servers on
Unix and Windows with server module interfaces and CGI executables.
You will also find information on the command line executable in the
following sections.
PHP source code and binary distributions for Windows can be found at
http://www.php.net/downloads.php. We recommend you to choose a mirror
nearest to you for downloading the distributions.
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Chapter 2. Installation on Windows systems
This section applies to Windows 98/Me and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. PHP
will not work on 16 bit platforms such as Windows 3.1 and sometimes we
refer to the supported Windows platforms as Win32. Windows 95 is no
longer supported as of PHP 4.3.0.
There are two main ways to install PHP for Windows: either manually or
by using the installer.
If you have Microsoft Visual Studio, you can also build PHP from the
original source code.
Once you have PHP installed on your Windows system, you may also want
to load various extensions for added functionality.
Warning
There are several all-in-one installers over the Internet, but none of
those are endorsed by PHP.net, as we believe that the manual
installation is the best choice to have your system secure and
optimised.
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Installer
The Windows PHP installer is available from the downloads page at
http://www.php.net/downloads.php. This installs the CGI version of PHP
and for IIS, PWS, and Xitami, it configures the web server as well.
The installer does not include any extra external PHP extensions
(php_*.dll) as you'll only find those in the Windows Zip Package and
PECL downloads.
Note: While the Windows installer is an easy way to make PHP work,
it is restricted in many aspects as, for example, the automatic
setup of extensions is not supported. Use of the installer isn't
the preferred method for installing PHP.
First, install your selected HTTP (web) server on your system, and
make sure that it works.
Run the executable installer and follow the instructions provided by
the installation wizard. Two types of installation are supported -
standard, which provides sensible defaults for all the settings it
can, and advanced, which asks questions as it goes along.
The installation wizard gathers enough information to set up the
php.ini file, and configure certain web servers to use PHP. With IIS
or PWS on a NT Workstation, a list of all the nodes on the server with
script map settings is displayed, and you can choose those nodes to
which you wish to add the PHP script mappings. One of the web servers
the PHP installer does not configure for is Apache, so you'll need to
configure it manually.
Once the installation has completed, the installer will inform you if
you need to restart your system, restart the server, or just start
using PHP.
Warning
Be aware, that this setup of PHP is not secure. If you would like to
have a secure PHP setup, you'd better go on the manual way, and set
every option carefully. This automatically working setup gives you an
instantly working PHP installation, but it is not meant to be used on
online servers.
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Manual Installation Steps
This install guide will help you manually install and configure PHP
with a web server on Microsoft Windows. To get started you'll need to
download the zip binary distribution from the downloads page at
http://www.php.net/downloads.php.
Although there are many all-in-one installation kits, and we also
distribute a PHP installer for Microsoft Windows, we recommend you
take the time to setup PHP yourself as this will provide you with a
better understanding of the system, and enables you to install PHP
extensions easily when needed.
Upgrading from a previous PHP version: Previous editions of the
manual suggest moving various ini and DLL files into your SYSTEM
(i.e. C:\WINDOWS) folder and while this simplifies the installation
procedure it makes upgrading difficult. We advise you remove all of
these files (like php.ini and PHP related DLLs from the Windows
SYSTEM folder) before moving on with a new PHP installation. Be
sure to backup these files as you might break the entire system.
The old php.ini might be useful in setting up the new PHP as well.
And as you'll soon learn, the preferred method for installing PHP
is to keep all PHP related files in one directory and have this
directory available to your systems PATH.
MDAC requirements: If you use Microsoft Windows 98/NT4 download the
latest version of the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) for
your platform. MDAC is available at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/. This requirement exists because
ODBC is built into the distributed Windows binaries.
The following steps should be completed on all installations before
any server specific instructions are performed:
Extract the distribution file into a directory of your choice. If you
are installing PHP 4, extract to C:\, as the zip file expands to a
foldername like php-4.3.7-Win32. If you are installing PHP 5, extract
to C:\php as the zip file doesn't expand as in PHP 4. You may choose a
different location but do not have spaces in the path (like C:\Program
Files\PHP) as some web servers will crash if you do.
The directory structure extracted from the zip is different for PHP
versions 4 and 5 and look like as follows:
Example 2-1. PHP 4 package structure
c:\php
|
+--cli
| |
| |-php.exe -- CLI executable - ONLY for commandline scripting
|
+--dlls -- support DLLs required by some extensions
| |
| |-expat.dll
| |
| |-fdftk.dll
| |
| |-...
|
+--extensions -- extension DLLs for PHP
| |
| |-php_bz2.dll
| |
| |-php_cpdf.dll
| |
| |-..
|
+--mibs -- support files for SNMP
|
+--openssl -- support files for Openssl
|
+--pdf-related -- support files for PDF
|
+--sapi -- SAPI (server module support) DLLs
| |
| |-php4activescript.dll
| |
| |-php4apache.dll
| |
| |-php4apache2.dll
| |
| |-..
|
+--PEAR -- initial copy of PEAR
|
|
|-go-pear.bat -- PEAR setup script
|
|-..
|
|-php.exe -- CGI executable
|
|-..
|
|-php.ini-dist -- default php.ini settings
|
|-php.ini-recommended -- recommended php.ini settings
|
|-php4ts.dll -- core PHP DLL
|
|-...
Or:
Example 2-2. PHP 5 package structure
c:\php
|
+--dev
| |
| |-php5ts.lib
|
+--ext -- extension DLLs for PHP
| |
| |-php_bz2.dll
| |
| |-php_cpdf.dll
| |
| |-..
|
+--extras
| |
| +--mibs -- support files for SNMP
| |
| +--openssl -- support files for Openssl
| |
| +--pdf-related -- support files for PDF
| |
| |-mime.magic
|
+--pear -- initial copy of PEAR
|
|
|-go-pear.bat -- PEAR setup script
|
|-fdftk.dll
|
|-..
|
|-php-cgi.exe -- CGI executable
|
|-php-win.exe -- executes scripts without an opened command prompt
|
|-php.exe -- CLI executable - ONLY for command line scripting
|
|-..
|
|-php.ini-dist -- default php.ini settings
|
|-php.ini-recommended -- recommended php.ini settings
|
|-php5activescript.dll
|
|-php5apache.dll
|
|-php5apache2.dll
|
|-..
|
|-php5ts.dll -- core PHP DLL
|
|-...
Notice the differences and similarities. Both PHP 4 and PHP 5 have a
CGI executable, a CLI executable, and server modules, but they are
located in different folders and/or have different names. While PHP 4
packages have the server modules in the sapi folder, PHP 5
distributions have no such directory and instead they're in the PHP
folder root. The supporting DLLs for the PHP 5 extensions are also not
in a seperate directory.
Note: In PHP 4, you should move all files located in the dll and
sapi folders to the main folder (e.g. C:\php).
Here is a list of server modules shipped with PHP 4 and PHP 5:
* sapi/php4activescript.dll (php5activescript.dll) - ActiveScript
engine, allowing you to embed PHP in your Windows applications.
* sapi/php4apache.dll (php5apache.dll) - Apache 1.3.x module.
* sapi/php4apache2.dll (php5apache2.dll) - Apache 2.0.x module.
* sapi/php4isapi.dll (php5isapi.dll) - ISAPI Module for ISAPI
compliant web servers like IIS 4.0/PWS 4.0 or newer.
* sapi/php4nsapi.dll (php5nsapi.dll) - Sun/iPlanet/Netscape server
module.
* sapi/php4pi3web.dll (no equivalent in PHP 5) - Pi3Web server
module.
Server modules provide significantly better performance and additional
functionality compared to the CGI binary. The CLI version is designed
to let you use PHP for command line scripting. More information about
CLI is available in the chapter about using PHP from the command line.
Warning
The SAPI modules have been significantly improved as of the 4.1
release, however, in older systems you may encounter server errors or
other server modules failing, such as ASP.
The CGI and CLI binaries, and the web server modules all require the
php4ts.dll (php5ts.dll) file to be available to them. You have to make
sure that this file can be found by your PHP installation. The search
order for this DLL is as follows:
* The same directory from where php.exe is called, or in case you
use a SAPI module, the web server's directory (e.g. C:\Program
Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin).
* Any directory in your Windows PATH environment variable.
To make php4ts.dll / php5ts.dll available you have three options: copy
the file to the Windows system directory, copy the file to the web
server's directory, or add your PHP directory, C:\php to the PATH. For
better maintenance, we advise you to follow the last option, add
C:\php to the PATH, because it will be simpler to upgrade PHP in the
future. Read more about how to add your PHP directory to PATH in the
corresponding FAQ entry.
The next step is to set up a valid configuration file for PHP,
php.ini. There are two ini files distributed in the zip file,
php.ini-dist and php.ini-recommended. We advise you to use
php.ini-recommended, because we optimized the default settings in this
file for performance, and security. Read this well documented file
carefully because it has changes from php.ini-dist that will
drastically affect your setup. Some examples are display_errors being
off and magic_quotes_gpc being off. In addition to reading these,
study the ini settings and set every element manually yourself. If you
would like to achieve the best security, then this is the way for you,
although PHP works fine with these default ini files. Copy your chosen
ini-file to a directory that PHP is able to find and rename it to
php.ini. PHP searches for php.ini in the following locations (in
order):
* PHPIniDir directive (Apache 2 module only)
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\IniFilePath
* The PHPRC environment variable
* Directory of PHP (for CLI), or the web server's directory (for
SAPI modules)
* Windows directory (C:\windows or C:\winnt)
If you are running Apache 2, the simpler option is to use the
PHPIniDir directive (read the installation on Apache 2 page),
otherwise your best option is to set the PHPRC environment variable.
This process is explained in the following FAQ entry.
Note: If you're using NTFS on Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003, make
sure that the user running the web server has read permissions to
your php.ini (e.g. make it readable by Everyone).
The following steps are optional:
* Edit your new php.ini file. If you plan to use OmniHTTPd, do not
follow the next step. Set the doc_root to point to your web
servers document_root. For example:
doc_root = c:\inetpub // for IIS/PWS
doc_root = c:\apache\htdocs // for Apache
* Choose the extensions you would like to load when PHP starts. See
the section about Windows extensions, about how to set up one, and
what is already built in. Note that on a new installation it is
advisable to first get PHP working and tested without any
extensions before enabling them in php.ini.
* On PWS and IIS, you can set the browscap configuration setting to
point to: c:\windows\system\inetsrv\browscap.ini on Windows 9x/Me,
c:\winnt\system32\inetsrv\browscap.ini on NT/2000, and
c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\browscap.ini on XP. For an up-to-date
browscap.ini, read the following FAQ.
PHP is now setup on your system. The next step is to choose a web
server, and enable it to run PHP. Choose a webserver from the table of
contents.
_________________________________________________________________
ActiveScript
This section contains notes specific to the ActiveScript installation.
ActiveScript is a windows only SAPI that enables you to use PHP script
in any ActiveScript compliant host, like Windows Script Host,
ASP/ASP.NET, Windows Script Components or Microsoft Scriptlet control.
As of PHP 5.0.1, ActiveScript has been moved to the PECL repository.
You may download this PECL extensions DLL from the PHP Downloads page
or at http://snaps.php.net/.
Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!
After installing PHP, you should download the ActiveScript DLL
(php5activescript.dll) and place it in the main PHP folder (e.g.
C:\php).
After having all the files needed, you must register the DLL on your
system. To achieve this, open a Command Prompt window (located in the
Start Menu). Then go to your PHP directory by typing something like cd
C:\php. To register the DLL just type regsvr32 php5activescript.dll.
To test if ActiveScript is working, create a new file, named test.wsf
(the extension is very important) and type:
Save and double-click on the file. If you receive a little window
saying "Hello World!" you're done.
Note: ActiveScript doesn't use the default php.ini file. Instead,
it will look only in the same directory as the .exe that caused it
to load. You should create php-activescript.ini and place it in
that folder, if you wish to load extensions, etc.
_________________________________________________________________
Microsoft IIS / PWS
This section contains notes and hints specific to IIS (Microsoft
Internet Information Server). We have included installation
instructions for PWS/IIS 3, PWS 4 or newer and IIS 4 or newer
versions.
Important for CGI users: Read the faq on cgi.force_redirect for
important details. This directive needs to be set to 0.
Warning
By using the CGI setup, your server is open to several possible
attacks. Please read our CGI security section to learn how to defend
yourself from those attacks.
_________________________________________________________________
Windows and PWS/IIS 3
The recommended method for configuring these servers is to use the REG
file included with the distribution (pws-php4cgi.reg in the SAPI
folder for PHP 4, or pws-php5cgi.reg in the main folder for PHP 5).
You may want to edit this file and make sure the extensions and PHP
install directories match your configuration. Or you can follow the
steps below to do it manually.
Warning
These steps involve working directly with the Windows registry. One
error here can leave your system in an unstable state. We highly
recommend that you back up your registry first. The PHP Development
team will not be held responsible if you damage your registry.
* Run Regedit.
* Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /System /CurrentControlSet
/Services /W3Svc /Parameters /ScriptMap.
* On the edit menu select: New->String Value.
* Type in the extension you wish to use for your php scripts. For
example .php
* Double click on the new string value and enter the path to php.exe
in the value data field. ex: C:\php\php.exe for PHP 4, or
C:\php\php-cgi.exe for PHP 5.
* Repeat these steps for each extension you wish to associate with
PHP scripts.
The following steps do not affect the web server installation and only
apply if you want your PHP scripts to be executed when they are run
from the command line (ex. run C:\myscripts\test.php) or by double
clicking on them in a directory viewer window. You may wish to skip
these steps as you might prefer the PHP files to load into a text
editor when you double click on them.
* Navigate to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
* On the edit menu select: New->Key.
* Name the key to the extension you setup in the previous section.
ex: .php
* Highlight the new key and in the right side pane, double click the
"default value" and enter phpfile.
* Repeat the last step for each extension you set up in the previous
section.
* Now create another New->Key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and name it
phpfile.
* Highlight the new key phpfile and in the right side pane, double
click the "default value" and enter PHP Script.
* Right click on the phpfile key and select New->Key, name it Shell.
* Right click on the Shell key and select New->Key, name it open.
* Right click on the open key and select New->Key, name it command.
* Highlight the new key command and in the right side pane, double
click the "default value" and enter the path to php.exe. ex:
c:\php\php.exe -q %1. (don't forget the %1).
* Exit Regedit.
* If using PWS on Windows, reboot to reload the registry.
PWS and IIS 3 users now have a fully operational system. IIS 3 users
can use a nifty tool from Steven Genusa to configure their script
maps.
_________________________________________________________________
Windows and PWS 4 or newer
When installing PHP on Windows with PWS 4 or newer version, you have
two options. One to set up the PHP CGI binary, the other is to use the
ISAPI module DLL.
If you choose the CGI binary, do the following:
* Edit the enclosed pws-php4cgi.reg / pws-php5cgi.reg file (look
into the SAPI folder for PHP 4, or in the main folder for PHP 5)
to reflect the location of your php.exe / php-cgi.exe. Backslashes
should be escaped, for example:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w3svc\parame
ters\Script Map] ".php"="C:\\php\\php.exe" (change to
C:\\php\\php-cgi.exe if you are using PHP 5) Now merge this
registery file into your system; you may do this by
double-clicking it.
* In the PWS Manager, right click on a given directory you want to
add PHP support to, and select Properties. Check the 'Execute'
checkbox, and confirm.
If you choose the ISAPI module, do the following:
* Edit the enclosed pws-php4isapi.reg / pws-php5isapi.reg file (look
into the SAPI folder for PHP 4, or in the main folder for PHP 5)
to reflect the location of your php4isapi.dll / php5isapi.dll.
Backslashes should be escaped, for example:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w3svc\parame
ters\Script Map] ".php"="C:\\php\\sapi\\php4isapi.dll" (or
C:\\php\\php5isapi.dll for PHP 5) Now merge this registery file
into your system; you may do this by double-clicking it.
* In the PWS Manager, right click on a given directory you want to
add PHP support to, and select Properties. Check the 'Execute'
checkbox, and confirm.
_________________________________________________________________
Windows NT/2000/XP and IIS 4 or newer
To install PHP on an NT/2000/XP Server running IIS 4 or newer, follow
these instructions. You have two options to set up PHP, using the CGI
binary (php.exe in PHP 4, or php-cgi.exe in PHP 5) or with the ISAPI
module.
In either case, you need to start the Microsoft Management Console
(may appear as 'Internet Services Manager', either in your Windows NT
4.0 Option Pack branch or the Control Panel=>Administrative Tools
under Windows 2000/XP). Then right click on your Web server node (this
will most probably appear as 'Default Web Server'), and select
'Properties'.
If you want to use the CGI binary, do the following:
* Under 'Home Directory', 'Virtual Directory', or 'Directory', click
on the 'Configuration' button, and then enter the App Mappings
tab.
* Click Add, and in the Executable box, type: C:\php\php.exe for PHP
4 or C:\php\php-cgi.exe for PHP 5 (assuming that you have unziped
PHP in c:\php\).
* In the Extension box, type the file name extension you want
associated with PHP scripts. Leave 'Method exclusions' blank, and
check the 'Script engine' checkbox. You may also like to check the
'check that file exists' box - for a small performance penalty,
IIS (or PWS) will check that the script file exists and sort out
authentication before firing up PHP. This means that you will get
sensible 404 style error messages instead of CGI errors
complaining that PHP did not output any data.
You must start over from the previous step for each extension you
want associated with PHP scripts. .php and .phtml are common,
although .php3 may be required for legacy applications.
* Set up the appropriate security. (This is done in Internet Service
Manager), and if your NT Server uses NTFS file system, add execute
rights for I_USR_ to the directory that contains php.exe /
php-cgi.exe.
To use the ISAPI module, do the following:
* If you don't want to perform HTTP Authentication using PHP, you
can (and should) skip this step. Under ISAPI Filters, add a new
ISAPI filter. Use PHP as the filter name, and supply a path to the
php4isapi.dll / php5isapi.dll.
* Under 'Home Directory', click on the 'Configuration' button. Add a
new entry to the Application Mappings. Use the path to the
php4isapi.dll / php5isapi.dll as the Executable, supply .php as
the extension, leave 'Method exclusions' blank, and check the
'Script engine' checkbox.
* Stop IIS completely (NET STOP iisadmin)
* Start IIS again (NET START w3svc)
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Apache 1.3.x on Microsft Windows
This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 1.3.x
installs of PHP on Microsoft Windows systems. We also have
instructions and notes for Apache 2 on a separate page.
Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!
There are two ways to set up PHP to work with Apache 1.3.x on Windows.
One is to use the CGI binary (php.exe for PHP 4 and php-cgi.exe for
PHP 5), the other is to use the Apache module DLL. In either case you
need to edit your httpd.conf to configure Apache to work with PHP, and
then restart the server.
It is worth noting here that now the SAPI module has been made more
stable under Windows, we recommend it's use above the CGI binary,
since it is more transparent and secure.
Although there can be a few variations of configuring PHP under
Apache, these are simple enough to be used by the newcomer. Please
consult the Apache Documentation for further configuration directives.
After changing the configuration file, remember to restart the server,
for example, NET STOP APACHE followed by NET START APACHE, if you run
Apache as a Windows Service, or use your regular shortcuts.
Note: Remember that when adding path values in the Apache
configuration files on Windows, all backslashes such as
c:\directory\file.ext must be converted to forward slashes, as
c:/directory/file.ext.
_________________________________________________________________
Installing as a CGI binary
If you unziped the PHP package to C:\php\ as described in the Manual
Installation Steps section, you need to insert these lines to your
Apache configuration file to set up the CGI binary:
Example 2-3. PHP and Apache 1.3.x as CGI
ScriptAlias /php/ "c:/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# For PHP 4
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php.exe"
# For PHP 5
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"
# specify the directory where php.ini is
SetEnv PHPRC C:/php
Note that the second line in the list above can be found in the actual
versions of httpd.conf, but it is commented out. Remember also to
substitute the c:/php/ for your actual path to PHP.
Warning
By using the CGI setup, your server is open to several possible
attacks. Please read our CGI security section to learn how to defend
yourself from those attacks.
If you would like to present PHP source files syntax highlighted,
there is no such convinient option as with the module version of PHP.
If you chose to configure Apache to use PHP as a CGI binary, you will
need to use the show_source() function. To do this simply create a PHP
script file and add this code: . Substitute
original_php_script.php with the name of the file you wish to show the
source of.
_________________________________________________________________
Installing as an Apache module
You should add the following lines to your Apache httpd.conf file:
Example 2-4. PHP as an Apache 1.3.x module
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# For PHP 4
LoadModule php4_module "c:/php/sapi/php4apache.dll"
# For PHP 5
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache.dll"
# specify the directory where php.ini is
SetEnv PHPRC C:/php
You may find after using the Windows installer for Apache that you
need to define the AddModule directive for mod_php4.c. This is
especially important if the ClearModuleList directive is defined,
which you will find by scrolling down a few lines. You will see a list
of AddModule entries, add the following line at the end of the list:
AddModule mod_php4.c. For PHP 5, instead use AddModule mod_php5.c
If you would like to use the source code highlighting feature, you
need to add the following line to your httpd.conf: AddType
application/x-httpd-php-source .phps. This should be inserted at the
same place where you inserted AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
above). With this setup, all files served with the .phps extension
will be syntax highlighted for the browser.
_________________________________________________________________
Apache 2.0.x on Microsoft Windows
This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 2.0.x
installs of PHP on Microsoft Windows systems. We also have
instructions and notes for Apache 1.3.x users on a separate page.
Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!
Warning
Do not use Apache 2.0.x and PHP in a production environment neither on
Unix nor on Windows. For information on why, read the following FAQ
entry
You are highly encouraged to take a look at the Apache Documentation
to get a basic understanding of the Apache 2.0.x Server. Also consider
to read the Windows specific notes for Apache 2.0.x before reading on
here.
PHP and Apache 2.0.x compatibility notes: The following versions of
PHP are known to work with the most recent version of Apache 2.0.x:
* PHP 4.3.0 or later available at http://www.php.net/downloads.php.
* the latest stable development version. Get the source code
http://snaps.php.net/php4-latest.tar.gz or download binaries for
Windows http://snaps.php.net/win32/php4-win32-latest.zip.
* a prerelease version downloadable from http://qa.php.net/.
* you have always the option to obtain PHP through anonymous CVS.
These versions of PHP are compatible to Apache 2.0.40 and later.
Apache 2.0 SAPI-support started with PHP 4.2.0. PHP 4.2.3 works
with Apache 2.0.39, don't use any other version of Apache with PHP
4.2.3. However, the recommended setup is to use PHP 4.3.0 or later
with the most recent version of Apache2.
All mentioned versions of PHP will work still with Apache 1.3.x.
Warning
Apache 2.0.x is designed to run on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or
Windows XP. At this time, support for Windows 9x is incomplete. Apache
2.0.x is not expected to work on those platforms at this time.
Download the most recent version of Apache 2.0.x and a fitting PHP
version. Follow the Manual Installation Steps and come back to go on
with the integration of PHP and Apache.
There are two ways to set up PHP to work with Apache 2.0.x on Windows.
One is to use the CGI binary the other is to use the Apache module
DLL. In either case you need to edit your httpd.conf to configure
Apache to work with PHP and then restart the server.
Note: Remember that when adding path values in the Apache
configuration files on Windows, all backslashes such as
c:\directory\file.ext must be converted to forward slashes, as
c:/directory/file.ext.
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Installing as a CGI binary
You need to insert these three lines to your Apache httpd.conf
configuration file to set up the CGI binary:
Example 2-5. PHP and Apache 2.0 as CGI
ScriptAlias /php/ "c:/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# For PHP 4
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php.exe"
# For PHP 5
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"
Warning
By using the CGI setup, your server is open to several possible
attacks. Please read our CGI security section to learn how to defend
yourself from those attacks.
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Installing as an Apache module
You need to insert these two lines to your Apache httpd.conf
configuration file to set up the PHP module for Apache 2.0:
Example 2-6. PHP and Apache 2.0 as Module
# For PHP 4 do something like this:
LoadModule php4_module "c:/php/sapi/php4apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# For PHP 5 do something like this:
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# configure the path to php.ini
PHPIniDir "C:/php"
Note: Remember to substitute the c:/php/ for your actual path to
PHP in the above examples. Take care to use either php4apache2.dll
or php5apache2.dll in your LoadModule directive and not
php4apache.dll or php5apache.dll as the latter ones are designed to
run with Apache 1.3.x.
Warning
Don't mix up your installation with DLL files from different PHP
versions. You have the only choice to use the DLL's and extensions
that ship with your downloaded PHP version.
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Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Microsoft Windows
This section contains notes and hints specific to Sun Java System Web
Server, Sun ONE Web Server, iPlanet and Netscape server installs of
PHP on Windows.
From PHP 4.3.3 on you can use PHP scripts with the NSAPI module to
generate custom directory listings and error pages. Additional
functions for Apache compatibility are also available. For support in
current webservers read the note about subrequests.
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CGI setup on Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers
To install PHP as a CGI handler, do the following:
* Copy php4ts.dll to your systemroot (the directory where you
installed Windows)
* Make a file association from the command line. Type the following
two lines:
assoc .php=PHPScript
ftype PHPScript=c:\php\php.exe %1 %*
* In the Netscape Enterprise Administration Server create a dummy
shellcgi directory and remove it just after (this step creates 5
important lines in obj.conf and allow the web server to handle
shellcgi scripts).
* In the Netscape Enterprise Administration Server create a new mime
type (Category: type, Content-Type: magnus-internal/shellcgi, File
Suffix:php).
* Do it for each web server instance you want PHP to run
More details about setting up PHP as a CGI executable can be found
here: http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php.html
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NSAPI setup on Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers
To install PHP with NSAPI, do the following:
* Copy php4ts.dll to your systemroot (the directory where you
installed Windows)
* Make a file association from the command line. Type the following
two lines:
assoc .php=PHPScript
ftype PHPScript=c:\php\php.exe %1 %*
* In the Netscape Enterprise Administration Server create a new mime
type (Category: type, Content-Type: magnus-internal/x-httpd-php,
File Suffix: php).
* Edit magnus.conf (for servers >= 6) or obj.conf (for servers < 6)
and add the following: You should place the lines after mime types
init.
Init fn="load-modules" funcs="php4_init,php4_execute,php4_auth_trans" shlib="c:
/php/sapi/php4nsapi.dll"
Init fn="php4_init" LateInit="yes" errorString="Failed to initialise PHP!" [php
_ini="c:/path/to/php.ini"]
(PHP >= 4.3.3) The php_ini parameter is optional but with it you
can place your php.ini in your webserver config directory.
* Configure the default object in obj.conf (for virtual server
classes [Sun Web Server 6.0+] in their vserver.obj.conf): In the