How do I run PHP on my PC?

by 44 replies
52
Hey there,

Okay.. I'm trying to learn PHP. So, I tried installing WAMP but it gave some error while trying to run it... Then I tried XAMPP. It installed right and would run without errors.. But, it wouldn't recognize the PHP code on a test page I created. I unistalled XAMPP and installed EasyPHP. But, still the same problem. It wouldn't recognize the php code. The code on the test page is...

Code:
<html>
<head>
<title>PHP Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<?
print "Hello, world";
?>
</body>
</html>
Any ideas how I can get it working? I'm running a firewall and I added EasyPHP to the trusted applications.. Still no luck. Any help is appreciated.

Thank You,
Sumit.
#programming #php #run
  • Why don't you give Apache a chance? It's very easy to install and integrate with PHP, even on Windows. Better yet, why don't you use the webserver where your website is running? It's already configured to run PHP correctly.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • I use XAMPP and it works great for me. A few things to keep in mind...

      1) Is XAMPP turned on? It's not enough just to have it installed - it must be turned on every time you start up your computer. What I did is copy the xampp_start file to my startup folder, so that it starts up automatically whenever I turn on my computer.

      2) Are your php files in the C > xampp > htdocs folder?

      3) And this is probably a dumb question, but did you name the files with a .php extension? (instead of .html)
      • [ 1 ] Thanks

    • Testing your code on your home PC is a VERY good idea. This is how it really should be done. Once your happy with the owrk you can then upload it and over write all your files. Or better yet, you can setup SVN.
  • Most PHP installs are not configured by default to recognize 'short' open tags <? as opposed to the full open tag: <?php

    You just learned a valuable lesson - don't use the short open tag if you're going to be distributing what you write. Many hosting environments don't have that option turned on.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I must be lucky.. I've worked with about 5 or 6 hosts, and they all recognized it.
      • [1] reply
  • Adding on to Steves comment, XAMPP is not configured to use short tags by default.

    As another note it is also a standard to use the Full php start tag <?php
    <? ?> is really not accepted anymore.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • <?php is required.
      Other server-side script languages may also use the <? ?> characters to delimit server-side code. Specifying "php" tells Apache (or whatever) that the language within the delimiters is, in fact, php.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Install WAMP or XAMPP.
  • Download Xamp or Wamp server . You can get this software in sourforge.net
    In wamp server:
    paste your php file in "www" folder.
    Then Start the server.
    Now enter in browser as "localhost/path_to_file"
    For eg:
    if you store the file in www/newfolder, then the path to this file is:
    localhost/newfolder/filename.php

    In Xamp server:
    Paste in htdocs folder.
    Then follow above steps
    • [1] reply
    • Hey!,Me too struggled to run php on my PC.But hadn't got success until I tried this.You can try it and it's working good..Thanks.
      • [1] reply
  • You can use the <? short tag, but make sure it's enabled in the php.ini file.

    Did you get it working yet?

    If you're really frustrated, you could always just pay $5 per month and get a shared hosting account that has PHP ready to go.
  • Install php framework from their site & then write php codes & save it with the extension .php . It will work then.
  • if you dont come right uninstall xampp and then install vertrigo

    VertrigoServ

    one stop WAMP environment
    • Apache 2.0.64
    • PHP 5.2.14
    • MySQL 5.0.91
    • SQLite 3.7.3
    • Smarty 2.6.26
    • PhpMyAdmin 2.11.11
    • ZendOptimizer 3.3.3
    • SQLiteManager 1.2.4
    used it for years ...

    enjoy
    davewebsmith
  • Not sure what your trying to do, exactly.

    If you are developing, try the Nuspher PHP IDE. I believe they have a free trial. It installs PHP and a local webserver, and also works over remote connections. It is absolutely amazing, as it can show you the performance and other aspects of your app.

    If you are trying just to run a full stack locally, without doing your own development, WAMP is great.
  • You need to be careful when coding php locally on a Windows machine. Windows handles server file paths differently than web servers which almost always run a Linux variation.

    If your code deals with server paths you will need to make changes to get the script to run on a web server even though it works perfectly on your local Windows machine.
  • In the end it might be something simple like naming the file xx.html instead of xx.php
  • Ok first things first.. if something don't work, there is a reason why!
    If you end up banging your head against a brick wall, changing the wall won't necessarily help you any.

    When you get any errors, it's a very good idea to let us know what the error(s) are. Copy and paste them in here. Without them we are running blind and can't really help.

    Anyway, It sounds like you did get XAMMP to run if you saw the page being served but with the PHP not working and then you switched to easyphp.

    Go back to what you had working... Although I teach installing WAMP , XAMMP is the same beast with slight differences.

    If you are going to learn how to program, you are going to come across a whole lot of things that "don't work". The fun part is working out why and fixing them.

    It's good you came in here to ask for help, but please, be a little more descriptive when it comes to "it doesn't work". You can go to Google and search for "it doesn't work" but you aint going to get much luck with that either.

    So are you still having issues?

    Cheers
    Tim
    • [1] reply
    • Its very Simple !!
      Step 1 : Download WAMP server.
      Step 2 : Before installing WAMP server Remove IIS from the windows
      Step 3 : Install WAMP give the username as root and password blank
      Step 4 : By default install wamp in C:\
      Step 5 : Open the C:\wamp\www
      Step 6 : Create a new file using any editor remove all the html tags
      Step 6 : Type this in the file
      Step 7 : Save the file with extension.php
      Step 8 : Open Local host either you can type in browser or you can click the WAMP icon near Time display.
      Step 9 : In that you will have list Localhost,PHP my admin Select localhost
      Step 10 : It display folders in the C:\wamp\www\
      Step 11 : Select the file you need to Run
      Step 12 : Thats my friends...
  • You need to install wamp or xampp application. This applications contains php, mysql, apache and some other plugins that you need in order to run php in your pc.
  • WAMP and XAMPP are the best for automated installation and i never get any problem using them on localhost
  • are you use WampServer?
  • Hi,
    You have to follow some steps
  • XAMPP will be the best for you problem.
  • Try to restart wamp Every time you made a change on your coding and also if you are using skype at the same time try to turn off your skype, skype and wamp dont well mix together.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • Here's another idea, one I like to do ...

    Install VMPlayer, with a Ubuntu 10.04 OS.

    Developing PHP on Windows can be a real challenge (and I'm a professional)


    in ubuntu it's 2 easy commands to set it all up


    That being said ...

    If you are getting Errors, what are they?? Makes it easier for us to tell you exactly what your problem is.
  • I uses WAMP, Maybe you just forget to uncheck the IIS in windows after installing Wamp,
    the file that you are doing need to be place on (c:\wamp\www\) and be sure that file you are saving has an .php extension (sample.php)
    how to browse that file: access "http://localhost/" there you will see wamp home page
    access "http://localhost/Folder/sample.php"
    Folder is the sample name of folder that is sample page located.
  • First install WAMP , XAMPP or MAMP on your computer so your computer will be your local server .
  • get your windows installer here:
    PHP: Installation on Windows systems - Manual
    there's instructions there as well.
    • [1] reply
    • Maybe you should look at the path in your web browser, with XAMPP, it has to be on the localhost path, like: "http://localhost/test.html"

      Further reading - I got the following on the XAMPP site:
      The link is: apache friends - xampp for windows

      Hope this helps.
  • I'm really enjoying having my whole web dev environment on a USB stick. Well all except for Photoshop (Allthough you can get Portable Gimp). The advantage is that I can use it on any Windows PC.

    I'm using portable versions of XAMPP, Notepad++, Heidi SQL, Filezilla .. you can get them all from PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable and cloud drives
  • I've been using XAMPP, WAMP, EasyPHP but fall in love with Vertrigoserv now.

    Had problems in the past running Drupal and many other scripts but Vertrigo made me a very happy man now .

    You may want to try it out..
  • @hilmymo Thanks of the suggestion of Vertrigoserv. Looks good.
  • I prefer WAMP very easy to use, maybe because I am use to it.But when I am still a begginer,I don't have any problem installing and using it.
  • XAMPP work great for me...don't know what may be the problem with yours.
  • have u turned on the wamp or xamp? have u put that file and name it *.php to the html or htdoc folder? if u have there's nothing wrong with it O.O
    • [1] reply
    • I agree with jminkler. Setup a development virtual machine with VMware Player and Ubuntu Server. When installing Ubuntu all you need to do is select the LAMP option. This is how I do my PHP development.

      Then install webmin so that you can configure FTP access to the server or you could use the built in file manager in webmin to transfer the files.
  • <html>
    <head>
    <title>PHP Test</title>
    </head>
    <body>

    print "Hello, world";
    ?>
    </body>
    </html>

    and then, you must save the file to sample.php
    try to install the wamp again and then try to run the php file. Hope it will help you fix your problem
  • Multiple options are there for you as you required three things editor for php , MYSQL server and Apache server on your machine but if you go for XAMP and WAMP then the file to be save are at different places to keep otherwise errors occured,.
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    How do I run PHP on my PC?

    Hey there, Okay.. I'm trying to learn PHP. So, I tried installing WAMP but it gave some error while trying to run it... Then I tried XAMPP. It installed right and would run without errors.. But, it wouldn't recognize the PHP code on a test page I created. I unistalled XAMPP and installed EasyPHP. But, still the same problem. It wouldn't recognize the php code. The code on the test page is...