Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL, 2nd Edition

Appendix B. Microsoft Windows Installation Guide

This appendix is a guide to installing the software used in the book under the Microsoft Windows 2000, 2003, and XP environments. You'll need to be able to log in as the administrator in Microsoft Windows to follow these instructions.

We assume that PHP, MySQL, and Apache aren't installed. We show you how to get them installed and running, and we then present a short guide to downloading and installing the PHP script and database examples used in this book.

We don't cover installing a secure Apache web server or the improved MySQL library under Microsoft Windows.

The Windows environment, PHP, Apache, MySQL, and our code examples can all change over time. This means that this guide may not work perfectly when you use it. To get the latest installation guide in HTML and PDF formats, along with changes and corrections to this guide, visit http://www.webdatabasebook.com/install-guides.

Installation Overview

There are two approaches to installing MySQL, Apache, and PHP under Microsoft Windows:

• Obtain an installation package or packages. This is the best choice because it's the simplest. The disadvantage is that packages don't always contain the latest software.

• Obtain and build the software from source code. This isn't possible unless you've previously installed a C compiler and other support tools that are needed to compile software. The advantage is you always get the latest versions.

Most Windows users don't have a C compiler, so this section ...