Simple install of Drupal on XAMPP

Note: XAMPP 1.7.2 and later includes an incompatible version of PHP. Drupal will not install or operate correctly. Revert to XAMPP 1.7.1 until a PHP 5.3 Compatibible Version of Drupal
is available.

1. Download the latest compatible copy of XAMPP and install it on your C:\ (or main) drive. I found it worked better locating it at C:\ directly and not in Program Files. It is really easy to install XAMPP. One important point is to make sure you have Skype turned off, or alternatively in Skype go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Connections > Uncheck "Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections", and click "Save".

2. Open the c:\xampp\htdocs folder and create a subfolder. For this example, we'll call it "drupal" (C:\xampp\htdocs\drupal). Download the latest copy of Drupal, and extract it into this folder. Make sure the unpacked Drupal folders and files are in the directory called "drupal" as above and are not in something like C:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\drupal-6.4.

3. Decide on a password for your administrator (root) account. Let's say you choose "twinkle" (but pick something else!). Write it down somewhere where you won't lose it.

4. Copy the file "c:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\sites\default\default.settings.php" file to the same directory, and name it "settings.php". You should now have two identical files in your "c:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\sites\default" folder: one called "settings.php" and one called "default.settings.php".

5. Open the file "c:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\sites\default\settings.php" in a favorite editor such as Notepad++ or Vim (don't use Notepad or Wordpad) and modify two lines as below (but use your own password and not "twinkle"). For the second line, you will have to delete the "#" (comment mark) at the beginning of the line.

....................
$db_url = 'mysql://root:twinkle@localhost/drupal';
....................
$base_url = 'http://localhost/drupal';
....................

6. Browse to http://localhost/security and enter the MySQL user and passsword "root" and "twinkle" (but your password, of course). Stop and restart MySQL in the XAMPP control panel (takes ten seconds).

7. Browse to http://localhost/phpmyadmin. Log in with "root" and your password. Don't do anything except create a new database, for this example we'll call it "drupal". Type "drupal" (without the " marks!) in the box marked "Create new database" and click on the button "Create" just to the right of it. You should get a screen confirming the database has been created.

8. Browse to http://localhost/drupal/install.php and follow the simple instructions and you will have installed Drupal.

Note that if you browse to http://localhost/drupal before doing step 8, you will get an error message saying the object doesn't exist. If you browse to http://localhost/drupal after doing step 8, it will be fine.