How to Install phpMyAdmin on Your Windows PC

Using an Existing Apache Server

1. Make sure that you've installed Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Apache, PHP, and MySQL must all be installed and configured on your computer before you can install phpMyAdmin in this way.

2. Open the phpMyAdmin download page. Go to https://www.phpmyadmin.net/ in your browser.

3. Click Download. It's a green button in the upper-right side of the page. The phpMyAdmin ZIP folder will begin downloading onto your computer.

   1. You'll also see the version number next to Download (e.g., for the November 2017 version of phpMyAdmin, you'd click Download 4.7.5).

4. Click Close when prompted. This will return you to the phpMyAdmin webpage.

5. Open the phpMyAdmin folder. Double-click the downloaded phpMyAdmin ZIP folder to do so.

6. Copy the phpMyAdmin folder's contents. Click the regular phpMyAdmin folder in the ZIP folder's window, then press Ctrl+C.

7. Go to your Apache host folder. This is typically a folder named "htdocs" inside of the "Apache" folder, which should be located in the "C:" folder on your hard drive.

   1. The Apache host folder usually has a text document named "index.php" or something similar.
   2. The fastest way to get to this folder is by clicking This PC on the left side of the window, double-clicking the Apache folder, and double-clicking the htdocs (or similar) folder.

8. Paste the copied folder into the host folder. Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied phpMyAdmin folder into the Apache host folder.

9. Change the copied folder's name to phpmyadmin. Click the phpMyAdmin folder, click Home, click Rename in the toolbar, type phpmyadmin into the folder's name field, and press ↵ Enter.

10. Open the PHP folder. This folder is located in the "C:" folder along with the "Apache" folder. Once you find the PHP folder, double-click it to open it.

11. Find the "php.ini-production" file and rename it. You'll change this file's name to php.ini.^[1]

12. Double-click the "php.ini" file. It will open in your default text editor (e.g., Notepad), though you may first have to select Notepad from a list and click OK.

13. Find the "extension=php_mbstring.dll" line of text and remove the semicolon. You'll see the semicolon to the left of this line of text.

    1. You can press Ctrl+F to bring up a "Find" window where you can enter this line of text to go to it.

14. Find the "extension=php_mysqli.dll" line of text and remove the semicolon. Once you've done this, your phpMyAdmin server is good to go.

15. Save your changes and exit Notepad. Press Ctrl+S to save, then click the X in the top-right corner of the Notepad window to exit Notepad.

16. Run your Apache server. Open Command Prompt in Administrator mode by right-clicking Start

    , clicking Command Prompt (Admin), and clicking Yes when prompted, then do the following:

    1. Type in cd /Apache24/bin and press ↵ Enter (replace "Apache24" with your Apache folder's name).
    2. Type in httpd -k restart and press ↵ Enter.

17. Test your phpMyAdmin program. Open a web browser, then type http://localhost into the address bar and press ↵ Enter. This should take you to the phpMyAdmin login page.