Is there way to use two PHP versions in XAMPP

Question

We are running XAMPP with PHP 7 0 because our new products requires PHP 7   But there are old projects which use functions like mysql connect  etc  Those are removed in PHP 7 0   So  is there a way to easily change PHP versions in XAMPP      Note  Please don t suggest to upgrade old project to compatible with new versions because I am not in a position to do it because of that   decisions I can t get as a developer  just an employee

User · Answer

Maybe a bit late  but I am using a batch to rename the PHP folders  a slightly modified version of the phpswitch I found years ago     You copy the different folders into your XAMPP installation  Each PHP folder  except for the active one  receives the version number as a suffix  eg  php 5 6 32   In ALL PHP folders  a file  PHP VERSION  is created  which contains only the respective version number  so the Script can grab this information  But that s all described in the README    Since PHP7 the httpd-xampp conf loads the php7ts dll instead of the php5ts dll  So i had to extend the script  PHPSwitch php  to rename these config-files too by following the same approach        renameCur   new PHPSwitch Rename  currInst  path     this- gt  cfg  phpInstallationsPath      this- gt  cfg  phpDirName            currInst  version          renameNew   new PHPSwitch Rename  newInst  path     this- gt  cfg  phpInstallationsPath      this- gt  cfg  phpDirName           apache curent         this- gt  cfg  phpInstallationsPath    apache conf extra httpd-xampp conf        apache curent rename      this- gt  cfg  phpInstallationsPath    apache conf extra httpd-xampp    currInst  version     conf        apache new                this- gt  cfg  phpInstallationsPath    apache conf extra httpd-xampp    newInst  version     conf        apache new rename         this- gt  cfg  phpInstallationsPath    apache conf extra httpd-xampp conf         renameCur apache conf   new PHPSwitch Rename  apache curent   apache curent rename        renameNew apache conf   new PHPSwitch Rename  apache new   apache new rename         transaction   new PHPSwitch Rename Transaction         transaction- gt add  renameCur        transaction- gt add  renameNew        transaction- gt add  renameCur apache conf        transaction- gt add  renameNew apache conf

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I use Uniserver   It has this feature built in   http   www uniformserver com   It s that simple      The Uniform Server is a free lightweight WAMP server solution for Windows  Less than 24MB  modular design  includes the latest versions of Apache2  Perl5  PHP  switch between PHP53  PHP54  PHP55 or PHP56   MySQL5 or MariaDB5  phpMyAdmin or Adminer4  No installation required  No registry dust  Just unpack and fire up     It even runs off a flash drive   Has cron emulation  support for perl  mariaDB  a couple versions of Mysql  filezilla server and a few other things

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Why switch between PHP versions when you can use multiple PHP version at a same time with a single xampp installation  With a single xampp installation  you have 2 options    Run an older PHP version for only the directory of your old project  This will serve the purpose most of the time  you may have one or two old projects that you intend to run with older PHP version  Just configure xampp to run older PHP version only for those project directories   Run an older PHP version on a separate port of xampp  Sometimes you may be upgrading and old project to latest PHP version when you need to run the same project on new and older PHP version back and forth  Then you can set an older PHP version on a different port  say 8056  so when you go to http   localhost any project  xampp runs PHP 7 and when you go to http   localhost 8056 any project  xampp runs PHP 5 6   Run an older PHP version on a virtualhost  You can create a virtualhost like localhost56 to run PHP 5 6 while you can use PHP 7 on localhost     Lets set it up   Step 1  Download PHP So you have PHP 7 running under xampp  you want to add an older PHP version to it  say PHP 5 6  Download the nts  Non Thread Safe  version of PHP zip archive from php net  see archive for older versions  and extract the files under c  xampp php56  The thread safe version does not include php-cgi exe  Step 2  Configure php ini Open c  xampp php56 php ini file in notepad  If the file does not exist copy php ini-development to php ini and open it in notepad  Then uncomment the following line  extension dir    quot ext quot   Step 3  Configure apache Open xampp control panel  click config button for apache  and click Apache  httpd-xampp conf   A text file will open up put the following settings at the bottom of the file  ScriptAlias  php56  quot C  xampp php56 quot  Action application x-httpd-php56-cgi  php56 php-cgi exe  lt Directory  quot C  xampp php56 quot  gt      AllowOverride None     Options None     Require all denied      lt Files  quot php-cgi exe quot  gt          Require all granted      lt  Files gt   lt  Directory gt   Note  You can add more versions of PHP to your xampp installation following step 1 to 3 if you want  Step 4  option 1    Add Directories to run specific PHP version  Now you can set directories that will run in PHP 5 6  Just add the following at the bottom of the config file  httpd-xampp conf from Step 3  to set directories   lt Directory  quot C  xampp htdocs my old project1 quot  gt       lt FilesMatch  quot   php  quot  gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-php56-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  Directory gt    lt Directory  quot C  xampp htdocs my old project2 quot  gt       lt FilesMatch  quot   php  quot  gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-php56-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  Directory gt   Step 4  option 2    Run older PHP version on a separate port  Now to to set PHP v5 6 to port 8056 add the following code to the bottom of the config file  httpd-xampp conf from Step 3   Listen 8056  lt VirtualHost   8056 gt       lt FilesMatch  quot   php  quot  gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-php56-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  VirtualHost gt   Step 4  option 3    Run an older PHP version on a virtualhost  To create a virtualhost  localhost56  on a directory  htdocs56  to use PHP v5 6 on http   localhost56  create directory htdocs56 at your desired location and add localhost56 to your hosts file  see how   then add the following code to the bottom of the config file  httpd-xampp conf from Step 3    lt VirtualHost localhost56 80 gt      DocumentRoot  quot C  xampp htdocs56 quot      ServerName localhost56      lt Directory  quot C  xampp htdocs56 quot  gt          Require all granted          lt  Directory gt       lt FilesMatch  quot   php  quot  gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-php56-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  VirtualHost gt   Finish  Save and Restart Apache Save and close the config file  Restart apache from xampp control panel  If you went for option 2 you can see the additional port 8056  listed in your xampp control panel    Update for Error  malformed header from script  php-cgi exe   Bad header  If you encounter the above error  open httpd-xampp conf again and comment out the following line with a leading    hash character   SetEnv PHPRC  quot   path  to  xampp  php quot

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I do stuck with same problem at time of installing magento2 while it require  7 3 0 but I have 7 4 1  So  I downgraded php version using this method  Step 1  Download Php version from here nts version https   windows php net downloads releases archives  and paste this version to c  xampp  as named  php71  Step 2  Setup Virtual Host Environment and do some other changes  Go to  quot c  xampp  pache conf extra httpd-vhosts conf quot  and put code snippet at the end of line  lt VirtualHost 127 0 0 1 80 gt      DocumentRoot  quot C  xampp htdocs magento crashcourse  quot      ServerName magento2 test      lt Directory  quot C  xampp htdocs magento crashcourse  quot  gt          Require all granted          lt  Directory gt       lt FilesMatch  quot   php  quot  gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-php71-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  VirtualHost gt   GO to  quot C  Windows System32 drivers etc hosts quot  then edit the file with using admin privileges then add the code at end of line  127 0 0 1 magento2 test  Go to you Apache Config file  quot c  xampp apache conf extra httpd-xampp conf quot  and paste below code at end of the line ScriptAlias  php71  quot C  xampp php71 quot  Action application x-httpd-php71-cgi  php71 php-cgi exe  lt Directory  quot C  xampp php71 quot  gt      AllowOverride None     Options None     Require all denied      lt Files  quot php-cgi exe quot  gt          Require all granted      lt  Files gt      SetEnv PHPRC  quot C  xampp php71 quot   lt  Directory gt   Now  all set  Go to url  http   magento2 test all work fine

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I am working on a ten years old project at work  So 5 6 is my default  There are also older small projects which only works with 5 2 and I also want to work on new versions for my personal projects with 7 3 8  Here is what I did to add 5 2 and 7 3 8 on default 5 6 version    1 - Downloaded php TS versions      v7 3 8 latest    https   windows php net download   v5 2    https   www apachelounge com viewtopic php t 7349   2 - Extracted to c  xampp php738 and c  xampp php52 folder in order  3 - Added these lines to the bottom of httpd-xampp conf  or httpd conf         IMPORTANT NOTICE   You should NOT use script alias name as your target folder name  they must be different   for instance  php7x is ok    php7 is not   PHP 7 3 8 for folder D  www php7  ScriptAlias  php7x  C  xampp php738  Action application x-httpd-php7-cgi  php7x php-cgi exe  lt Directory  C  xampp php738  gt      AllowOverride None     Options None     Require all denied      lt Files  php-cgi exe  gt          Require all granted      lt  Files gt   lt  Directory gt    lt Directory  D  www php7  gt       lt FilesMatch    php   gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-php7-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  Directory gt    PHP 5 2 for folder D  www php52  ScriptAlias  phpold  C  xampp php52  Action application x-httpd-phpold-cgi  phpold php-cgi exe  lt Directory  C  xampp php52  gt      AllowOverride None     Options None     Require all denied      lt Files  php-cgi exe  gt          Require all granted      lt  Files gt   lt  Directory gt    lt Directory  D  www php52  gt       lt FilesMatch    php   gt          SetHandler application x-httpd-phpold-cgi      lt  FilesMatch gt   lt  Directory gt    Some helpful notes      If you have troubles with php5 x while using composer switch terminal to 7 3 8 If you want to make php 7 3 8 your default command line php interpreter on windows just change your windows environment path for php to the 7 3 8 folder path   Don t forget to edit your relevant php ini confs as you need in each version folder     And as a last bonus note   if you need to set a virtual host with any of versions you can use similar approach   A sample laravel vhost conf for php 7 3 8    lt VirtualHost   80 gt  ServerAdmin admin laravel local DocumentRoot  D  www vhosts laravel local public  ServerName  laravel local  lt FilesMatch    php   gt   SetHandler application x-httpd-php7-cgi   escape for default php version  SetHandler application x-httpd-phpold-cgi   unescape for php 5 2  lt  FilesMatch gt   ErrorLog  logs laravel local log  CustomLog  logs laravel local log  combined      Thanks to  Munim Munna for detailed answer  I wanted to share a solid sample with the important notice above

User · Answer

I just want to share my new finding  https   laragon org docs index html I just used it for 1 hour and it looks promising   You can add and switch PHP versions  it has one-click installers for Wordpress  laravel  etc it autocreates vhosts with the name of each app  eg  appname test  you can select your current htdocs folder as the root www folder you just add other PHP versions extracting them in folders and selecting them from a list it auto reload apache after each change adding phpMyAdmin is as easy as download it and put it in  LARAGON DIR  etc apps phpMyAdmin  etc     Laragon DOCS How to add another PHP version to Laragon How to add phpMyAdmin to Laragon  I m not affiliated in any way with Laragon  Just found it on Google looking for  quot XAMPP Windows alteratives quot

User · Answer

You don t need to waste your time with this configurations just use MAMP      MAMP have a PHP version selection feature on interface

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run this in Command Prompt windows  cmd exe    set PATH C  xampp php  PATH    change it depending where you put the php 7 installation

User · Answer

Use this php switcher  You can control php version to any your project you want via vhost config

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You can download and install two different xampps like I do   first is php7 second is php5    and if you don t want to do that  I suggest you use wamp and change versions like shown here

User · Answer

I know this is the old post but I want to share there is library for still running mysql connect   in PHP 7  It works by overriding the real function  mysql connect   is overridden by mysqli connect   which work on this library    I found from this video https   www youtube com watch v Eqd-jJu4sQ4  hopefully it helps

User · Answer

I would recommend using Docker  this allows you to split the environment into various components and mix and match the ones you want at any time   Docker will allow you to run one container with MySQL  another with PHP   As they are separate images you can have two containers  one PHP 5 another PHP 7  you start up which ever one you wish and port 80 can be mapped to both containers   https   hub docker com has a wide range of preconfigured images which you can install and run without much hassle     I ve also added portainer as an image  which allows you to manage the various aspects of your docker setup - from within a docker image  I did start this container on startup to save me having to use the command line    It doesn t do everything for you and sometimes it s easier to configure and launch the images for the first time from the command line  but once setup you can start and stop them through a web interface   It s also possible to run both containers at the same time and map separate ports to each   So port 80 can be mapped to PHP 5 and 81 to PHP 81  Or PHP 7 if your watching this in 2017    There are various tutorials on how to install Docker  https   docs docker com engine installation   and loads of other  how to  type things  Try http   www masterzendframework com docker-development-environment  for a development environment configuration

User · Answer

Unless it has to be absolutely and definitely XAMPP  you can try to get what you want with WAMP  WAMP is pretty much the same thing in different package   Once you have it installed  you can just switch between php versions here      You can install as many versions of PHP as you need   Here s how it is done in detail   Just go here  WAMP download  Then select your base server  e g  latest with php7   Then  when WAMP 3 is installed  go to folder  addons and select php version  or versions  you are after  They offer php flavors starting from php 5 3 29  which should work with mysql connect   To install addon  during installation  double click exe file  just point to folder where you have your WAMP 3 installed   Then you can use content of other folders  like  applications etc  to add more functionality  Everything s interfaced  so you can concentrate on coding and not hacking your environment

User · Answer

You can have two different versions of XAMPP    Download those files from https   www apachefriends org download html and install into a directory of your choice  for example in C  5 6 31 xampp and C  7 1 18 xampp  After every installation go to installed directory  ex  C  5 6 31 xampp  C  7 1 18 xampp  and start the  setup xampp bat  and you should see something like this  You can make shortcuts of  xampp-control exe  on your desktop  right click on  xampp-control exe  Send to -  Desktop  and rename shortcuts for ex   xampp 5 6 31  and  xampp 7 1 8   Start XAMPP control panel with double-click on  xampp-control exe  or previously created shortcut and start Apache and MySQL servers  To test installiation open your browser and type 127 0 0 1 or localhost in the location bar  You should see XAMPP start screen  Do not open more then one XAMPP control panel  XAMPP uninstall  Simply remove the  xampp  Directory  But before please shutdown the apache and mysql  That s all  You can use different php versions opening corresponding XAMPP control panel

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It s possible to have multiple versions of PHP set up with a single XAMPP installation  The instructions below are working for Windows    Install the latest XAMPP version for Windows  in my case it was with PHP 7 1  Make sure that Apache is not running from XAMPP Control Panel Rename the php directory in XAMPP install directory  such as C  xampp php become C  xampp php-7 1 11  Download the version of PHP you d like to run in addition  Eg  PHP 5 4 45  Move the php directory from the version you downloaded to XAMPP install directory  Rename it so it includes the PHP version  Such as C  xampp php-5 4 45    Now you need to edit XAMPP and Apache configuration     In C  xampp apache conf httpd conf  locate the XAMPP settings for PHP  you should change it to something such as     Where you have to comment  with    the other PHP versions so only one Include will be interpreted at the time    XAMPP settings PHP 7 Include  conf extra httpd-xampp conf 7 1    XAMPP settings PHP 5 4 45  Include  conf extra httpd-xampp conf 5 4 45     Now in C  xampp apache conf extra directory rename httpd-xampp conf to httpd-xampp conf 7 1 and add a new configuration file for httpd-xampp conf 5 4 45  In my case  I copied the conf file of another installation of XAMPP for php 5 5 as the syntax may be slightly different for each version  Edit httpd-xampp conf 5 4 45 and httpd-xampp conf 7 1 and replace there all the reference to the php directory with the new php-X X version  There are at least 10 changes to be made here for each file  You now need to edit php ini for the two versions  For example for php 7 1  edit C  xampp php-7 1 11 php ini where you will replace the path of the php directory for include path  browscap  error log  extension dir     And that s it  You can now start Apache from XAMPP Control Panel  And to switch from a version to another  you need only to edit C  xampp apache conf httpd conf and change the included PHP version before restarting Apache

User · Answer

This is probably the least technical answer to the question  but it s also the easiest to accomplish   If you have two drives such as C  and D  you can install a separate instance of XAMPP on both drives with different php versions  This took me less than 10 mins to do and is least error prone   I just create two desktop shortcuts to both xampp-control exe and name the shortcuts after their php version  I hope this helps someone like me that prefers a very quick and dirty solution

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Follow this easy steps  I am currently running XAMPP on PHP 7 2 but needs PHP 5 6 to work on old projects   STEP 1  Download Thread Safe version of PHP on https   windows php net download  Put files on your  Drive   xampp php5 6   Rename the folder depending on Php version   STEP 2  Copy  Drive   xampp apache conf extra httpd-xampp conf  Rename it to  Drive   xampp apache conf extra httpd-xampp5 6 confRename the file depending on Php version  STEP 3  Edit the newly created  httpd-xampp5 6 conf   basically you need to change All the PHP source and  dll  Before  LoadFile  C  xampp php php7ts dll  LoadFile  C  xampp php libpq dll  LoadModule php7 module  C  xampp php php7apache2 4 dll    After  LoadFile  C  xampp php5 6 php5ts dll  LoadFile  C  xampp php5 6 libpq dll  LoadModule php5 module  C  xampp php5 6 php5apache2 4 dll    Here is my file  https   gist github com mpalencia f8a20c31bffb02fe20d371218c23d1ec  STEP 4  Edit the file  Drive   xampp apache conf httpd conf   Before    XAMPP settings Include  conf extra httpd-xampp conf    After    XAMPP settings Include  conf extra httpd-xampp5 6 conf     You can just edit this line when switching to diffent version   STEP 5  Edit your PHP 5 6 configuration - php ini  Add you extension directory  extension dir    C  xampp php5 6 ext   STEP 6   Start Apache  STEP 7  Edit PHP environment variable path on Windows

User · Answer

Yes you can  I assume you have a xampp already installed  So    Close all xampp instances  Using task manager stop apache and mysqld  Then rename the xampp to xampp1 or something after xampp name  Now Download the other xampp version  Create a folder name xampp only  Install the downloaded xampp there  Now depending on the xampp version of your requirement  just rename the target folder to xampp only and other folder to different name    That s how I am working with multiple xampp installed

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You can download whatever versions of PHP you need and place them into their own directories  e g   c  php5   c  php7   All you need to do is tell your web server  Apache  which version of PHP to use  which you do by loading the appropriate module  In Apache you can do this by finding the file httpd conf and then editing the appropriate line   LoadModule php7 module c  php7 libphp7 so  You ll have to figure out the correct paths of course - this is just for illustration   Save httpd conf and restart your server  Note  if you don t restart it  the changes won t take effect   There s no GUI switch to be able to do this  you need to edit the  conf file and then restart Apache  Doing this only takes a couple of seconds and you could even comment out a version so  switching  only takes a couple of keystrokes  e g   Use PHP 5   LoadModule php5 module c  php5 libphp5 so  LoadModule php7 module c  php7 libphp7 so   Use PHP 7    LoadModule php5 module c  php5 libphp5 so LoadModule php7 module c  php7 libphp7 so   You do not need multiple versions of XAMPP  or to dual boot  or use a different machine  or any of the other  solutions  that have suggested convoluted workarounds  The OP wants to use XAMPP and tell it which version of PHP to use  This is the quickest and most efficient way of doing it  and only requires one XAMPP installation   Edit 1-Nov-2017  Apparently some people are saying there s no  so files on Windows  The answer I gave was adapted from how I have things set up on my Mac  which does use  so files instead of  dll   The principle of the answer however is still exactly correct  You are using Apache s configuration file  httpd conf to specify where the PHP module   so or  dll  is located on your system  So the only difference for Windows would be the file name and or path location  The answer I ve given is also correct for a vanilla installation of Apache PHP  without XAMPP at all

User · Answer

I needed to do the same thing  so I googled how and came to stack overflow  where the OP was having the same issue    So my findings   I tried renaming files from all different directions AND my conclusion was basically it s taking me too long  SOOOO I ended up just installing version 7 from here    https   www apachefriends org index html  kill services and quit out of xampp before attempting    When asked where to put the directory name it like so  give it a different name      and   DONEZO  Now just make sure to kill services and quit before swapping back and forth and you have 2 sterile XAMPP envs to play in    Hooray  now I can actually get to work

[php] Is there way to use two PHP versions in XAMPP?

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