How to install PHP to run as Apache Module on Windows 10

Make sure you have installed Apache web server and running on your system without any problem.

Download PHP Thread Safe version with the same bitness with the Apache currently installed on your system x86 or x64 from http://windows.php.net.

After the download finished, extract it into your computer and rename the folder with "php", copy it into your Apache folder "C:\apache"

Create a new folder in D drive name it "MyWebs" we will set this as a new Document Root

In the "C:\apache\php" folder, find and rename "php.ini-production" to "php.ini"

Double click to open it and find the following line:

doc_root =

Add path to MyWebs folder we've just created:

doc_root = "d:\mywebs"

Find the next line:

; extension_dir = "ext"

Uncomment it and add path to the PHP extensions directory:

extension_dir = "c:\apache\php\ext"

By default PHP uses Windows temp to store session and upload data. We can move them to Apache directory.

Create a new folder in "C:\apache" name it "temp" inside the "temp" folder create 2 folders name them "upload" and "session" Now we got 2 new folders "C:\apache\temp\upload" and "C:\apache\temp\session"

Still in the PHP configuration file (php.ini) find the line below:

;upload_tmp_dir =

Uncomment it and add path to the upload folder:

upload_tmp_dir= "C:\apache\temp\upload"

And the next line:

;session.save_path = "/tmp"

Uncomment it and add path to the session folder:

session.save_path= "C:\apache\temp\session"

Save the PHP configuration.


Configuring Apache Server with PHP.

Open up Apache Configuration file, located at C:\apache\conf\httpd.conf

Find DocumentRoot and Directory

DocumentRoot "c:/Apache/htdocs"
<Directory "c:/Apache/htdocs">

Replace the path to the PHP doc_root we created earlier

DocumentRoot "d:/mywebs"
<Directory "d:/mywebs">

Find DirectoryIndex as follows:

<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.html
</IfModule>

Add index.php to the line

<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
</IfModule>

At the end of the httpd.conf add the following lines:

ScriptAlias /php/ "C:/apache/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php5
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"
SetEnv PHPRC "C:/apache/php"PHPIniDir "C:/apache/php/"
LoadModule php7_module "C:/apache/php/php7apache2_4.dll"

If you are installing PHP 5+ replace the last line with:

LoadModule php5_module "C:/apache/php/php5apache2_4.dll"

Restart the Apache Server.


Testing PHP run as Apache module

Open up Notepad, copy and paste the code below:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Save the file into Apache document root "D:\MyWebs" as "phpinfo.php"

Open up browser, in the address bar type in "http://localhost/phpinfo.php" and Enter.

If everything went well, you should see something like the image above.

Here is a video on YouTube How to install PHP on Windows 10