| If you are developing web applications such
as Blogs and Content Management Systems (CMS),
it is useful to install the software on your PC
for local development. Many of the most popular
web applications are written in PHP and make use
of the MySQL database. For local development, you
will need PHP, MySQL and a server. Many web hosts
- including those running Linux - will have PHP,
MySQL and the Apache Server installed. Here we
explain how to install the Apache Server on a Windows-based
PC. Once you’ve installed Apache, you may
want to follow our guides to installing PHP and
MySQL. |
The documentation on installing and configuring Apache
which you will find on the Apache site may be comprehensive
but it is also forbiddingly complicated. It gives you
information about all kinds of issues relating to the
installation and configuration of Apache on Windows and
Linux. What it doesn’t have is a simple step-by-step
guide to getting Apache up and running on your home PC.
Our guide attempts to cut through the complexities in
order to get Apache ready for use on a PC running Windows
2000 or Windows XP.
First, download Apache from: http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi.
You can download the Windows installer for Apache. This
will be a file with the extension .msi. At the time of
writing, it is called apache_2.0.54-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi but over time the file name will change to reflect new
version numbers.
| Note: Before running the Apache installation program,
you may need to verify that you have the appropriate
Windows service packs installed. The Apache download
page provides links to documentation on the operating
system requirements. |
Download the software and click Open to install it
After downloading the Apache installer you can click
the ‘Open’ button in this dialog to run it
instantly or just double-click the installer file in
Explorer when you are ready to continue.
| Note: to be absolutely certain that the installer
is not corrupted you can follow the instructions,
provided on the Apache web site, which explain how
to verify the integrity of the file. This procedure
is recommended for security reasons but it is not
required to complete the installation. |
The installation wizard now begins and you can click
your way through the first few dialogs as prompted until
you arrive at a dialog which asks for Server information.
As you will be installing this server on your PC you
can enter any names you like for the network domain and
server name. By tradition, localhost is the name which
most people choose. So enter localhost into both the
domain and sever name fields. The email address is not
important. Enter any email address here. Leave the top
radio button ‘For all users on Port 80’ selected
and click Next.
Enter localhost as the Domain and Server Name
| Note: If you want to be able to access the server
across a network, you can enter the computer’s
network name in the domain and server name fields. |
In the next dialog, you will be asked if you want
to do a Typical or a Custom install. For simplicity,
you can select Typical. Click Next.
For most users, the Typical installation works fine
If you want to change the installation directory
(by default Apache installs into a directory beneath
C:\Program Files) do so in the next screen. Then click
Next.
You can optionally change
the installation directory
I decided to select a specific installation directory
for Apache. If you are happy to accept the default directory,
you won’t need to go through this step.
That’s all there is to it. You will now be prompted
to click the Install button. Do so.
Things will chug away for a minute or so, after which
a dialog should (all being well) tell you that the Installation
Wizard has completed. Click the Finish button to close
it.
Apache should now be installed and running. To check
that it is, open a web browser and enter this into the
address bar:
http://localhost/
You should see something similar to the following displayed
in the browser window…
And that's it! Apache is all ready to go...
Now install
PHP and MySQL...
See also, our Guide
To WAMP - Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP
October 2005 |
