Installing Spark with Acquia Dev Desktop

1. Download the latest Acquia Dev Desktop release from https://www.acquia.com/downloads
2. Run through the installer.
3. Spark requires PHP 5.3.2+. See below if you are using an older version of Acquia Dev Desktop. If you are using the most recent version of Acquia Dev Desktop, a compatible version of PHP will be selected by default. (To verify, go to Settings... > Config. Change "Default PHP version" to 5.3.18 and select the PHP 5.3 version of the PHP configuration file. Save changes and wait for the application to reboot.)
   
   
4. Spark comes as a collection of files that are not yet prepared Drupal installation, including makefiles, which need to be built using Drush Make. You can build Spark from Drush Make yourself or simply use:
   

   drush make build-spark.make ~/Sites/spark
   

5. Now, we should import the Spark files to a new site. From the control panel again, go to Settings... -> Sites, and click the Import... button.
6. For "Site path" browse to the location where you built Spark (such as ~/Sites/spark). Choose "Create a new database," give it a name, and also provide a subdomain name, such as "spark."
   
   
7. This will now redirect you to an installation page, like http://spark.localhost:8082/install.php. Select "Spark" as the installation profile, and install Drupal as normal. (Note that it will be smart and not ask you for database settings you already provided.)
8. Ta-da! :)

Older versions of Acquia Dev Desktop

1. From the control panel, go to Settings... > Config and change "Default PHP version" to PHP 5.3, and select the PHP 5.3 version of the PHP configuration file:
   
   
2. Save changes, and wait for the application to reboot. Go to step 4 above.