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

We do not recommend using a threaded MPM in production with Apache2. Use the prefork MPM instead, or use Apache1. For information on why, read the related FAQ entry on using Apache2 with a threaded MPM

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 /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.

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 6-5. 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.

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 6-6. PHP and Apache 2.0 as Module
# For PHP 4 do something like this: LoadModule php4_module "c:/php/php4apache2.dll" # Don't forget to copy the php4apache2.dll file from the sapi directory! 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.

Note: If you want to use content negotiation, read related FAQ.

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.

User Contributed Notes
Apache 2.0.x on Microsoft Windows

Isaac dot Brown at ArvinMeritor dot com
17-May-2005 07:59


Some XP machines are having troubles with the PHPIniDir derective not finding the php.ini (or so they think). Directories that do contain a php.ini file are returned as empty and it defaults to the next method of finding php.ini (often C:/windows or C:/winnt). 



This is likely caused by read permissions not being set correctly on NTFS file systems, however, it has occurred when no cause could be identified. If setting correct file permissions doesn't work, the easiest way around this problem is moving php.ini to the Apache directory or adding the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\IniFilePath string to your registry and setting it to the correct directory.

wrowe at apache dot org
11-Apr-2005 07:26


Although the warning above reads "We do not recommend using a threaded MPM in production with Apache2" - ignore that nonsense for Win32.



All Apache/Win32 builds were *always* threaded.  Always choose Apache 2 over Apache 1.3 on Windows - because major portions of Apache 2 were written from the ground up to accept Windows.



Apache 1.3 was never designed for threads or non-posix systems.  For Windows they were squirled in with some rather ugly hacks, which will never enjoy much improvement.

lphuberdeau at phpquebec dot org
14-Feb-2005 09:54


I had to add a trailing slash in the PHPIniDir configuration to get Apache to consider it:



PHPIniDir "C:/PHP/"

tpoetter at uos dot de
16-Jan-2005 04:26


It may be that you added a final slash after any of these directory settings. This helped to keep my server from starting. Simply remove these slashes.