The following instructions will assist you with configuring a WAMP server on your Windows desktop.
1- Apache Web Server
Download the latest version of Apache 2.0 series as a msi install. http://httpd.apache.org
When installing, select the custom install. Accept the default values When at the components page, select the root component and change the default install directory from “c:\program files\apache foundation” to simply “C:\”. This will install apache here:
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c:\apache2
c:\apache2\bin\apache.exe
c:\apache2\htdocs
c:\apache2\logs
2- PHP
Download the latest versions of PHP and PECL packages in zip format found here: http://www.php.net
Unzip the standard PHP package here:
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c:\php
Unzip the PECL packages here:
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c:\php\ext
Make the following directories:
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c:\php\uploadtemp
c:\php\sessions
c:\php\conf
Copy the php.ini-recommended to the following file:
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c:\php\php.ini
Edit the php.ini, changing the following settings:
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error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE
…
display_errors = On
…
extension_dir = “c:/php/ext/”
…
upload_tmp_dir = c:/php/uploadtemp/
…
upload_max_filesize = 8M
…
; Uncomment the following extensions
extension=php_mbstring.dll
extension=php_curl.dll
extension=php_gd2.dll
extension=php_mysql.dll
extension=php_sockets.dll
extension=php_zip.dll
…
sendmail_from = your@email.com
…
session.save_path = “C:/php/sessions”
Create the following apache conf file and save it as c:\php\conf\php.conf
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LoadModule php5_module “c:/php/php5apache2.dll”
PHPIniDir “C:/php”
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
DirectoryIndex index.php
Add the following line to your apache conf file (near the bottom of the file, before VirtualHosts):
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Include “C:/php/conf/php.conf”
In your c:\apache2\htdocs folder, you may seen many files called ‘index.html.*’. These are safe to delete. Create a new file in your c:\apache2\htdocs folder called phpinfo.php and open in your favorite editor. Add the following code: <?php phpinfo(); ?>
Restart apache. Go to the following URL and verify that PHP is installed correctly
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http://localhost/phpinfo.php
Add to the PATH environment variable.
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PATH=c:\php;c:\php\ext;…
(where … means the existing values)
You should now reboot your computer for the change in environment variables to take effect. (So modules such as MySQL can be loaded).
3- MySQL
Install the latest version of the MySQL 5.0.x series in zip format found here: http://www.mysql.com
Extract the files to the following directory:
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c:\mysql
Install MySQL as a service by opening the command prompt, and browsing to the following directory:
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cd c:\mysql\bin
mysqld-nt –install
MySQL (alternate)
You can also install the latest ‘essential’ version of MySQL as an install: http://www.mysql.com
Change the installation directory to C:\mysql
Make sure to check “Install as a service”
If you enter a root password, you’ll have to enter that in phpMyAdmin’s config.inc.php
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4- phpMyAdmin (Web Application to Mange MySQL Database
Download the latest version of phpMyAdmin, english format in either zip or 7z format found here: http://www.phpmyadmin.net
Unzip the contents of the branch version to the following folder:
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C:\apache2\htdocs\phpmyadmin\
Create a new config.inc.php modeled from the sample config file in the current directory. Don’t forget to include the <?php and ?> at the beginning and end of the file.
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c:\apache2\phpmyadmin\config.inc.php
Edit in your favorite editor. Make sure to add the following settings:
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$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ‘random-str’;
$i = 0;
$i++;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = ‘config’;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = ‘root’;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = ”; // put here your password after
// setting one ( strongly recommended ! )
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl'] = false; // pma 2.10.0.0
Go into the phpmyadmin, create a pma user. Follow the instructions found here: http://wiki.cihar.com/pma/controluser
Edit the config.inc.php file in your favorite editor a second time.
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$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ‘random-str’;
$i = 0;
$i++;
/* Authentication type */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = ‘cookie’;
/* Server parameters */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = ‘localhost’;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] = ‘tcp’;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] = false;
/* Select mysqli if your server has it */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = ‘mysql’;
/* User for advanced features */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = ‘pma’;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = ‘pma’;
// For your sanity, set the cookie to not expire for 12 hours.
$cfg['LoginCookieValidity'] = (60*60*12);
Last, change your root password so it is secure. You should now be able to sign in/out of phpmyadmin with the root password.
Create Apache Config Files for Each Site
Similar to the config file created for loading php in apache, we will create separate config files for each local web site you wish to host on your computer.
Create a folder on your computer where you would like your local web site to reside. Example:
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c:\projects\my_website
Create a cgi-bin, conf, htdocs and logs folders within the my_website folder. Example:
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c:\projects\my_website\cgi-bin
c:\projects\my_website\conf
c:\projects\my_website\htdocs
c:\projects\my_website\logs
Create an apache configuration file for your web site:
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c:\my_website\conf\httpd.conf
Open the httpd.conf file in your favorite editor and add the following:
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# my_website.com
<VirtualHost *:80>
# General site settings
ServerName www.my_website.local
ServerAlias my_website.local
ServerAdmin postmaster@my_website.com
# PHP Settings (optional):
php_flag display_errors on
php_value error_reporting 2039
# htdocs:
DocumentRoot “c:/projects/my_website/htdocs”
<Directory “c:/projects/my_website/htdocs”>
Allow from all
AllowOverride Options FileInfo AuthConfig
Options Includes FollowSymLinks
</Directory>
# cgi-bin (optional):
ScriptAlias “/cgi-bin/” “c:/projects/my_website/cgi-bin”
<Directory “c:/projects/my_website/cgi-bin”>
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
# Support phpMyAdmin (optional):
Alias “/phpmyadmin/” “c:/apache2/htdocs/phpmyadmin”
# Logging
ErrorLog “c:/projects/my_website/logs/error.log”
CustomLog “c:/projects/my_website/logs/access.log” combined
</VirtualHost>
You may switch the use of .local with .com if you like. I prefer to use .local so I know I am working with a local copy of my web site and not the actual production web site.
Open the main apache httpd.conf file (c:\apache2\conf\httpd.conf) and include the following at the very bottom of the configuration file:
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# Enable virtual hosts in Apache:
NameVirtualHost *:80
# Default htdocs directory for all unknown virtual hosts:
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot c:/apache2/htdocs
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
# Include your own apache configuration files
Include “C:\projects\my_website\conf\httpd.conf”
Add the following line to your windows hosts file (c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts):
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127.0.0.1 my_website.local www.my_website.local
Restart apache, then browse to the following url in your web browser.
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http://my_website.local
Conclusion
Hopefully you will find these steps useful for configuring your own WAMP server on your desktop. The steps above were carefully crafted so you can quickly upgrade any of the software without having to perform a lot of re-configuration. I hope you find this method of installing and configuring Apache, MySQL and PHP on a Windows desktop as useful I do.
