How to Install Drupal CMS on Windows with XAMPP

This article describes steps one can take to install Drupal on Windows with XAMPP support.

Drupal, a popular open-source content management software can be used to create many of the websites and applications you use every day.

From personal blogs to eCommerce to almost any types of websites. In order to run Drupal, you’ll need to install a webserver, a database server and PHP server scripting modules.

Majority of the time Drupal will be installed on a Linux system, including Ubuntu with either the LAMP or LEMP stack. However, there are some open source projects today that are making it possible to install Drupal on Microsoft Windows desktops and servers.

One such project is XAMPP. XAMPP is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl.

Download XAMPP Package

To get XAMPP installed on Windows, head over to Apache Friends website and download the Windows version

xampp_windows

Install XAMPP

After downloading the Windows version, you should be prompted install the package. You’ll need to install with Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl as shown in the image below.

Complete the installation and continue to the next step.

Accept the default installation directory: C:\xampp

xampp windows 10

Configure XAMPP

Now that the package is installed, open XAMPP and start up Apache and MySQL services as shown in the image below.

xampp windows

After starting Apache2 and MySQL, these servers should be running. to test whether Apache is running, open Internet Explorer on the host machine and type the URL below:


This should bring up Apache XAMPP default  page.

xampp apache windows

To validate that MariaDB is installed and functioning, open the Shell command prompt on the right of XAMPP Control Panel. This should launch the command shell. then type the commands below:

mysql

This should you onto MariaDB database server.

xampp windows mariadb

To secure MariaDB database server, open the Shell command windows again, then type the commands below.

perl\bin\perl.exe mysql\bin\mysql_secure_installation.pl

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

  • Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
  • Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
  • New password: Enter password
  • Re-enter new password: Repeat password
  • Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
  • Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
  • Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
  • Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Create Drupal Database

While still in the Shell command windows, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB database server.

Type the password you enter above when prompted.

mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called drupal

CREATE DATABASE drupal;

Create a database user called drupaluser with new password

CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON drupal.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Drupal Content

Now that Drupal database has been created, go and download Drupal content from its download page.

After downloading the Drupal file, extract it into the C:\xampp\htdocs

You can delete all the files and folders in there and extract Drupal content that that folder. the htdocs should look like this:

drupal xampp windows

Configure PHP Settings

Now that Joomla content is in the Apache2 root directory. go to the path below and open PHP configuration file.

C:\xampp\php

Then right-click the highlighted PHP configuration file and edit. then make the changes below in the file and save. you will have to scroll line by line.

xampp joomla windows

Then make the change the following lines below in the file and save.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 120
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Save the file when you’re done.

When done, open Internet Explorer and type the URL below to begin Drupal installation wizard.

Then browse to the domain of the site and you should see Drupal site setup wizard.

drupal installation ubuntu

Follow the on-screen instructions until you’ve successfully installed Drupal.

Enjoy~

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