Hey there, I'm new to Drupal and plan to have 6.7 installed onto my web host.

However, I want to run a local version of XAMPP and the site on my Windows 7 computer. I'm running at 64-bit.

Will the XAMPP 1.7.2 on Windows 7 work on my computer? Is there anything I should watch for?

Even though I spent 20 years in programming, I'm not a systems person.

Thanks

Comments

inomnia-paratus’s picture

Hello DZiggy,

I do not understand why you want to work with XAMPP instead of WAMP (http://www.wampserver.com/en/) which is the easiest way to install an Apache server on your Windows config...

But if your goal is to run a Drupal site on your localhost, I think you should better use the Microsoft's WPI (http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx) in order to install your Drupal site.

Hope this is helpful for you...

DZiggy’s picture

I did install the Microsoft's WPI to work with Drupal on my localhost. Again, thank you.

gertrudecg’s picture

Hi all:

I see this thread is not recent but as I'm attempting the same thing as dziggy, maybe you can help. You say you managed to get your test site running by simply installing Microsoft's WPI. I assume you simply installed the Microsoft WPI (latest version http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx) and then installed drupal 6.19?

The steps listed on the help page for setting up a test site don't mention the MS WPI (just XAMPP, WAMPSERVER 2, etc) but the MS WPI isn't listed so I'm not sure whether simply installing MS WPI and then DRUPAL 6.19 will be sufficient, or if there's need of some other software? (anything special to consider for a machine running Windows 7 64-bits OS?)

thanks,

kkobashi’s picture

Instead of XAMPP, try WAMP. You do not need Perl to run Drupal.

WAMP should work on a 64 bit Windows 7 system. I have it running on one of my systems and it works great. It takes nothing more than downloading and running WampServer.

stasha’s picture

I run XAMPP on Win XP 64-bit, it works flawless. I use XAMPP instead of WAMP because I work with different frameworks and stuff not only drupal development. As far as I know XAMPP is platform independent so there is no reason why it should not work with Win 7 64-bit.

pmccartney’s picture

XAMPP will work on Windows 7 (64-bit), because that's what I use. Here are the steps to install it:

1. Download the ZIP file instead of the the EXE file, and save it to your "Downloads" folder.

2. Using 7-zip, or WinRAR, or WinZip, or whatever compression tool you prefer, right-click on the xampp-win32-1.7.x.zip file and select "Extract here" it doesn't matter where you downloaded the ZIP file to, it will create a new folder called "xampp" and extract all contents within it.

3. After extracting the ZIP file, move the newly created "xampp" folder from "Downloads" to "C:\"
Note: It MUST be in a top-level directory such as "C:\", NOT within another folder such as "C:\Program Files (x86)."

4. Next, go to "Start > Control Panel > User Accounts," and turn off the User Account Control (UAC). This will cause problems if left turned on. If you aren't familiar with how to do this, there are plenty of tutorials on the web to show you how.

5. Now, navigate to "C:\xampp" and right-click "xampp-control.exe" and in the dialog pop up select: "Send to > Desktop (create shortcut)"

6. Double-click on the new XAMPP Control Desktop shortcut which opens up the XAMPP Control Panel Application. There you will see a column of "Start" buttons, select the one for MySQL and the one for Apache... you should now see a green "Running" indicator.

7. Open up your Web Browser, and type in http://localhost in which you should be presented with the XAMPP splash screen... Success!!!

thetallguy’s picture

After following your above directions, this is what XAMPP says when opened...

Windows 6.1 build 7600 Platform 2
Current Directory: C:\xampp
Install(er)) Directory: No installer package found
status check OK

Both Apache and Mysql are working, but i'm wondering if hte 'no installer package found' will shake things up. Is there any way to fix this?

pmccartney’s picture

Which version of XAMPP are you using, and are you using one of the .ZIP files or one of the .EXE files?

If you are trying to use the latest version of XAMPP, there may be some issues with it running on Win 7 that I am unaware of. If you are wanting to use XAMPP as a test server to do all your development on before uploading to a hosted server, chances are that the hosting company isn't using the latest version of PHP anyway, which isn't a bad thing. They're probably using something like PHP version 5.2.9... in that case, you will want to use an older version of XAMPP such as xampp 1.7.1 (which is what I use).

You can also get to the older versions of XAMPP by the following link:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/files/XAMPP Windows/

I hope this helps

pmccartney’s picture

There are a couple of reasons why I choose to use XAMPP as opposed to WAMP or Acquia Drupal, and probably the most important reason is the fact that XAMPP is developed for pretty much all platforms; Mac, Win, Linux, and *NIX. For instance, there are times when I'll have a Linux box that I'm working on, and it only makes sense to keep with something I already know, and XAMPP provides that. No need to worry about a different environment when switching from one OS to another.

Another reason is that it more closely resembles my ISP's servers and how they're configured. Because let's face it, having a test environment that is very similar to the live environment that your site is being built for, is EXTREMELY crucial if you want the best results of your efforts.

And ultimately, after using XAMPP for as long as I have, it's actually quite easy to work in.

So, for those of you who are curious, and wonder why I don't use one of the other Win-related *A.M.P. type servers, I hope this answers your questions.

scott1137’s picture

Followed your very clear (thank you for this) instructions (even using the older version to match server's) but when I click on Start for Apache, it says starting but nothing...

Win7 64 bit.

CloudyBright’s picture

Wow! Your instructions worked perfectly on Win 7 Pro - 8/22/2011.
Thanks you for that information.

athebruce’s picture

Scott1137,

I had the same problem loading Drupal (v7.7) into XAMPP

The extraction utility writes a drupal sub-directory and buries the files one level too deep to be found if you also specify a drupal sub-directory. You get this:

c:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\drupal\"extracted files" and Apache won't start!

FIX IT by moving the "extracted files" up the directory tree a notch by extracting the file to

C:\xampp\htdocs to create a single Drupal sub-directory like

C:\xamps\htdocs\drupal\"extracted files" and Apache starts!

Hope this Helps!

athebruce

perkmunch10@gmail.com’s picture

I wan't xampp for windows 7 64bit. searching so many sites but i can't get.please help me to get the software package

markvetti’s picture

Its for your surprise that portable version of XAMPP works on 64bit windows.

Simply download portable version and install it.
I installed it on windows 10 XAMPP version 7.1.8
file name: xampp-portable-win32-7.1.8-0-VC14-installer.exe
downloaded from: www.apachefriends.org