This tutorial describes how to install Joomla! version 2.5.0 under XAMPP version 1.7.3 on Windows 7.

The procedure should be the same or similar for other version combinations, but no guarantee is made.

Assumes you have already

• installed XAMPP. (Installation instructions can be found here.)
• created a MySQL database. (Creation instructions can be found here.)

Some images may be clicked on images for full size versions.

Downloading Joomla!

1) Download the full Joomla install from here Click on the zip link.

2) Click on Save as.

3) Choose a directory in which to save the file and click on Save. Remember where you saved the file.

4) After the download has completed, you can choose Open to open the downloaded file with the default application or Open folder to open the folder where the file was downloaded (which is what the next step assumes):

Extracting Joomla!

5) Go to the directory where the file was downloaded and open it by double-clicking on it:

6) Click on Extract all files:

7) Extract the Joomla! files to a subfolder of htdocs in your XAMPP folder. By default, XAMPP would be installed to your C:\ drive, so you would enter C:\xampp\htdocs\joomla as the directory to extract to. In my case, I extracted them into a folder called joomla250. Click on Extract to extract the files.

Setting up Joomla!

8) Launch your browser and type http://localhost/joomla into the address bar. What follows http://localhost/ is the directory you installed Joomla! into (in my case, joomla250).

9) Select your preferred language, then click on Next. NOTE: I have only ever tried installing it in English.

10) Confirm you meet the minimum installation requirements, then click Next. It is normal for Display errors to be set to On. NOTE: If having Display errors set to On is really bothering you, you can turn it off by following these directions.

11) Read the GNU license and, if you agree with it, click Next.

12) Fill in the database configuration information:

• Database Type: Mysqli (default setting) NOTE: Mysqli is the improved MySQL interface available for use with MySQL 5.0 or higher. You can still use the Mysql interface if you like.
• Host Name: localhost (default setting)
• Username: if you created a MySql User, enter the name here. Otherwise, use root.
• Password: this is the password associated with the user name entered above. If you used root as your username, then leave the password blank (the default XAMPP install does not assign a password to root).
• Database Name: this is the name of the database you created. Database creation instructions are here.
• Table Prefix: a unique prefix for accessing the table. Using the default (or suggested prefix) is fine.

13) Ensure FTP is set to No, then click Next.

14) Enter a site name (for example, Complete, Concrete, Concise or whatever name you want this site to have).

Enter Your Email address. Joomla! will send notifications to this email address.

Enter an Admin Username. This is the username you will use to log into the Joomla! backend. By default, it is admin (and I leave it as admin). NOTE: if this is a production install, or you are worried about security, then you should choose a better admin name – it should be longer and include letters, numbers and symbols / punctuation. For example, the following admin name worked: -admin.123@sqig.

Enter an Admin Password – this is the password you will use to log into the Joomla! backend.

Confirm the Admin Password.

Choose if you want to install the sample data. I like to install it, since it saves me the trouble of populating the site with sample articles for testing. The sample data is only available in English. NOTE: don’t install the sample data if you are installing the site for “real” use because it is a pain to have to go and clean up all the sample data.

Click on Next.

15) Confirm you have successfully installed. Note that your user name for logging into the Joomla! backend is admin (if you accepted the default name, otherwise it is whatever name you entered into the Admin Username field in Step (14)).

Cleaning Up

As a security precaution, Joomla! requires you to remove the installation directory before the site becomes functional. In Joomla! 2.5, this can be done from the final installation screen.

16) Click on the Remove installation folder to remove the installation folder and complete the installation.

The post Installing Joomla! 2.5 Under XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial is for XAMPP 1.7.4 and XAMPP 1.7.7.

It addresses the problem of many errors being generated by popular PHP applications (notably Joomla!) that you would expect to work, but, instead, generate lots of errors.

If you have installed XAMPP 1.7.4 or XAMPP 1.7.7, you may have noticed that some applications (notably Joomla 1.5.x, 1.6.x, and 1.7.x) generate lots of errors along the lines of:

Strict Standards: Accessing static property JCache::$_handler as non static in C:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\libraries\joomla\cache\cache.php on line 420

This happens because these versions of XAMPP ship with default PHP settings that cause the PHP interpreter to choke on poor programming practices and deprecated (obsolete) language features. For developers, this is a good thing, but for the general user, it causes a lot of grief.

(1) Go to the php directory under XAMPP. Normally, this would be C:\XAMPP\php, but you may have installed it to a different drive or directory (mine is installed in C:\xampp-1.7.4). Locate the file named php.ini . Open this file using a plain text editor – like notepad. Using a word processor (like Word) will very likely seriously corrupt the file. (I use an application called Notepad++). Note: The icon associated with php.ini will depend on what application is associated with .ini files.

(2) Find the line error_reporting = E_ALL | E_STRICT . In the XAMPP 1.7.4 and 1.7.7, this is line 516:

(3) Change the E_ALL | E_STRICT to E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_DEPRECATED.

(4) Save the file.

(5) Restart the Apache server. The easiest way is to open the XAMPP control panel and click on the Stop button. Then click on Start to restart it. (You could also reboot the computer, but that is not necessary.)

The post XAMPP – Fixing 'Strict Standards' Errors appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial assumes XAMPP or AMPPS installed on a Windows XP machine with Service Pack 3.

The instructions should work for other versions of Windows, but no guarantee is made.

For non-Windows systems, the general causes and procedures should be the same, but adapted for whatever OS you are running.

It is frustrating to install the Apache Server (whether through a package like XAMPP or AMPPS or separately installed) and not have it work.

The most common reason is that some other application is using the ports needed by the Apache Server. These are port 80 (http) and port 443 (https).

To check this, we need to see what applications are using which ports.

Download a TCP Port Monitoring Application

1) Download CurrPorts from NirSoft. The download link is located near the bottom of the page (just above all the various language packs available for it):

2) You will be prompted to Open or Save the application. Saving is probably the better option. Remember where you saved it:

3) Open the download:

4) Click on File and select Extract all:

5) Click on Next:

6) Click on Next if you accept the location the files will be extracted to, otherwise, enter a different location to extract the files to:

7) Ensure the Show extracted files checkbox is checked and click on Finish:

8) Double-click on the CurrPorts application to launch it:

9) Windows may popup a warning dialog. Click Run. You may also click on the Always ask before opening this file checkbox to prevent this warning form appearing in future:

Checking which Ports are in Use

CurrPorts shows a lot of information about which applications are using which port:

10) Locate the tab Local Ports and click on it to sort the ports in ascending order:

Locating Port Conflicts

With the ports sorted, you can now check to see which applications (if any) are using the following ports:

Port 80 (http): the Apache Server, in both XAMPP and AMPPS, uses this port to serve up web pages using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The most common application using this port (aside from Apache Server) is the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). In order for Apache Server to work correctly, you need to disable any application using this port, or configure it to use some other port.

Port 443 (https): the Apache Server, in XAMPP, uses this port to serve up web pages using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. The most common application using this port (aside from Apache Server) is the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). In order for Apache Server to work correctly, you need to disable any application using this port, or configure it to use some other port. The Apache Server in AMPPS does not use this port or protocol.

Port 3306: this port is used by the MySQL database. If some other application is using this port, then your MySQL database will not work. In order for MySQL database to work correctly, you need to disable any other application using this port or configure it to use some other port.

The post Troubleshooting the Apache Server Not Starting appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for Windows XP with Service Pack 3, but should be the similar for other OSes

Why would I want to install multiple versions of XAMPP?

When developing or testing software, it is nice to be able to test it on a variety of versions of Apache, PHP, Perl, and MySQL to test out that things behave the same across various versions

Installing XAMPP

1) Install each version of XAMPP into its own directory.

As you can see, I have 3 different versions of XAMPP installed on my system (plus AMPPS, but that folder is not shown):

XAMPP 1.7.3 is installed in the /xampp folder. It was the first one I installed and I used the default directory, for the other installs, I changed the installation directory.

2) Rename the Start Menu entry after each install. XAMPP 1.7.3 gets a menu entry called XAMPP for Windows, but XAMPP 1.7.4 and 1.7.7 create a Start Menu entry of Apache Friends. In the screen capture below, I have renamed two of the Start Menu entries, but not the 1.7.7 install (it is still Apache Friends):

To rename a Start Menu entry, right-click on the menu item and select Rename:

Rename the Desktop Launch Icons after each install. By default, they are each called XAMPP Control Panel:

To rename a Desktop Launch Icon, right-click on the icon and select Rename from the popup menu:

Checking which version of XAMPP is running

1) Determine which version of XAMPP is running. You do this by entering localhost/xampp into your browsers URL field:

The version of XAMPP should be clearly visible in a number of places: (1) the title bar (red), (2) the tab (green), (3) upper left side (blue):

Changing the version of XAMPP running

1) Launch the XAMPP Control Panel of the currently running version:

2) Stop the running services, then uninstall the services by clicking on the Svc checkboxes.

3) Exit the XAMPP Control Panel:

4) Launch the XAMPP Control Panel of the version you want to run:

5) Install the XAMPP services by clicking on the Svc checkboxes and then Start the services:

6) Confirm that the appropriate version of XAMPP is running by typing localhost/xampp into your browser’s URL field and checking the version:

Caveats

1. Only one Apache Server can be running at a time, or one MySQL server.
2. Each installed XAMPP has its own database and /htdocs folder. These are not shared. This means you have to install applications or code into each version of XAMPP (or, at least, those versions of XAMPP you want to test under).
3. Yes, it is a bit of a pain to switch from one version to another, but, unless you are a developer or tester, you are not likely to have more than one version installed anyway. But … this is less painful than uninstalling / reinstalling various versions for testing.

The post How to Install and Run Multiple Versions of XAMPP on your Computer appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial is for XAMPP 1.7.3 running under Windows XP with Service Pack 3. It may be similar for other version combinations, but no guarantee is made.

Assumes you have installed XAMPP. Instructions can be found here.

Installing XAMPP allows you to develop, test, and play around with web server code on your local machine. You can configure and test out your website locally, instead of live somewhere on the web.

It does have the drawback that to access your website you have to type localhost/my-web-site, where my-web-site is actually the directory you installed your website in.

You can setup the Apache Server in XAMPP to serve up web pages as though they were actually located on www.my-web-site.com instead of localhost.

This is a two step process: first, you have to redirect the web site name to your computer; next, you get Apache to redirect the web site address to your installed directory.

Redirecting the Web Site to Your Computer

1) Locate your hosts file. In Windows XP, this file is located in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc:

2) Open the file with a plain text editor (like Notepad++). Using a word processor, like Word, can mess up the file when you save it.

It is very likely that the file is empty, except for the default comment and examples (the section in the green box):

3) Add lines containing the domain name(s) and IP address to redirect to. See the section in the red box in the image above.

• Each line must begin with the address 127.0.0.1 (this is the localhost address)

• After the IP address, type the name of the domain you wish to redirect to this address. You may only enter 1 name per line.

• Addresses like my-site.com and www.my-site.com are different and each need a separate line.

4) Save the changes.

5) Restart your browser (if it was open when you made the change to your hosts file).

Getting Apache to Serve Your Web Site

6) Locate the httpd-vhosts.conf file. For most XAMPP 1.7.3 installs this will be C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra (in my case, I installed XAMPP on my D-drive, so the folder is D:\xampp\apache\conf\extra):

7) Open the file using a plain text editor (like Notepad++). Using a Word processor, like Word, can mess up the file when you save:

The file will contain some documentation and sample virtual hosts.

8) Add, at the bottom of the file, new virtual hosts for each domain you added in step 3) above.

Each host will have the following form:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName www.joomla.16
    ServerAlias joomla.16
    DocumentRoot d:/xampp/htdocs/joomla16
</VirtualHost>

ServerName: following this label, add the name of the domain you added in step 3)

ServerAlias: following this label, you may add as many alternate domains (separated by spaces) as you like that are supposed to resolve to this virtual host. Remember that www.my-domain.com is different from my-domain.com, but, typically, you would want them to resolve to the same server.

DocumentRoot: following this label, add the path where your website is located. You can use an absolute path (as in the example above), or a relative path (but relative paths can be trickier to set up, so I prefer to use an absolute path).

9) Save the file.

10) Restart the Apache Server to have the change take effect. Do this by clicking on the Stop button on the XAMPP control panel and then clicking on the Start button. (You could also just reboot the computer, but that is overkill).

The post How to Change 'localhost' to a Domain Name appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Joomla! 1.7 is now obsolete. Joomla! 2.5 is the newest release with long term support.

Instructions for installing Joomla! 2.5 can be found here.

Some images may be clicked on images for full size versions.

Downloading Joomla!

1) Download the full Joomla install from here.

2) Choose to either save the ZIP file or to open it over the web. Saving the ZIP file makes it easier to install Joomla again, if you have to.

Extracting Joomla!

3) Open the downloaded file by double-clicking on it. From the File menu, select Extract All. NOTE: this step assumes Windows provides archiving functionality for you. If you have installed a different archiving program, the specific steps for extraction will be different.

4) Extract the Joomla! files to a subfolder of htdocs in your XAMPP folder. By default, XAMPP would be installed to your C:\ drive, so you would enter C:\xampp\htdocs\joomla as the directory to extract to. (In my case, I installed XAMPP to my D:\ drive and specified joomla17 as the folder to extract to). Click on Next to extract the files.

5) Click Finish when the extraction is complete. You can uncheck the Show extracted files checkbox because we don’t need to see the files.

Setting up Joomla!

6) Launch your browser and type http://localhost/joomla into the address bar. What follows http://localhost/ is the directory you installed Joomla! into (in my case, joomla17).

7) Select your preferred language, then click on Next.

8) Confirm you meet the minimum installation requirements, then click Next. It is normal for Display errors to be set to On.

9) Read the GNU license and, if you agree with it, click Next.

10) Fill in the database configuration information:

• Database Type: mysql (default setting)
• Host Name: localhost (default setting)
• Username: if you created a MySql User, enter the name here. Otherwise, use root.
• Password: this is the password associated with the user name entered above. If you used root as your username, then leave the password blank (the default XAMPP install does not assign a password to root).
• Database Name: this is the name of the database you created. Database creation instructions are here.
• Table Prefix: a unique prefix for accessing the table. Using the default (or suggested prefix) is fine.

11) Ensure FTP is set to No, then click Next.

12) Enter a site name (for example, Complete, Concrete, Concise or whatever name you want this site to have).

Enter Your Email address. Joomla! will send notifications to this email address.

Enter an Admin Username. This is the username you will use to log into the Joomla! backend. By default, it is Admin (and I leave it as Admin)

Enter an Admin Password – this is the password you will use to log into the Joomla! backend.

Confirm the Admin Password.

Choose if you want to install the sample data. I like to install it, since it saves me the trouble of populating the site with sample articles. The sample data is only available in English.

Click on Next.

13) Confirm you have successfully installed. Note that your user name for logging into the Joomla! backend is admin (if you accepted the default name, otherwise it is whatever name you entered into the Admin Username field in Step (12)).

Cleaning Up

As a security precaution, Joomla! requires you to remove the installation directory before the site becomes functional. In Joomla! 1.7.x, this can be done from the final installation screen.

14) Click on the Remove installation folder to remove the installation folder and complete the installation.

The post Installing Joomla! 1.7 Under XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for WordPress version 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.2.0, and 3.2.1 into a folder other than \wordpress under XAMPP 1.7.3 running on Windows XP with Service Pack 3 installed.

You may want to install into a different folder for various reasons, the two most common being: (1) you want to have multiple WordPress installations, or (2) you want control over where the files are installed.

These instructions should be the same for other versions, but no guarantee is made.

Assumes you have XAMPP installed.

To install WordPress to something other than the default wordpress directory, you need to (1) install WordPress into that directory and then (2) move all the files found in the wordpress directory up into that directory and, (3) delete the wordpress directory.

(1) Extract WordPress into the desired directory under htdocs:

(2) Ensure the Show extracted files checkbox is ticked and click on Finish:

(3) Open the wordpress folder by double-clicking on it:

(4) Select Select All from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl+A):

(5) Select Copy from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl+C):

(6) Click on the back button to return to the previous folder:

(7) Select Paste from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl+V):

(8) Right-click on the wordpress folder and select Delete from the popup menu:

If you want to access the installed site using a “real” web address (like www.wordpress.3) instead of localhost/path-name, you can find instructions to do that here.

The post How to Install WordPress into a Folder Other than \wordpress under XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for XAMPP 1.7.3 running on Windows XP.

They should be similar for other configuration combinations, but no guarantee is made.

These instructions should also work for an Apache Server install that is not part of a XAMPP install (specific details regarding file locations and restarting of the Apache Server will differ).

By default, Apache Server listens on port 80, but this can be changed.

Why Change the Port?

Perhaps certain ports are blocked by your network admin or ISP (although, I would not recommend running XAMPP as a publicly accessible server).

Perhaps port 80 is already being used by some other application (like IIS) and you don’t want to or are not allowed to shut it down or change it.

Apache Server is not starting and you are using XAMPP 1.7.4 (I recommend XAMPP 1.7.3). XAMPP 1.7.4 removed a useful port debugging tool, so changing the Apache Server port is one way of checking to see if you have a port conflict – change the port and if Apache Server starts working, then you know some other application is using port 80. You should try several ports, just in case you are lucky and manage to pick ports used by other applications. Some ports to try are 2375, 4173, 5107, 9260, 20010 – these ports, among others, are all listed as unassigned (but that doesn’t mean someone else isn’t using them).

How to Change the Port

Edit the httpd.conf file to change the port Apache listens on.

(1) Locate the file httpd.conf. This file should be found in C:\xampp\apache\conf (or whichever directory you installed XAMPP in – mine is on my D-drive because that is where I installed XAMPP).

(2) Open the file using a text editor or programmer’s editor (I use notepad++). DO NOT use a word processor (like Word) to open the file, it will badly mess it up.

(3a) Locate the line that says Listen 80. It is line #47 in the XAMPP 1.7.3 install.

(3b) Change the port number (80) to a different number (for this tutorial, I changed it to 1234).

(3c) Save the file.

(4) Restart the Apache Server to have the change take effect. Do this by clicking on the Stop button on the XAMPP control panel and then clicking on the Start button. (You could also just reboot the computer, but that is overkill).

Using the New Port

When you connect to the Apache Server, you will have to append the port number to the URL. Previously where you typed localhost, you will now have to type localhost:1234 (or whatever your new port number is):

The post How to Change the Apache Port in XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

NOT RECOMMENDED: One of the reasons for installing XAMPP is to be able to detect errors in your site and code. Disabling error reporting makes this a lot harder.
These instructions are for XAMPP version 1.7.3, but it should work for other versions as well.

One of the default settings when XAMPP is installed is to display PHP errors when they occur. This is useful for debugging, but downright dangerous for a production environment.
Usually, you won’t notice this setting – unless you happen to be installing Joomla! under XAMPP, then it will warn you that the Display Errors setting is set to On when the recommended setting is Off. (Click for larger image)
\
This isn’t a problem. However, if you want to turn off the warning then do the following:
(1) Go to the php directory under XAMPP. Normally, this would be C:\XAMPP\php, but you may have installed it to a different drive or directory (mine is installed on my D: drive). Locate the file named php.ini . Open this file using a plain text editor – like notepad. Using a word processor (like Word) will very likely seriously corrupt the file. (I use an application called Notepad++). Note: The icon associated with php.ini will depend on what application is associated with .ini files.

(2a) Find the line display_errors = On. In the XAMPP 1.7.3 install, this is line 531.

(2b) Change the On to Off.
(2c) Save the file.
(3) Restart the Apache server. The easiest way is to open the XAMPP control panel and click on the Stop button. Then click on Start to restart it. (You could also reboot the computer, but that is not necessary.)

The post How to Turn Off 'display_errors' in XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial describes how to install WordPress version 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.2.0 and 3.2.1 under XAMPP version 1.7.3 on Windows XP.

The procedure should be the same for other version combinations, but no guarantee is made.

Assumes you have already

• installed XAMPP. (Installation instructions can be found here.)
• created a MySQL database. (Creation instructions can be found here.)

I do not recommend using XAMPP 1.7.4 because of configuration and functionality issues with that version.

Some images may be clicked for full size versions (if your cursor changes when you move over an image, there is a larger version available).

Downloading WordPress

1) Download WordPress from here. Click on the Download WordPress button:

2) Click on the save button and remember where you saved the file:.

Extracting WordPress

3) Open the downloaded file by double-clicking on it. From the File menu, select Extract All. NOTE: this step assumes Windows provides archiving functionality for you. If you have installed a different archiving program, the specific steps for extraction will be different.

4) Extract the WordPress files into the htdocs folder in your XAMPP folder. By default, XAMPP would be installed to your C:\ drive, so you would enter C:\xampp\htdocs as the directory to extract to. (In my case, I installed XAMPP to my D:\ drive). WordPress will be extracted into a folder named wordpress. NOTE: if you want to install WordPress into a different directory under htdocs (say my_wordpress or MySite or whatever, then instructions for doing this can be found here.

5) Click Finish when the extraction is complete. You can uncheck the Show extracted files checkbox because we don’t need to see the files.

Setting up WordPress

6) Launch your browser and type http://localhost/wordpress into the address bar. What follows http://localhost/ is the directory you installed WordPress into (unless you changed the directory in Step (4), this will be wordpress

7) Click on Create a Configuration File at the notification screen advising that a wp-config.php file needs to be created.

8) Click on Let’s go! to begin configuring and installing WordPress:

9) Fill in the database configuration information and click on Submit::

• Database Name: this is the name of the database you created. Database creation instructions are here. (The default is wordpress.)
• User Name: if you created a MySql User for the database (not necessary), enter the name here. Otherwise, use root.
• Password: this is the password associated with the user name entered above. If you used root as your username, then leave the password blank (the default XAMPP install does not assign a password to root). Otherwise, enter the password associated with the User Name.
• Database Host: localhost (default setting)

10) Click on Run the install:

11) Fill in some information about your site and site administrator and then click on Install WordPress.

• Site Title: Enter the name of your website.
• Username: Enter the username that will be used for logging into the backend of your WordPress site. The default is admin.
• Password: Enter a password that will be used to login to the backend of your WordPress site. There is also a strength indicator which shows you how secure your password is.
• Your E-mail: Enter an e-mail address that your site will send notifications to.

12) Click on Log In to log into your WordPress site.

The post Installing WordPress Under XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial assumes that you have XAMPP 1.7.3 installed.

The procedure should be the same for other versions of XAMPP.

A XAMPP installation procedure for Windows XP can be found here.

Click on images for full sized versions.

(1) Enter http://localhost/phpmyadmin into your browser’s URL field. This will bring you to the phpmyadmin main page.

 (2) Select the database to which to add a new user by clicking on it:

(3) Click on the Privileges tab:

(4) Click on Add a new user:

 (5) Fill in the user information:

User Name: Leave the dropdown selection as Use text field and enter a user name in the edit box on the right side. A user name may be a maximum of 16 characters in length. The MySql documentation recommends using only ASCII characters in the name. It would probably be safest to restrict yourself to lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and / or digits.

Host: since this is for XAMPP, select Local from the dropdown box.

Password: if you want the user to have a password, then leave the selection in the dropdown box as Use text field and enter a password (up to 16 characters, composed of letters and / or digits) into the edit box on the right. If you don’t want the user to have a password (for the password to be blank) then select No Password from the dropdown box. Alternatively, you can allow the system to generate a password for you (remember it or write it down, since you will need to pass that password on to applications that need it).

(6) Leave all other settings as they are.

You can now use this user name and password instead of root and no password when you configure the database information for applications like Joomla! or WordPress.

The post Adding a New User to a MySql database in XAMPP appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This is NOT recommended!

By default, databases in XAMPP are created with the user root having a blank password. This poses a security risk if the computer or database are publically accessible. However, for local development and testing, this should not be a problem.

This tutorial assumes that you have XAMPP 1.7.3 installed.

The procedure should be the same for other versions of XAMPP.

A XAMPP installation procedure for Windows XP can be found here.

WARNING: you will need to update your phpmyadmin configuration file to login using the new password, otherwise you will no longer be able to use phpmyadmin.

Even if you assign a password to root, someone can still gain access to it by inspecting the phpmyadmin configuration file (where the password is plainly visible).

Click on images for full sized versions.

Assigning a password to ‘root ‘

(1) Enter http://localhost/phpmyadmin into your browser’s URL field. This will bring you to the phpmyadmin main page.

(2) Click on the Privileges tab:

(3) Click on the icon in the Action column:

  (4) Scroll down to the password section:

Enter a password and retype it to confirm it. Click on Go to accept it.

A password should be composed of basic ASCII characters (‘a’..’z’, ‘A’..’Z’, and “0’..’9’). Numerous forums report errors trying to use other ASCII characters.

There is no mention in the MySql documentation of maximum password length. The Generate Password function generates passwords of 16 characters in length, so it is reasonable to assume this is the maximum.

Password Hashing:

MySql 4.1+ will generate a 41 byte password hash (MySql does not store the actual password, it stores an encrypted 41 byte hash of the password. When it verifies your password, it encrypts it and checks the encryption against the stored hash, if they match the password is accepted. This is more secure because the hash is not reversible, i.e. you cannot discover the password by reversing the encryption process). Unless you require backwards compatibility with older database engines, leave MySql 4.1+ selected.

MySql 4.0 compatible will generate a 16 byte password hash (MySql does not store the actual password, it stores an encrypted 16 byte hash of the password. When it verifies your password, it encrypts it and checks the encryption against the stored hash, if they match the password is accepted. This is more secure because the hash is not reversible, i.e. you cannot discover the password by reversing the encryption process).

Generate Password:

Alternately, you may allow MySql to generate a password for you by clicking on the Generate button. It generates a 16 character password. (Just make sure you write it down somewhere.) You still have to click on Go to accept it.

Don’t forget to update any applications using this database to use the new password!

Updating the phpmyadmin Configuration File

(1) Locate the file config.inc.php. This will be found in your XAMPP 1.7.3 directory under the folder phpmyadmin (in my case, this is D:\xampp\phpmyadmin – since I installed XAMPP to my D-drive. In most installs, it will be located in the C-drive).

(2) Open the file config.inc.php with a plain text editor (such as notepad – I used notepad++).

(3) Find the following two lines:

On the line with first line (the one with {'password'} in it, enter your password between the two single quotes on the right side.

On the next line (the one with {'AllowNoPassword'} in it, change the true to false.

(4) Save the file.

This is not recommended!

The post How to Add a Password to the XAMPP root User appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.