[how to] setting up php development environment in windows using xampp

Guide for downloading and configuring xampp in windows ,
intro :  xampp is open source software package include Apache MySQL PHP framework with lots of other tools ,
xampp pakage includes

• Apache 
• MySQL 
• PHP 
• phpMyAdmin 
• FileZilla FTP Server 
• Tomcat 

Steps 

1 :  download xampp

first download xampp , you can download it from sourceforge.net or its own download page 

download page

Direct download link for xampp beta version

download 7 zip ( in case you downloaded 7zip version of xampp)

Download 7zip

• install 7 zip 
• right click on xampp-win32-1.8.0-beta2-VC9.7z
• and choose 7zip extract here

extract xampp 7zip file with 7zip 

• copy and paste extracted directory into local hard drive root folder ( C:\ )
• done xampp installed

configuration part : 

• start xampp control pannel
   
• open browser and navigate to http://localhost
• select your language 
• and click on status from left side 
• click on security tab
  
  
  
• 
  
• 
  
• click on link highlighted in picture to secure your xampp installation 
• set your mysql root password 
• and xampp local password to avoid unauthorized access 

done ! 

 

setting up site folder 

• go to c:\xampp
• open htcdocs folder
• create new folder 'myawesomesite'
• and put all your development  files inside that
• and browse http://localhost/myawesomesite
  
  
• done !