Even the Best Drupal Hosting environment is Linux+Apache, in many cases, we still want to install it in a Windows server. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Drupal inWindows for development using XAMPP.
XAMPP is a free open source Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP & Perl. XAMPP is very simple to install & use & only requires one zip, 7z, tar or exe file to be download & run. Let’s get started below:
Download & Install XAMPP Lite & Latest Version of Drupal
NOTE: Please don’t install XAMPP or others, only if you’re an advanced user.
- After you install XAMPP; you’ll see a command prompt window pop-up. Keep the default options of Yes & No for the questions asked.
- Close the command prompt window.
- XAMPP is now on your computer.
Setting Up Drupal
- Download the latest version of drupal & extract under the htdocs folder of XAMPP Lite. E.g. If you’re installed it in your c:, the path for drupal would be c:xampplitehtdocsdrupal.
- After Extracting it would have created the folder drupal-1.17, just simply rename that folder to “drupal”. Inside this folder you should include, modules, misc, etc. folders.
- Copy and paste the file “default.settings.php” in “c:xampphtdocsdrupalsitesdefault”, under the drupal directory, and name it “settings.php”.
- Now you’ll have two duplicate files in your “c:xampphtdocsdrupalsitesdefault” folder; one called “settings.php” and one called “default.settings.php”.
Lets Get Started with Drupal & XAMPP
- Now click the “Admin” button next to MySql & a new browser window will open for “phpMyAdmin”
- Create a new database
- Create a new user & password & click the radio button “Grant all privileges on wildcard name”.
- Open URL https://localhost/drupal. NOTE: If you only type in https://localhost you’ll get the XAMPP program.
- A Drupal screen will open. NOTE: Make sure both XAMPP & MySql are started.
- Simply follow the steps to install drupal to the server.
- NOTE: If you haven’t created a database user, then you can enter Database user name root (all lowercase) & keep the Database password BLANK (Don’t enter anything).
- Now your Drupal install is now complete. NOTE: You may get an error message about your e-mail account; ignore that for now.
If you want to access Drupal, you login to your computer & open a browser window & go to https://localhost/drupal & enter your username & password. NOTE: Remember to make sure that both MySql & Apache are running in the XAMPP controller box.
As said at the beginning, Linux and Apache is the Best Hosting environment for Drupal site. In production, we would recommend to use HostUCan Drupal Hosting tool to search for an ideal one if possible.