Most famous scripting language was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995. PHP is free software released under the PHP License. Even tough PHP is free software it is not similar in temperament to GNU (General Public License). It should be notice that GNU is the most famous open source license. The reason for the incompatibility given by PHP holders is because of thee restrictions on the usage of term PHP. PHP is most used scripting language round the globe.

A scripting language PHP is use widely particularly for web development, it can be implanted into HTML. Working generally on uk dedicated hosting servers PHP takes the PHP code as input and creates web pages as output. PHP is compatible with most of the web servers and with almost every platform and operating system. Best point of the deal is that compatibility of PHP is free of cost. Installed on more then I million web servers and 20 million websites, PHP is most widely used scripting language in the world.

Before installing PHP on a Windows server you should have some knowledge of Plesk control panel. By using the steps given below you can install PHP manually on Dedicated servers as well as Windows VPS hosting packages.

To start with login to your Dedicated server or Windows VPS hosting package, following to the download page of PHP. One thing you should notice is to download PHP 4.4.2 zip package not the installer.

Once you are finished with the download, create a folder of name PHP in C:\ and then unzip php4.4.2 archive into C:\ PHP\. Now copy the file named “php4ts.dll” from C:\PHP\ to C:\Windows\System32\. Precaution to be taken here is that remember you just have to copy the dll file not cut or paste.

Third step in the process is to unzip the FastCGI binary and copy isapi_fcgi.dll into C:\PHP\

Follow it by adding PATH for PHP. This is how to create PATH

Right click My Computer – Properties – Advanced tab – Environment Variables – double click the Path variable in the list of System variables.

At the end of the above string add this:

;C:\PHP

remember ; in front of C:\PHP if it is already there.

Now, once finished you can run PHP as CGI or ISAPI.

PHP as CGI

Start with opening IIS, expand the tab local computer and you will find something like ‘Web Service Extensions’. There click on ‘Add a new Web service extension…’ in the name field type – PHP CGI Extension, again click ‘Add….’ button and select php.exe in C:\PHP. ‘Set extension status to allowed’ should be checked and then click OK.

Next step is add .php extension, right click on ‘Web Sites’ in IIS and then choose properties and click on the Home Directory tab. Click ‘Configuration’, Mappings, and finally click ‘Add’. Look for php.exe in C:\PHP,click OK and enter “.php” in the ‘Extension field’, without quotes. First enter ‘Limit to’ followed by GET, POST, HEAD.

Right Click on the Websites again choose Properties first, followed by Home Directory tab. There you will find ‘Execute permissions’ change it to “Scripts only”. The ‘Read’ tab seen above should be checked in for permissions. Select all sites and click OK.

Open The Windows registry by Start – Run – regedit and then do like written below:

Locate and expand “ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”, right-click on “Software” and select “NEW” and “Key” and type “FASTCGI”.

Right-click on your new “FASTCGI” key and select “New, “Key” and type “.php”.

Right-click on “.php”, select “New”, “String Value” and type “AppPath”. Double-click on this new value and type “c:\PHP\php.exe”.

Right-click on “.php”, select “New”, “String Value” and type “BindPath”. Double-click on this new value and type “php-fcgi”.

Please keep the registry closed

Now following the steps given below

Rename C:\PHP\php.ini-recommended to php.ini and move to C:\Windows\

Open the php.ini first and then to locate extension_dir. Do it like this

extension_dir = “C:\PHP\extensions”

before proceeding further one thing you should make sure of is disabling force redirect,. If it is not done so CGI won’t work. To do so find cgi.force_redirect (CTRL + F) and make it look like this

cgi.force_redirect = 0

Save and restart IIS.

Finally create a new file in C:\Intepub\wwwroot called test.php and put it there. Load in the browser like http://localhost/test.php you will see PHP output.

PHP as ISAPI

To start with open IIS and then expand local computer and click the ‘Web Service Extension’ tab. Click on ‘Add a new Web service extension…’ for the name type “PHP ISAPI Extensions” again remember without any quotes, click the ‘Add….’ button and select isapi_fcgi.dll in C:\PHP. Tab of ‘Check extension status to Allowed’ should be checked, click OK.

Add .php extension in such that IIS can serve .php files, it can be done like that: right click on ‘Web Sites’ in IIS, choose properties next and click on Home Directory tab. Click ‘Configuration’, Mappings, click ‘Add’. Browse to isapi_fcgi.dll in C:\PHP. First click OK and enter .php in the ‘Extension Field’. Select ‘Limit to’ button and enter: GET, POST,HEAD.

Get out of there and again right click on Websites followed by choosing properties and then Home Directory. Change the “Execute permissions” to “Scripts only”. Check the Read tab click OK and select all sites and click OK again.

Open Windows registry (Start – Run – regedit) followed by the steps given below:

Locate and expand “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”, right-click on “Software” and select “New”, “Key” and type “FASTCGI”.

Right-click on your new “FASTCGI” key and select “New, “Key” and type “.php”.

Right-click on “.php”, select “New”, “String Value” and type “AppPath”. Double-click on this new value and type “c:\PHP\php.exe”.

Right-click on “.php”, select “New”, “String Value” and type “BindPath”. Double-click on this new value and type “php-fcgi”.

The registry should be keep closed

Rename C:\PHP\php.ini-recommended to php.ini and move it to C:\Windows\

Open php.ini and locate “extension_dir” (CTRL+F) and change it to:

extension_dir = “C:\PHP\extensions”

save and restart IIS.