How to Install PHP 7.4 on EasyPHP DevServer 14.1 VC11

An updated guide to install latest PHP version on EasyPHP 14.1 Devserver for Windows.

i. About EasyPHP 14.1

• Absolutely free and an easy way to learn PHP and use it for development and testing.
• This version of EasyPHP does not require any paid modules to install/upgrade PHP, in comparison with its latest version 17.1.

ii. Prerequisites

• Uninstall all existing installations of EasyPHP and remove their folders completely

I. Installing EasyPHP 14.1-Devserver and Microsoft VC15-19

A. Download and install EasyPHP DevServer 14.1.

Untick 'Launch EasyPHP' while completing installation to configure PHP installation before running the program.

Official EasyPHP : https://www.easyphp.org/save-easyphp-devservervc11-latest.php


B. Download and install VC15-19, required for PHP 7.4+.

Official Microsoft : https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/#microsoft-visual-c-redistributable-for-visual-studio-2019

II. Configuring EasyPHP 14.1-Devserver

Two ways to configure your installation. Easy way (II.1) is to download our pre-configured zip package of 'binaries' folder and paste them in your installation directory.

To configure it yourself, try the manual way (II.2) given below.

1. Using our pre-configured package

Delete existing 'binaries' directory in EasyPHP installation folder (~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\).

Download, extract and rename following zip archive to 'binaries' and place it in EasyPHP installation folder (~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\).

Download link : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ew-VSrPqNdvuxgKoOw7ppveKv05PMCbo/view

Restart EasyPHP to run the server. Installation and configuration is now complete, skip to testing EasyPHP (III).

2. Configuring EasyPHP manually (optional)

A. Download your preferred PHP version

(Only x86 versions are compatible with EasyPHP 14.1), in zip format and are marked "Thread Safe".

Official PHP : https://windows.php.net/download/

Official Download link for PHP 7.4.7 (VC15) :  https://windows.php.net/downloads/releases/php-7.4.7-Win32-vc15-x86.zip

B. Extract PHP files into EasyPHP directory

Locate the \php folder of your EasyPHP installation directory (Default: C:\Program Files (x86)\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php) and extract the PHP7.4 zip package here

Rename the folder to "php747VC15" and path should be similar to '~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php\php747VC15\'

C. Copy "easyphp.php" config file from '~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php\php_runningversion'

to newly created folder

`~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php\php747VC15\`

And edit the config file to change "dirname" and "version" as shown below

`::php::<?php
 $phpversion = array();
 $phpversion = array(
            "status"    => "0",
            "dirname"   => "php747VC15",
            "name"      => "PHP",
            "version"   => "7.4.7",
            "date"      => "2018-12-10 09:57:26",
            "notes"     => "");
?>`

D. Run EasyPHP Devserver application

(Start -> All Programs -> EasyPHP DevServer 14.1 VC11 (Dir) -> EasyPHP DevServer 14.1 VC11)

Open following link on your browser to change php version of your EasyPHP installation

http://127.0.0.1/home/index.php?page=php-page&display=changephpversion

Note: Initially it may redirect to homepage, if so, paste and browse above link again.
  
Click the "select" button located near the new php version number.

Once selected, files from ~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php\php747VC15\

will get moved to ~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php\php_runningversion

E. Shutdown EasyPHP from Taskbar and edit Apache config

Open "httpd.conf" file located in '~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\apache\conf'
 
And comment out the "php5_module" line. If your EasyPHP installation location is "C:\Program Files (x86)\" then it should look like

#LoadModule php5_module "C:/Program Files (x86)/EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11/binaries/php/php_runningversion/php5apache2_4.dll"

And add the following line below it

`LoadModule php7_module "C:/Program Files (x86)/EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11/binaries/php/php_runningversion/php7apache2_4.dll"`

Make copies of "ssleay32.dll" and "libeay32.dll" and other required library .dll files on both

~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\apache\bin

and

~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\binaries\php\php_runningversion

Most of the .dll files can be found on either of these folders.

III. Testing EasyPHP Installation

Restart EasyPHP Devserver

Visit local-server page to confirm phpinfo();

http://127.0.0.1/home/index.php?page=php-page&display=phpinfo

Use codetester in EasyPHP homepage to test some PHP7.4 implementations. Paste following code, and click 'Interpret'.

`::php::<?php

// Print all algos

print_r(password_algos());

// Hash with argon2id [Ref - https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.password-hash.php]

echo password_hash("dev.slickalpha.blog",  PASSWORD_ARGON2ID);

?>`

Php files can be stored in any of the folders in '~\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC11\data\localweb\' and accessed on http://127.0.0.1/ using any web browser.