[php] program cant start because php5.dll is missing

  1. I installed XAMPP , phpinfo: PHP Version 5.3.5
  2. Downloaded PHPPDT, installed
  3. downloaded webserver debug extension, copied dummy.php
  4. added zend_extension="c:\edward\xampp\php\ext\5_3_x_nts_comp\ZendDebugger.dll"

stop, restart apache, get:

"the program cant start because php5.dll is missing from your computer"

(while php5nts.dll is included)

is installing zend studio ce the alternative or can i make it work with XAMPP? (using Zend Studio CE works)

This question is related to php debugging

The answer is


I just now faced this issue while trying to restart XAMPP Apache.

What you can do to solve this is:

  1. download PHP5.dll from http://originaldll.com/file/php5.dll/30704.html
  2. Copy the downloaded php5.dll to C:\xampp\php
  3. Start APACHE and MySql from XAMPP control panel

Hope my solution solves your problem.

Thank You!


For Wamp x86+Phalcon users (with same error):

Take care of download the right version of Phalcon:

Phalcon 1.3.2 - Windows x86 for PHP 5.5.0 (VC11)


What you can do to solve this is:

  1. Download PHP5.dll or PHP7.dll from: http://windows.php.net/download/.
  2. Copy the downloaded php5.dll or php7.dll to C:\xampp\php.
  3. Start Apache and MySQL from XAMPP Control Panel.

In case this might help someone, after installing the thread safe version of PHP 5.5.1, everything was working under apache for my dev sites, but I ran into the same "php5.dll is missing" problem installing Composer using the Composer-Setup.exe - or, as I soon discovered, just running something as simple as php -v from the command line. I made a copy of php5ts.dll and named it php5.dll and everything worked. I assume the Composer installer was specifically looking for "php5.dll" and I knew that the thread safe code would be run by the renamed .dll. I also assume something is wrong with my setup to screw up the command line functionality, but with everything working, I have more important issues to deal with than to try and find the problem.


When you open phpinfo() see if the thread safety is enable or not enable also see the version of php and see MSVC-- what is the number in place of -- and see the architecture these all things help u to get the suitable php driver

here a url help u to get a php driver https://s3.amazonaws.com/drivers.mongodb.org/php/index.html


I needed to change environment variable PATH and PHPRC. Also open new cmd.

I already had PHP installed and added EasyPHP when the problem came up. After I changed both variables to C:\Program Files (x86)\EasyPHP-DevServer-14.1VC9\binaries\php\php_runningversion it worked fine.


I had the same problem I switched from wamp to xampp and yes PHP was working because my path was still pointing to my old installation. I had forgotten to change it to point to my new php installation which version of php didn't match the rest at all.


Download php5.dll (http://windows.php.net/download/) and copy it to apache/bin folder. That solved it for me (Win 7 64 bit apache 32 bit)

EDIT: Start with the non-thread safe version.