Prerequisites

• Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
• Administrative privileges on your computer
• Internet connection for downloading PHP
• Web server software (e.g., Apache or IIS) installed (optional)

Installation

1. Visit the official PHP website: https://www.php.net/downloads
2. Download the PHP 7.1 Windows ZIP package (choose either 32-bit or 64-bit based on your system)
3. Create a new folder named "php" in your C:\ drive (C:\php)
4. Extract the contents of the downloaded ZIP file into the C:\php folder
5. Rename the file "php.ini-development" to "php.ini" in the C:\php folder
6. Open the "php.ini" file with a text editor and make the following changes:
   • Uncomment the line containing "extension_dir = "ext"" by removing the semicolon at the beginning
   • Uncomment any extensions you want to enable (e.g., mysql, gd2, etc.) by removing the semicolon at the beginning of the respective lines
7. Add C:\php to your system's PATH environment variable:
   1. Right-click on "Computer" and select "Properties"
   2. Click on "Advanced system settings"
   3. Click on "Environment Variables"
   4. Under "System variables", find and select "Path", then click "Edit"
   5. Add ";C:\php" to the end of the "Variable value" field
   6. Click "OK" to close all windows

Verification

1. Open Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
2. Type "php -v" and press Enter
3. If PHP is installed correctly, you should see output similar to:

   PHP 7.1.x (cli) (built: ...) ( NTS )
   Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
   Zend Engine v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
           

4. To test if PHP is working with your web server, create a file named "info.php" in your web server's document root with the following content:

   <?php
   phpinfo();
   ?>
           

5. Access the file through your web browser (e.g., http://localhost/info.php)
6. If successful, you should see a page displaying detailed PHP configuration information