How do i install php 8 on apache?

By Atul Rai | Last Updated: April 2, 2022 Previous       Next

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install and configure Apache 2.4 and PHP 8 on a Windows machine. We all know Apache HTTP Server is an open-source cross-platform and free webserver to run web applications and similarly PHP is a free and open-source scripting language used to develop web applications.

To run the PHP code on a Windows machine, first, you’ll need to install and configure a web server [Apache] that executes the PHP application. And on this page, you will find the step-by-step guide on “How to install Apache 2.4 and PHP 8 on a Windows Machine”.

P.S. Tested with Apache 2.4 and PHP 8.1.4 on a Windows 10 machine.

1. Prerequisites

Download the Apache 2.4.x and PHP 8 from its official websites, extract the downloaded file and move it to the C drive.

1.1 Download Apache 2.4.x – Depending on your system build download the binary zip file accordingly.

1.2 Download PHP 8 – Similarly, depending on your system build download the Thread Safe version of PHP.

Before jumping to the main configuration part, be sure you installed latest 14.31.31103.0 Visual C++ Redistributable Visual Studio 2015-2022 : vc_redist_x64 or vc_redist_x86 software.

2. Install Apache

To install the Apache HTTP Server on a local Windows machine move the downloaded and extracted Apache 2.4 binary files to the C drive and follow the below steps:

Step 2.1: Go to the Apache 2.4 bin directory path C:\Apache24\bin [it might be different in your case] and set it into your system environment variable path.

Step 2.2: Open the command prompt with admin privileges and run the httpd -k install command to install the Apache services.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>httpd -k install
Installing the 'Apache2.4' service
The 'Apache2.4' service is successfully installed.
Testing httpd.conf....
Errors reported here must be corrected before the service can be started.
AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using fe80::ccb2:109d:6198:a489. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message

Step 2.3: Start the Apache service with the command httpd -k start or directly through the Task Manager » Services » Search for Apache2.4 » Right-click on the service » Start.

By default, Apache HTTP Server runs on port 80, make sure no other services/servers running on this port.

Step 2.4: Open the web browser and hit the default Apache localhost URL i.e localhost or localhost:80. If everything is configured correctly, you will see the default index.html web page contents and it is located inside the C:\Apache24\htdocs directory.

3. Install PHP 8

The next step is to install PHP 8. To do that, similarly, move the downloaded and extracted PHP 8 binary files to the C drive and follow the below steps:

Step 3.1: Copy the PHP 8 home path i.e C:\php-8.1.4 and set it into your machine environment variable.

Step 3.2: Open the command prompt and type php -v to check whether the path is set correctly or not. If the PHP path is set correctly, it will print the PHP version.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>php -v
PHP 8.1.4 [cli] [built: Mar 16 2022 09:33:31] [ZTS Visual C++ 2019 x64]
Copyright [c] The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.1.4, Copyright [c] Zend Technologies

4. Configure Apache and PHP

Now it’s time to configure Apache HTTP Server with PHP 8.

Step 4.1: Go to the C:\Apache24\conf directory, inside the conf directory edit the httpd.conf file. Go to the end of the file and add the below configuration because, in Apache, PHP is loaded as a module.

httpd.conf

# Note: Repalce php_module location with your PHP path and
#       if the php8apache2_4.dll is not available, 
#		download the non thread safe version of PHP.

LoadModule php_module "C:\php-8.1.4\php8apache2_4.dll"
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir "C:\php-8.1.4"

Step 4.2: Go to the PHP home directory C:\php-8.1.4, and you will find two configuration files php.ini-development and php.ini-production. Create a copy of php.ini-development and rename it to php.ini

Step 4.3: Again open the httpd.conf file and search for ServerName, uncomment and edit the ServerName with localhost.

httpd.conf

# ServerName gives the name and port that the server uses to identify itself.
# This can often be determined automatically, but we recommend you specify
# it explicitly to prevent problems during startup.
#
# If your host doesn't have a registered DNS name, enter its IP address here.
#
ServerName localhost

And in the same file also search for DirectoryIndex, and append the default index.php file.

httpd.conf

# DirectoryIndex: sets the file that Apache will serve if a directory
# is requested.
#

    DirectoryIndex index.html index.php

Step 4.4: Open the command prompt and run the httpd -t  command to validate whether everything is configured correctly, it will return Syntax OK if everything is configured correctly.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>httpd -t
Syntax OK

5. Test the configuration

To test the Apache 2.4 and PHP 8 configuration, restart the Apache2.4 service from the Task Manager and rename the index.html file to index.php from the C:\Apache24\htdocs directory and add the below piece of code.