Arno# - The cutting edge of developer waffle

This section details downloading and installing MySQL and PHP. They are lumped together as it is necessary to reboot after they have been installed (in order to ensure the the system-wide environment variables really are system-wide.

• Goto the MySQL download page and download an appropriate version of MySQL. I went for the smaller “essentials” option.
• Next Install MySQL. I went for the “Typical” option. Ensure the “configure now” checkbox is selected at the end of the install.
• When the configuration wizard starts up, select Detailed Configuration, and click through to Windows Options. There, select “Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH”. and set the root password on the next screen. Then finally execute the selected config options.

The Windows Options screen for the MySQL config wizard

Next, got to the PHP download page and download the non-thread-safe installer version of PHP

• Install PHP:
  • Change the install path to C:\PHP
  • Select IIS FastCGI on the next page
  • On the choose items to install page, expand the extensions list and scroll down to MySQL. Select both MySQL and MySQLi.

Select only the MySQL additions unless you need other functionality

Now check that the installation of MySQL and PHP has set up the environment variables correctly:

• Goto to Control Panel\System and Maintenance\System
• Select  “Advanced system settings” (on the left hand side of the window)
• Select “Environment variables” button
• Check system Path variable includes C:\php and the MySQL bin folder. Also check that the PHPRC variable points to C:\PHP. If not, fix them now.

Finally reboot your machine to apply these environment variables.