Installation with IIS for Windows

Installing IIS

Internet Information Services (IIS) is built in to Windows. On Windows Server, the IIS role can be added via the Server Manager. The CGI Role Feature needs to be included. On Windows Desktop, IIS has to be added via the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs. The Microsoft documentation has » detailed instructions for enabling IIS. For development, » IIS/Express can also be used.

Note: The Non-Thread Safe (NTS) version of PHP should be installed when using the FastCGI handler with IIS.

Configuring PHP with IIS

In IIS Manager, Install FastCGI module and add a handler mapping for .php to the path to php-cgi.exe (not php.exe)

The APPCMD command line tool can be used to script IIS configuration.

Example batch script

Example #1 Command line to configure IIS and PHP


@echo off

REM download .ZIP file of PHP build from http://windows.php.net/downloads/

REM path to directory into which PHP .ZIP file was decompressed (no trailing \)
set phppath=c:\php


REM Clear current PHP handlers
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd clear config /section:system.webServer/fastCGI
REM The following command will generate an error message if PHP is not installed. This can be ignored.
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/handlers /-[name='PHP_via_FastCGI']

REM Set up the PHP handler
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/fastCGI /+[fullPath='%phppath%\php-cgi.exe']
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/handlers /+[name='PHP_via_FastCGI',path='*.php',verb='*',modules='FastCgiModule',scriptProcessor='%phppath%\php-cgi.exe',resourceType='Unspecified']
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/handlers /accessPolicy:Read,Script

REM Configure FastCGI Variables
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi /[fullPath='%phppath%\php-cgi.exe'].instanceMaxRequests:10000
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi /+"[fullPath='%phppath%\php-cgi.exe'].environmentVariables.[name='PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS',value='10000']"
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi /+"[fullPath='%phppath%\php-cgi.exe'].environmentVariables.[name='PHPRC',value='%phppath%\php.ini']"