installing php on apache

Thank you both for your comments. I have never attempted this before, so am very much out of my depth.
jstretch, I have followed the tutorial at the website but I think it is quite old.
I downloaded version 5 of php.
It says that I should extract it to C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2 , on my system, I saved it on D drive and the folder it gave me was d:\Apache, not d:\apache group    etc...
Regardless I extracted it to d:\Apache. it asked me what platform, bearing in mind I am running xp but have installed apache, I selected apache as the platform. The next instruction was to "copy the file php.ini-dist in PHP directory to you windows directory" unfortunately I could not find this file either.
It also said that php should have created a new directory which I should rename PHP, but it never...
Am sorry if all this sounds quite basic to you, I just have never done this sort of stuff before..
Cheers.
John


 

After installing php you will find your php.ini-dist in the folder you installed to.  Copy this file to C:\WINDOWS and rename it to php.ini...then restart your service as jdav suggested above. To restart the service go to your control panel, administrative tools, and double click services. In that list you will find Apache or Apache2...click on that and then click restart (or start).

Heres the link for downloading php..you want to download and run Windows Binary Php 5.1.2 Installer. Dont hesitate if you have more problems.

http://www.php.net/downloads.php

I forgot the php.ini part. Any way i advise you to let the newly php.ini file in your php dir, and point apache to search in that directory. It will save you from some php upgrade problems.

Another thing about the installer it is that does not come with all the libraries you may need.

Thanks both of you.
Redecs, I tried installing it the manual way. I created a new folder on d:/ called php. I  used winzip to unzip the php zip file  and copied the contents into my php folder on d:/

I then went to httpd.conf of apache and put this in:

LoadModule php5_module "D:/php/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# optional, but recommended
PHPIniDir "D:/php"

as it is. When I restarted apache it turned itself off and wouldnt restart until I had removed those lines of code.

Also I am not quite sure what your last comment means as well..
Thanks to you both.
John

It probably turned itself off because of errors. I'm guessing you installed php on your C drive? If so you need to change those lines of code to reflect that. If you installed php to e:/php-5.0.1 for example, then you would have to use these lines in httpd.conf:

LoadModule php5_module "e:/php-5.0.1/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir "e:/php-5.0.1"



To recap:
- Install Apache
- Install PHP
- Add lines of code to httpd.conf
- Make sure php.ini exists either in C:\WINDOWS Or whever PHPIniDir specifies (in this example e:/php-5.0.1/php.ini)
- Start or Restart apache service

PHP folder and Apache are both coincidentally on my D:\ drive. I found that in the code in previous comments it was written d:\php and my folder is in capitals d:\PHP,  so I have changed it in the code below.....

LoadModule php5_module "D:/PHP/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
# optional, but recommended
PHPIniDir "D:/PHP"

I found two php.ini, one was php.ini-dist and the other php.ini-recommended, so I renamed the recommended one as php.ini and left it in d:\PHP..
I have done all this and restarted apache but it just turned itself off again.
Cheers
John

Check your event viewer for an error: Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Event Viewer -> Application

Also check your apache log:
D:/apache/log/error.log

Paste whatever you find here...

The Apache service named Apache.exe reported the following error:
>>> Cannot load d:/php/php5apache2.dll into server: (126) The specified module could not be found: <<<
 before the error.log file could be opened.
 More information may be available in the error.log file.  


I notice it uses lower case, but in my httpd.conf file it is uppercase....

I just changed it all to lowercase.. but to no avail
just said this:
The Apache service named Apache.exe reported the following error:
>>> Cannot load d:/php/php5apache2.dll into server: (126) The specified module could not be found: <<<
 before the error.log file could be opened.
 More information may be available in the error.log file.  

Keep it UPPER if your folder is D:\PHP

This error means it didn't see the php5apache2.dll file. Look in your D:\PHP folder for this file or something similar. If you find the file in a directory other than D:\PHP, then just copy it to D:\PHP and restart your service.


One more thing, maybe you have php4 installed?


# For PHP 4 do something like this:
LoadModule php4_module "D:/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 "D:/PHP/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Hi,
I typed d:/php/php5apache2.dll into my web browser and it went straight to the file...
When I changed stuff in httpd.conf file it just still came up with this error..

Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      Apache Service
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      3299
Date:            15/02/2006
Time:            00:55:36
User:            N/A
Computer:      xxxx
Description:
The Apache service named Apache.exe reported the following error:
>>> Cannot load d:/php/php5apache2.dll into server: (126) The specified module could not be found: <<<
 before the error.log file could be opened.
 More information may be available in the error.log file.   .

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I have changed the folder name to lowercase and all reference to it are lowercase now as well.

Cheers
John

Try using the backslashes instead:

LoadModule php5_module "d:\php\php5apache2.dll"

Apache doesn't work with backslashes. Are u sure that the path to the file is corect?

it will work fine if you double backslash, or single forwards slash:

LoadModule php5_module "d:\\php\\php5apache2.dll"

LoadModule php5_module "d:/php/php5apache2.dll"

Nope, just tried double backslashing but it still switched itself off.
As I say I typed the address of the file : d:/php/php5apache2.dll into the browser and it went straight to it.
I also removed the stuff from the httpd.conf file and restarted and it restarted, so the problem must lie with :
# For PHP 5 do something like this:
LoadModule php5_module "D:/PHP/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

One last thing, try doing it without quotes...use forward slashes again, and make sure everything is in the right case (upper/lower?):

# For PHP 5 do something like this:
LoadModule php5_module D:\php\php5apache2.dll
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php


Also, did the error.log provide any further details on the error?
Its  found in D:\Apache\logs\error.log
Open it with notepad and scroll to the end of the file.

Tried doing it without quotes, but it still kept turning itself off when i tried to restart it!
The apache logs yielded only the other problems I had, it did not mention this current one!
Thank you for all your help.
John

There is something really wierd with your apache! I had some problems when trying to install php (with some extensions), but it never turned itself off...