Software to install all on your Windows PC

For Web Developers, having a server on your local machine allows you to test web pages and applications locally – a must for developers.

WAMP, a free software application, allows you to install Apache Server, MySQL, and PHP all at the same time onto a Windows or MAC PC.  This post helps you install it onto a Windows PC.

See the post on MAC install for help with MAC”s.

Instal WAMP

Download WAMP and install it onto your PC.

Tip: If you are already running the free Internet Information Server on your PC, you’ll need some configuration help. See the end user post on programmerfish here.

Otherwise, just download the file and install it.  The PDF download below will help with all the screenshots if you are not familiar with servers.

Next, note the following:

Warning Box

As you start the install, Windows may throw up some warning boxes on the screen. Just answer ok to proceed

Then, go through the install process. You will see about 13 or so boxes come up as you go along.  To help, I have created a downloadable PDF file with all the screenshots, rather than have a looong post. Download that file  here.

After the install:

Server Icon

After the install is complete, the server should start and you will see a small icon on the taskbar on the bottom right, as seen in the picture to the left.  This will allow you to start, stop and configure the Apache server, PHP and MySQL all from the same location.  This can be a handy time saver.

Tips:

If you are already using IIS (Interenet Information Server), be sure to check out the configuraiton page on a site I found, or do a search at Google for: wamp “windows 7″ iis

If you still have issues with IIS and Apache running together, a setting for Apache might work:

open httpd.conf on xampp/apahce/conf
then find “listen 0.0.0.0:80″ without quotes
and replace “80″ with “8080″
but then you should call localhost on port 8080
–> localhost:8080

Update:  Some more tips for using IIS and Apache with WAMP can be found at:
http://guides.jlbn.net/setasp/setasp1.html
Thanks to Scott at Dizzie Designs for the link.