Plugin Manager with XAMPP / localhost dev on Windows

I struggled a bit to get this working properly. Leaving the ftp path blank did not autdetect my drupal installation. This is an addendum to the documentation you have for working on localhost with XAMPP. It may exist somewhere else but I could not find it.

Here's some tips to get it running properly; it's a GREAT module actually once you understand what it's doing- thanks for such an awesome module.

a) Must have Filezilla server running to use it...will not work without it. That is in the documentation, true.

b) plugin manager > settings : stored hostname: 127.0.0.1; ftp path: '/' . The forward slash was what made it work for me. It installs modules to /sites/all/modules

c) PHP must allow_fopen to fetch download....

d) Xampp config: I. turn on filezilla as a service II. I created new user in filezilla server called 'drupaladmin',

III. give this user a PW that is the same as drupal admin's for the sake of ease or write it down,

IV. set filezilla ftp home directory to drupal root folder,

V. Add ALL file and directory permissions to drupaladmin user on home directory in filezilla server.

VI. Go back to plugin manager in Drupal,

VII. select only a FEW modules to add and click Install,

VIII. copy/paste the MD5 hash from the iframes of the module download pages into the boxes below the module, click the button to continue,

IX. Installation method: ftp, hostname: 127.0.0.1 NOT 'localhost', username: drupaladmin, tick 'save username', password: put in drupaladmins's ftp user password,

X. click install.

XI. Be sure to run '[site_url]/update.php'.

XII. If you get an error where the md5 sum doesn't match and you KNOW it should, something messed up on the download from the drupal site (it relies on the availability of the modules from drupal.org). The way to fix this is to start completely over: go to sites/default/files/plugin_manager_cache and delete the tarball of the offending module. Then re-add it through the plugin manager in drupal.