Step 1: Download XAMPP First, you need to download XAMPP from the Apache Friends website. Go to https://www.apachefriends.org and click on the “Download” button on the top menu. On the downloads page, select the version of XAMPP you want to download (e.g. Windows, Linux, or macOS) and click on the download button.
Step 2: Install XAMPP Once the download is complete, locate the installer file and double-click on it to start the installation process. The installation wizard will guide you through the steps necessary to install XAMPP on your computer.
During the installation process, you will be prompted to choose which components to install. By default, all components are selected, but you can deselect any components that you don’t need.
After selecting the components you want to install, choose the installation directory for XAMPP. By default, XAMPP is installed in the “C:\xampp” directory, but you can choose a different directory if you prefer.
Step 3: Configure XAMPP After the installation is complete, you need to configure XAMPP to suit your needs. The main configuration file for XAMPP is located in the “C:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf” directory. You can edit this file using a text editor such as Notepad.
One important configuration setting is the DocumentRoot. This setting determines where your web files are stored. By default, the DocumentRoot is set to “C:\xampp\htdocs”, which is the default directory for web files in XAMPP. You can change this setting to point to a different directory if you prefer.
Another important configuration setting is the port number used by Apache. By default, Apache listens on port 80. If this port is already in use by another application, you can change the port number to a different value. To do this, edit the “Listen” directive in the “httpd.conf” file.
Step 4: Start XAMPP Once XAMPP is installed and configured, you can start it by double-clicking on the “xampp-control.exe” file in the “C:\xampp” directory. This will open the XAMPP Control Panel, which allows you to start and stop the Apache web server and the MySQL database server.
To start Apache and MySQL, click on the “Start” buttons next to each component in the XAMPP Control Panel. Once the components are started, you can test your web server by opening a web browser and typing “http://localhost/” in the address bar.
That’s it! You have successfully installed XAMPP on Windows and configured it to run a web server. You can now start building and testing your web applications on your local machine.