[php] PDOException “could not find driver”

I have just installed Debian Lenny with Apache, MySQL, and PHP and I am receiving a PDOException could not find driver.

This is the specific line of code it is referring to:

$dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=' . DB_HOST . ';dbname=' . DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASS)

DB_HOST, DB_NAME, DB_USER, and DB_PASS are constants that I have defined. It works fine on the production server (and on my previous Ubuntu Server setup).

Is this something to do with my PHP installation?

Searching the internet has not helped, all I get is experts-exchange and examples, but no solutions.

The solution for me was in the instalation of php, Dont have correctly configured the environment variable and the php.ini file. Doing this two correction an uncomented de line of extension = pdo_mysql.so works

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught PDOException: could not find driver

I struggled and struggled with "apt install php-mysql php7toInfinity and don't forget sqlite-what-ever's" and just could not get rid of this error message until I went back to basics and reset the file-permissions on the web-site in question.

These 3 commands reset file and folder permissions on the web-site and got it to work again.

cd /var/www/web-site-name.com/web/

# find (sub) directories and change permissions
find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

# find files and change permissions
find . -type f -exec chmod 664 '{}' \;

If you are using sqlite for testing you will need php sqlite pdo drive. You can install them as below.

For Ubuntu 14.04

sudo apt-get install php5-sqlite
sudo service apache2 restart

In ubuntu 16.04 there is no php5-sqlite

sudo apt-get install php7.0-sqlite
sudo service apache2 restart

The problem is a missing php to mysql library. In CentOs i fixed it by running # yum install php-mysql and then restarting apache with # /bin/systemctl restart httpd.service Note that the naming is slightly different from debian/ubuntu based distros, php->php5 and httpd->apache2.

On my Windows machine, I had to give the absolute path to the extension dir in my php.ini:

extension_dir = "c:\php5\ext"

I Fixed this issue on my Debian 6. Normally I just had installed php5-common package. After installation, you have to restart your web server (apache or nginx depending on which one you installed). Then I just do an lsof on the apache process id (lsof -p process_id) as followed :

sudo lsof -p 1399   #replace 1399 by your apache process id
apache2 1399 root  mem    REG  254,2    80352 227236 /usr/lib/php5/20090626/xmlrpc.so
apache2 1399 root  mem    REG  254,2   166496 227235 /usr/lib/php5/20090626/suhosin.so
apache2 1399 root  mem    REG  254,2    31120 227233 /usr/lib/php5/20090626/pdo_mysql.so
apache2 1399 root  mem    REG  254,2   100776 227216 /usr/lib/php5/20090626/pdo.so
apache2 1399 root  mem    REG  254,2   135864 227232 /usr/lib/php5/20090626/mysqli.so

As you can see above, the modules are installed on a file path not known or guided by common library path: /usr/lib/php5/20090626/. For your installation, it may be different, but only the path of pdo_mysql.so, pdo.so, mysqli.so. So, this is why Drupal or any other php engine couldn't find the library and shows that error: PDOException: could not find driver

I just don't know why it is installed on such a weird path, for me it's just a bug in the library package installation script in debian 6. I solved the issue by creating a symbolic for all the files under /usr/lib/php5/20090626/ to /usr/lib/php5/ with this command :

ln -s /usr/lib/php5/20090626/* /usr/lib/php5/

I had the same problem during running tests with separate php.ini. I had to add these lines to my own php.ini file:

[PHP]
extension = mysqlnd.so
extension = pdo.so
extension = pdo_mysql.so

Notice: Exactly in this order

In my case, I was using PDO with php-cli, and it worked fine.

Only when I tried to connect from apache, I got the "missing driver" issue, which I didn't quite understand.

A simple apt-get install php-mysql solved it. (Ubuntu 16.04 / PHP7. credits go to the selected answer & Ivan's comment)

Hope it can help.

I spent the last day trying to figure out why I was getting the following error. I am running Ubuntu 14.04.

The Problem:
I noticed that my PHP-CLI version was running php7.0 but php_info() (the web version) was displaying php 5.5.9. Even though php_info() said pdo was enabled, using the command line (CLI) wasn't recognizing the pdo_mysql command. It turns out that mysql was enabled for my old version but not the CLI version. All I did was install mysql for php7.0 and it was able to work.

This is what worked:

To check the version:

php -v

To install mysql for php7.0

sudo apt-get install php7.0-mysql

1) make sure your CLI version is the same as your web version
2) If they are different, make sure your CLI version has the mysql plug-in since it doesn't come with it as a default.

Had the same issue, because I forgot to go into my virtual machine. If I go to my local directory like this:

cd /www/homestead/my_project
php artisan migrate

that error will appear. But it works on my virtual machine

cd ~/homestead
vagrant ssh   
cd /www/homestead/my_project
php artisan migrate

Update: newer versions should use php-sqlite3 package instead of php5-sqlite. So use this, if you are using a recent ubuntu version:

sudo apt-get install sqlite php-sqlite3

Original answer to question is here:

sudo apt-get install sqlite php5-sqlite
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

If your phpinfo() is not showing the pdo_sqlite line (in my case, on my Ubuntu Server), you just need to run the lines above and then you'll be good to go.

I had the same exception when trying to use pdo_sqlite. The problem was that the automatically created 20-pdo_sqlite.ini and 20-sqlite3.ini symlinks (in /etc/php5/mods-enabled) were broken.

Removeing the broken symlinks and adding them manually with:

• sudo ln -s /etc/php5/mods-avaliable/pdo_sqlite.ini /etc/php5/mods-enabled/20-pdo_sqlite.ini
• sudo ln -s /etc/php5/mods-avaliable/sqlite3.ini /etc/php5/mods-enabled/20-sqlite3.ini

fixed the problem.

Note: this won't work for older php versions as they did not look for configs in /etc/php5/mods-enabled

For PHP 5.5 on CentOS I fixed this by installing the php55-mysqlnd package.

sudo yum -y install php55w-mysqlnd # For Webtatic
sudo yum -y install php55u-mysqlnd # For Remi

For help installing, write a comment as it depends on the way PHP is installed on your system. Available repo's are webtatic and remi.

Incorrect installation of PHP was being called

I was experiencing the same problem. And I hope this would help someone who is having a similar issue as me.

Scenario

OS = Windows 10  
Platform = XAMPP  
PHP Version = 7 (Multiple Version seem to have been installed in the PC)  

I created phpinfo.php file in the public folder and run the phpinfo() to look for the location of my php.ini file.

PHP.ini Location = c:\xampp\php\php.ini

Problem
Calling c:\xampp\htdocs> php -v returned PHP 7.2.3 but phpinfo.php showed PHP 7.2.2.

Solution
Instead of calling

php artisan migrate:install   

which gave me this error, I used

c:\xampp\php\php artisan migrate:install

and it worked.

I faced the same issue after I removed the php5 package (that includes all the drivers as well) in order to install php7 package. I actually installed php7 package without a mysql module.

I managed to solve it by typing in the terminal:

1) $ apt-cache search php7 which lists all the modules, looking through the modules I found,

php7.0-mysql - MySQL module for PHP

2) $ sudo apt-get install php7.0-mysql

That's it. It worked for me in my linux system.

(use the appropriate php version, yours could be php5)

For those using Symfony2/3 and wondering why you're getting this error. If you're using "mapping_types", you might encounter this error. The reason is that "mapping_types" is placed at the wrong level. For instance :

doctrine:
  dbal:
    mapping_types:
        set: string

This "mapping_types" must be placed at this level :

doctrine:
dbal:
    #To counter the error caused by 'mapping_types'
    connections:
        default:
            server_version: %database_server_version%
            mapping_types:
                set: string

I hope this helps

I found the solution here : https://github.com/doctrine/DoctrineBundle/issues/327

The dsn in your code reveals you are trying to connect with the mysql driver. Your error message indicates that this driver is unavailable.

Check that you have the mysql extension installed on your server.

In Ubuntu/Debian you check for the package with:

dpkg --get-selections | grep php | grep mysql

Install the php5-mysql package if you do not have it.

In Ubuntu/Debian you can use:

• PHP5: sudo apt-get install php5-mysql
• PHP7: sudo apt-get install php7.0-mysql

Lastly, to get it working, you will need to restart your web-server:

• Apache: sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
• Nginx: sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart

Just one other thing to confirm as some people are copy/pasting example code from the Internet to get started. Make sure you have MySQL entered here:

... $dbh = new PDO ("mysql: ...  

In some examples this shows

$dbh = new PDO ("dblib ...

$DB_TYPE = 'mysql'; //Type of database<br>
$DB_HOST = 'localhost'; //Host name<br>
$DB_USER = 'root'; //Host Username<br>
$DB_PASS = ''; //Host Password<br>
$DB_NAME = 'database_name'; //Database name<br><br>

$dbh = new PDO("$DB_TYPE:host=$DB_HOST; dbname=$DB_NAME;", $DB_USER, $DB_PASS); // PDO Connection

This worked for me.

I solved this problem by enabling php_pdo_mysql.ddl in " IIS Information Service - > PHP Exstention " .

On Ubuntu just execute

sudo apt-get install php5-mysql

For Linux Mint

I had the same issue whilst using PhpBrew ( 5.5.9 / 7.0.14 ) and trying to create a PDO connection.

After I had tried most of the solutions on this post I did the following:

1. Powered off PhpBrew

2. Executed sudo apt-get install php7.0 (Linux Mint 17.2 / PHP7.0.16) - installed fresh php version

When adding these into your php.ini ensure the php_pdo.dll reference is first before the db drivers dlls otherwise this will also cause this error message too. Add them like this:

[PHP_PDO]
extension=php_pdo.dll
[PHP_PDO_MYSQL]
extension=php_pdo_mysql.dll

Remove the semicolon before ;extension=php_pdo_mysql.dll in php.ini and save. Don't forget restart xampp Apache and Mysql.

Check correct path in extension_dir in you phpinfo().

Had the same issue and just figured, website is running under MAMP's php, but when you call in command, it runs mac's(if no bash path modified). you will have issue when mac doesn't have those extensions.

run php -i to find out loaded extensions, and install those one you missed. or run '/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/bin/php artisan {your command}' to use MAMP's

Check if extension_dir in php configuration file set correctly. Try to comment/uncomment some extensions and see if it's reflected on phpinfo(). If it doesn't then either php config file cannot be loaded (wrong location) extension_dir is commented or set to the wrong location.

I had the same issue. The solution depends on OS. In my case, i have debian, so to solve it:

• Updated my php version from (php5 to php7)

• Install php-mysql and php7.0-mysql

  apt-get install php-mysql
  apt-get install php7.0-mysql
  

• I edited my php.ini locate at /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini

  uncomment the line : extension=php_pdo_mysql.dll
  

• Then restart apache:

  service apache2 restart
  

This solves my problem

If you read all answer above and it still does not work...

Make sure that your PHP PDO connection string is fine. Not like mine:

$dbh = new PDO('"mysql:host=' . DB_HOST . ';dbname=' . DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASS)

There is no information in error message what driver was not found.

After reinstalling all possible PDO and MySQL libraries I found out that there was " at start of my connection string.

sudo apt-get install php-mysql 

worked well on ubuntu and php 7

For newer versions of Ubuntu that have PHP 7.0 you can get the php-mysql package:

sudo apt-get install php-mysql

Then restart your server:

sudo service apache2 restart

for Windows 8.1/10 in :\\php.ini file you should uncomment line "extension=pdo_mysql"

Check if the module is available with php -m | grep pdo_mysql.

If not, for PHP 7.2, you can install relevant package with sudo apt install php7.2-mysql.

Use similar command on other PHP versions and package managers.

In my case (Windows XP + Apache2.2 + PHP 5.4.31) I changed PHPIniDir in the httpd.conf to get around this problem:

from:

"C:\php5\" 

to:

"C:/php5/"

Everywhere I go I read that the path of extension_dir should be changed from ext to an absolute path. It worked for me. However, when trying to build a server of my colleague's PC, I had to let the value to ext instead of putting an absolute path.

If you did put an absolute path and it does the extension is still not found, considerer trying both with the absolute path and ext.

I extremely recommend mysqllnd instead of mysql because of you would have a lot of problems like number converting and bit type evaluates problem with mysql extension.

on ubuntu install mysqllnd with following command:

sudo apt-get install php5-mysqlnd

In my case my DSN string was incorrect, specifically it did not contain mysql://. I would have expected a different error message, perhaps something like 'DSN string does not specify driver/protocol.'

Adding mysql:// to the beginning of the DSN string resolved the issue.

Did you check your php.ini (check for the correct location with phpinfo()) if MySQL and the driver is installed correctly?