The “Complete” How-to Set Up XAMPP on Windows

If you run PHP locally on a Windows machine, you’re probably using XAMPP.  By default, you put all your files in the xampp directory (htdocs) to make things work.  However, if want a different directory structure (i.e. under “My Documents”) you can set up domain or subdirectory aliases.

The following steps are the mostly-complete guide to setting up XAMPP: set alternate folders/domains/subdirectories, enable “missing” extensions, and let it play nicely with VisualStudio’s local IIS.

1. Download zip version
2. run setup_xampp.bat to fix directories
3. to access your local dev like `http://ALIAS.localhost:81/whatever.php`, in apacheconfextrahttpd-vhosts.conf add your custom directories like: (note port 81 from step 7)
   [php htmlscript=”true”]

   <VirtualHost *:81>
   ServerAdmin YOUR@EMAIL.COM
   DocumentRoot “/Relative/Path/To/LocalFiles”
   ServerName ALIAS.localhost
   ServerAlias www.ALIAS.localhost
   ErrorLog “logs/ALIAS.localhost-error.log”
   CustomLog “logs/ALIAS.localhost-access.log” combined

   <Directory “/Relative/Path/To/LocalFiles”>
   Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
   AllowOverride All
   Order allow,deny
   Allow from all
   </Directory>
   </VirtualHost>
   [/php]

    

4. Update your hosts file (C:WindowsSystem32driversetchosts) accordingly: 127.0.0.1 ALIAS.localhost
   (added bonus: wildcards in hosts file (untested))
5. OR, instead of #3 and #4, configure subdirectory aliases in xamppapacheconfextrahttpd-userdir.conf, which will let you access your local dev like `http://localhost/ALIAS/whatever.php`
   [php htmlscript=”true”]
   <IfModule alias_module>
   # ===== Description of the following
   Alias /ALIAS “/Relative/Path/To/LocalFiles”
   # Access control, etc
   <Directory “/Relative/Path/To/LocalFiles”>
   AllowOverride All
   Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
   Order allow,deny
   Allow from all
   </Directory>
   </IfModule>
   [/php]
6. Allow “missing” extensions by uncommenting dll line in xamppphpphp.ini
7. If also have IIS (VisualStudio) on same computer, you’ll need to change the ports (you can use other numbers)
   1. in xamppapacheconfhttpd.conf — change `Listen *:80` to `Listen: *.81`, `ServerName localhost:80` to `ServerName localhost:81`
   2. in xamppapacheconfextrahttpd-ssl.conf — change `Listen 443` to `Listen 442`
   3. ignore the message in xampp-control that says it started on port 80 (that’s hardcoded)