XAMPP is a complete package to install the Apache Web Server, MySQL, PHP, Perl, FTP Server and phpMyAdmin for Linux, Solaris, Windows, and Mac OS X. It also provides an interface to admin Apache Web Server, MySQL, and PHP. This tutorial provides all the steps required to install XAMPP on Windows 10. The steps should be similar for other versions of Windows.
Download XAMPP
Download the most recent version of XAMPP from SourceForge or Apache Friends. The XAMPP page on SourceForge looks like the one as shown in Fig 1.
Fig 1
The XAMPP page on Apache Friends looks like the one as shown in Fig 1a.
Fig 1a
Click on the Download Button to start the download.
Install XAMPP
Now execute the installer to start installing XAMPP on Windows. It showed me a UAC warning as shown in Fig 2.
Fig 2
In case you also get this warning, press OK Button to continue with the installation. It will show the Welcome Screen as shown in Fig 3.
Fig 3
Click on the Next Button to continue with the installation. The next screen provides options to choose the components to be installed on the Windows system as shown in Fig 4.
Fig 4
It shows that Apache and PHP are mandatory components and provide options to deselect remaining components. Choose appropriate components to be installed and click on the Next Button. To start with PHP development, you can select at least Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin. The next screen provides options to choose the installation directory as shown in Fig 5.
Fig 5
Choose the appropriate installation directory and press Next Button to continue with the installation. The next screen provides options to learn more about Bitnami for XAMPP as shown in Fig 6.
Fig 6
You may keep the checkbox checked. It will open the Bitnami page for XAMPP to learn more about it. Now click the Next Button to finalize the selections. The next screen shows the confirmation message to start the actual installation of the components as shown in Fig 7.
Fig 7
Click on the Next Button to start installing the components. It will show the installation progress as shown in Fig 8.
Fig 8
It will show the success message after completing the installation as shown in Fig 9.
Fig 9
It also provides options to start the Control Panel for the first. You may keep the option checked and click on the Finish Button to close the installer. It shows the options to choose language on the first start as shown in Fig 10.
Fig 10
Click on the Save Button to confirm the language. It will launch XAMPP Control Panel. It look like the one as shown in Fig 11.
Fig 11
It provides options to start, stop, and configure the components selected at the start of the installation. It's showings options only for Apache in my case since I have deselected all other components at the start of installation.
Start Apache
In this step, we will start the Apache Web Server and open the default page. Click on the Start Button next to apache to start the webserver. It will show the windows security warning for the first time as shown in Fig 12.
Fig 12
It shows the status of the Apache Web Server and ports used by it to access it from the browser as shown in Fig 13.
Fig 13
Now open the Browser of your choice and enter the URL http://localhost. It will show the XAMPP dashboard as shown in Fig 14.
Fig 14
Now click on the PHPInfo Link. It will show the complete details of the PHP version and the packages as shown in Fig 15.
Fig 15
Other Components
Similar to Apache, we can start and stop the other components including MySQL, FileZilla, Mercury, and Tomcat. We can access the phpMyAdmin application from the XAMPP Dashboard as shown in Fig 14.
Summary
In this tutorial, we have discussed the steps required to install XAMPP on Windows 10. We can install and admin Apache, PHP, MySQL, FileZilla, Mercury, Tomcat, and phpMyAadmin on windows using XAMPP instead of installing and configuring these components separately.