Nginx and PHP Setup on Windows

nginx-php-windows-setup.md

Nginx and PHP Setup on Windows

For local development you could also use Nginx with PHP as an replacement for XAMPP.

Install Nginx

• Download Nginx for Windows: http://nginx.org/en/download.html | Direct: nginx-1.19.7.zip
• Extract the ZIP file to c:\nginx
• Open the file c:/nginx/config/nginx.conf and replace the server { ... } section with this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;
    index index.php;
    error_log c:/nginx/logs/localhost.error.log;
    access_log c:/nginx/logs/localhost.access.log;
    root c:/nginx/html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri /index.php$is_args$args;
	}

    location ~ \.php {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME $fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9123;
    }
}

• Create a file c:/nginx/html/index.php and copy/paste this content:

<?php

phpinfo();

• To start the webserver run:
  • cd c:\nginx
  • start nginx
• Allow the windows firewall access
• Run the tasklist command-line utility to see nginx processes: tasklist /fi "imagename eq nginx.exe"

nginx runs as a standard console application (not a service), and it can be managed using the following commands:

• nginx -s stop fast shutdown
• nginx -s quit graceful shutdown
• nginx -s reload changing configuration, starting new worker processes with a new configuration, graceful shutdown of old worker processes
• nginx -s reopen re-opening log files
• taskkill /IM nginx.exe /F Close all nginx processes

Install PHP

• Download PHP for Windows Thread Safe x64: php-8.0.2-Win32-vs16-x64.zip
• Extract the ZIP file to: c:\nginx\php
• Make sure that the file C:\nginx\php\php-cgi.exe exists.
• Create a new file: c:\nginx\php\php.ini and copy/paste this content:

[PHP]
engine = On
short_open_tag = Off
implicit_flush = Off
zend.enable_gc = On
expose_php = Off
max_execution_time = 30
max_input_time = 60
memory_limit = 512M
error_reporting = E_ALL
display_errors = On
display_startup_errors = On
log_errors = On
variables_order = "GPCS"
request_order = "GP"
register_argc_argv = Off
auto_globals_jit = On
post_max_size = 8M
default_mimetype = "text/html"
default_charset = "UTF-8"
include_path = "."
extension_dir = "c:\nginx\php\ext"
enable_dl = Off
file_uploads = On
upload_max_filesize = 2M
max_file_uploads = 20
allow_url_fopen = On
allow_url_include = Off
default_socket_timeout = 60

extension=curl
extension=fileinfo
extension=gd2
extension=gettext
extension=intl
extension=mbstring
extension=mysqli
extension=openssl
extension=pdo
extension=pdo_mysql
extension=sqlite3

[Session]
session.save_handler = files
session.save_path = "c:\nginx\temp"
session.use_strict_mode = 0
session.use_cookies = 1
session.use_only_cookies = 1
session.name = PHPSESSID
session.auto_start = 0
session.cookie_lifetime = 0
session.cookie_path = /
session.cookie_domain =
session.cookie_httponly =
session.cookie_samesite =
session.serialize_handler = php
session.gc_probability = 1
session.gc_divisor = 1000
session.gc_maxlifetime = 1440
session.cache_limiter = nocache
session.cache_expire = 180
session.use_trans_sid = 0
session.sid_bits_per_character = 5

To start PHP with FastCGI run:

• cd c:\nginx\php
• php-cgi.exe -b 127.0.0.1:9123
• Open http://localhost
• You should see the phpinfo page.

XDebug Setup

• Follow these installation instructions: https://odan.github.io/2020/12/03/xampp-xdebug-setup-php8.html

Thanks! This was really useful for a quickstart. I ended up combining it with the Batch script from Nginx wiki resource. https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/examples/phpfastcgionwindows/

Then, I also created a shortcut for the Batch file to start it minimized.

Hello, thanks for the info. Can you please tell me what I should change if I want the PHP folder to be outside the NGINX folder (i.e in c:\php)

For anyone trying this currently, PHP 8.3 raised two issues when starting: a missing gd2 extension and a missing pdo extension. I fixed the gd2 extension issue by editing the php.ini file to change 'gd2' to 'gd', as said here:

In Windows, you'll include the GD DLL php_gd.dll as an extension in php.ini. Prior to PHP 8.0.0, the DLL was named php_gd2.dll.

I fixed the missing pdo extension by commenting out in the php.ini file the line "extension=pdo" for reasons stated here.

thank's

Hello, thanks for the info. Can you please tell me what I should change if I want the PHP folder to be outside the NGINX folder (i.e in c:\php)

I haven't change anything and it works PHP 8.3.7 & Nginx 1.26.1 separate folders on C:/

For anyone trying this currently, PHP 8.3 raised two issues when starting: a missing gd2 extension and a missing pdo extension. I fixed the gd2 extension issue by editing the php.ini file to change 'gd2' to 'gd', as said here:

In Windows, you'll include the GD DLL php_gd.dll as an extension in php.ini. Prior to PHP 8.0.0, the DLL was named php_gd2.dll.

I fixed the missing pdo extension by commenting out in the php.ini file the line "extension=pdo" for reasons stated here.

that works for me - thanks a lot

Hello, thanks for the info. Can you please tell me what I should change if I want the PHP folder to be outside the NGINX folder (i.e in c:\php)

The folder from which PHP is executed, whether it's from C:\php or C:\nginx\php, determines where you are running php-cgi.exe from. In this example, it is being run from the location C:\nginx\php\php-cgi.exe.

I use a PowerShell script to run FastCGI for multiple php versions (php-cgi.exe). This allows me to start one instance with PHP 8.0 and another, for example, with version 8.3. In nginx.conf, I then select the PHP version for the server by specifying the port in the fastcgi_pass parameter, such as fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9123

Write-Host "Running PHP 8.0" Start-Process -FilePath "C:\php-8.0\php-cgi.exe" -ArgumentList "-b 127.0.0.1:9123" -WindowStyle Hidden