How to install php5 support on Windows 2003 Server running IIS6

ARTICLE

How to install php5 support on Windows 2003 Server running IIS6

STEPS

1. Download the correct files for php5. Browse to http://www.php.net/downloads.php and download the zip package under "Windows Binaries" Do not get the installer! .
2. Once downloaded, extract the zip package to "C:\php" directory.
3. Make a copy of the file C:\php\php.ini-recommended and name it C:\php\php.ini. This will be your main php configuration file.
4. Open the php.ini file and make necessary changes.
5. Add "C:\php" to your Windows Environmental Variables path.
6. Add to the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\IniFilePath = C:\PHP.
7. Configure IIS
8. Add read access with inheritable permissions for the IUSER_MACHINENAME for the C:\php dir
9. Test installation.
   

Step 1 & 2 (Download the correct files for php5, Once downloaded, extract the zip package to "C:\php" directory)

Download the latest zipped distribution, not the Windows installer, of PHP from the "Windows Binaries" section of http://php.net/downloads.php. Unzip it somewhere on your hard drive. It is suggested to unzip to your system root, c:\php, which is assumed for the rest of this document.

Step 3 & 4 (Make a copy of the file C:\php\php.ini-recommended and name it C:\php\php.ini and make the following changes to this file)

• Uncomment cgi.force_redirect in php.ini and set = 0
• Create a session state folder and point the session.save_path php.ini variable to it. We recommend creating a directory under your php installation to hold the session files used by the server i.e. "c:\php\sessions".
• Change the value of the session.save_path variable in php.ini to be the full path to that folder (session.save_path=c:\php\sessions).
• Uncomment any extensions you wish to use.

Step 5 (Add "C:\php" to your Windows Environmental Variables path)

• Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties
• Select the Advanced tab
• Click the Environment Variables button
• Double-click the Path variable in the list of System variables.
• Add "c:\php;" (sans quotes) to the beginning of this path string.
• Click OK to close this window.

Step 6 (Add to the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\IniFilePath = C:\PHP)

You can open regedit and do this manually or create your own registry key file to perform this for you.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP] "IniFilePath"="c:\\php"

1. Simply copy the text above into a notepad file and name it inifilepath.reg and save it using Save as type: "All files" to your desktop.
2. Double click this file to create the registry key by clicking "Yes" when presented with the confirmation dialog box.

Step 7 (Configure IIS)

Add and allow the PHP ISAPI Extension to IIS Web Service Extensions: c:\php\php5isapi.dll by using the following steps

• Expand the local computer in the left pane
• Click on "Web Service Extensions" in the left pane
• In the right pane, click the blue underlined text, "Add a new Web service extension..."
• Enter "PHP ISAPI Extension" as the "Extension name"
• Click the "Add..." button and browse to the php5isapi.dll file in your PHP install folder
• Check the "Set extension status to Allowed" checkbox and click "OK"

Add new extension (.php) to your website/s

• Expand the local computer in the left pane
• Right-click on "Web Sites" in the left pane, then click "Properties" in the menu that pops up
• Flip to the "Home Directory" tab
• Click "Configuration"
• Flip to the "Mappings" tab
• Click "Add..."
• Enter the full path to php5isapi.dll in the "Executable" textbox (Browse... to find it more easily if you need to)
• Enter ".php" in the "Extension" textbox
• Select radial button "Limit to", enter "GET,POST,HEAD"
• Click "OK" all the way out

Step 8 (Add read access with inheritable permissions for the IUSER_MACHINENAME for the C:\php dir)

Set the security permission noted above on the c:\php directory for the IUSER_MACHINENAME otherwise you will receive a permissions (401.3) error when browsing any .php files on your site.