A step by step guide on installing Apache with PHP

Windows

A simple way to run Apache and PHP on Windows is by installing a bundled package such as XAMPP. Download XAMPP from the official website and run the installer. During setup, ensure Apache and PHP are selected. After installation, open the XAMPP Control Panel and start the Apache service. Open a browser and go to http://localhost to confirm the Apache server is running. To test PHP, create a file named info.php inside the htdocs directory with the following code:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Navigate to http://localhost/info.php. If the PHP configuration page appears, Apache and PHP are correctly installed and working together.

Ubuntu

On Ubuntu, install Apache directly from the package manager. First update the package list:

sudo apt update

Then install Apache:

sudo apt install apache2

After installation, start the service with sudo systemctl start apache2. Open a browser and visit http://localhost to see the Apache default page. Next install PHP and the Apache PHP module:

sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php

Restart Apache using sudo systemctl restart apache2. Create a PHP test file inside the web root directory:

sudo nano /var/www/html/info.php

Add the phpinfo script and save the file. When you open http://localhost/info.php in your browser and see the PHP configuration page, the Apache–PHP environment is working correctly.