After Installing PHP 5 using the Windows installer on Windows 2003 you may find that IIS displays a “Page Not Found” 404 error for every .php page. This is a perplexing error because is it not actually a real 404 error. The file is really there, but IIS is unable to process it based on how the installer configures the extension mapping. Instead of providing any useful information or even a 500 error; however, IIS throws out a 404.

Steps to Fix the Problem:

Before you troubleshoot further, you may want to read #4 about how the Application Pool effects PHP configuration changes.

1. Replace the old DOS format path to the PHP Executable with a full path w/ quotes
2. Move php.ini to C:\Windows
3. Edit php.ini to set cgi.force_redirect = 0 (possibly not necessary)
4. Recycle the Application Pool

1. Replace the old DOS Path Format

The default path to PHP is C:\Program Files\PHP. When creating the IIS extention mapping, the PHP Installer uses the old DOS format path to the PHP ISAPI or CGI executable such as “C:\PROGRA~1\PHP\PHP5IS~1.DLL”. IIS does not seem to like this format. To fix the problem, go to the IIS Extension Mapping screen and locate the value for “.php” (See screenshot above). Click the browse button, select the executable and put quotes around it the entire path. So the value for this field should look like this “C:\Program Files\PHP\php5isapi.dll” (WITH the quotes around it). If you have installed PHP in CGI mode instead, the file name would be php-cgi.exe instead of php5isapi.dll

While you’re at it you may want to check the box for “Verify that file exists” as well. This allows IIS to handle actual missing pages (ie broken links) and return a 404. Otherwise IIS will just pass the request to PHP without verifying the .php file really exists and PHP throws a CGI error when the file isn’t found. People seem to have inconsistent results with this setting.

If you recycle the app pool at this point (see step #4) you *may* solve the 404 error depending on what extensions you installed or whether you had re-run the installer and changed stuff. However, you may still have issues changing php.ini settings in which case keep reading.

2. Copy php.ini to C:\Windows

The PHP installer creates a php.ini file for you based on your selections in the setup process. However the installer saves the file in C:\Program Files\PHP. The problem is that PHP is looking in C:\Windows for the .ini file. So, you need to move the file php.ini to C:\Windows. This may be confusing because PHP seems to run fine. But if you look closely at the phpinfo() output, you may find that php.ini file is not being loaded and all default settings are being used.

One of the critical things when configuring PHP is to actually edit the .ini file that is being used by PHP. The installer creates a worthless file in a location that PHP won’t read and so you may waste a lot of time editing this file. PHP pretty much universally will check the Windows folder for php.ini on all varieties of Windows, so my advice is to use that location and delete any other php.ini files that are hanging around..

3. Set cgi.force_redirect = 0 (Optional..?)

Some people report that you need to edit php.in, un-comment the cgi.force_redirect parameter and change the value like so:

cgi.force_redirect = 0

I have not found this to make any difference, but your mileage may vary. Obviously make sure #2 is straight first and that you are editing php.ini in the correct location so that your changes take effect.

4. Recycle the Application Pool

In order for any PHP configuration changes to take effect in Windows 2003, you need to recycle the Application Pool. If you have made changes to php.ini and they don’t seem to take effect, this is likely the reason. Among other things, the pool caches PHP settings and you need to clear it before new configuration settings will take effect. You’ll read people telling you to restart IIS (which doesn’t recycle the app pool) or even reboot your machine (which is overkill). You don’t need to do either of those. Just right-click on the DefaultAppPool in the IIS management interface and “Recycle” is one of the options.

If I’m having trouble with the ini file, I like to have a typical phpinfo.php file on the server while I make some arbitrary change to the php.ini file (like the session timeout or the max upload size). I refresh phpinfo.php and verify that my changes are taking effect. You can also check the Windows Event logs under “System” which will sometimes report errors in the php.ini file.

Notes regarding re-running the PHP installer to make changes:

The PHP installer does not really handle changes all that well. For one thing it will overwrite the path to the PHP executable w/ the old DOS format so you need to fix that after you run it.

The 2nd thing is that it will write changes to C:\Program Files\PHP\php.ini - regardless of the fact that PHP is actually looking at C:\Windows\php.ini

If you had previously moved php.ini to the windows folder, when you run the Change installation feature, it will create a fresh php.ini file that only incorporates the most recent changes. (ie, if you had 10 extensions enabled and you make a change to enable 1 more, your new php.ini file will only have the 1 enabled and the previous 10 will no longer be enabled)

One way around this is to temporarily move C:\Windows\php.ini file to C:\Program Files\PHP. Then run in installer to make changes. The installer will write changes to php.ini in that location. Then, move php.ini back to C:\Windows.

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This applies to Windows Server 2003. This error can occur when you have .NET 1.0 and .NET 2.0 applications running on the same server.

This particular error can occur when you haven’t selected .NET 2.0. in the application settings.

Windows 2003 Uses Application Pools which can only support one version of the .NET framework at a time. If you are running both 2.0 and 1.0 applications on the same 2003 server then you have to create at least two application pools - one for each version of the framework. All of your 1.0 apps should be configured to use one pool and the 2.0 apps will use the other. The pool itself isn’t configured to specify which version it will support, but the app that starts first will “grab” the pool and lock it down to whatever version of the framework that particular app uses.  So if you have a 1.0 and 2.0 in the same pool, it will be a race between the two apps to see which can grab the pool first.  The winner will run fine and the loser will crash.  When IIS restarts, the race starts again.

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Installing Perl Modules on MS Windows Servers (the Easy Way)

This article explains a bit about the process of installing Perl modules and why the typical instructions found in a module’s ReadMe file do not work on Windows servers. If you want to skip all of the details and just get to the installation part, skip to Option 1

Before you begin: In order to install modules, you have to have access to the DOS prompt on the server. If you don’t have access to the DOS prompt (or you don’t understand what this means) then you will probably have to ask your system administrator to install the modules for you.
The Problem:

Do these lines look familiar to you:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

Of course, you’ve seen them in the ReadMe file for a Perl modules that you want to install on your Windows server. However, when you get to line 2 and try to “make” the module, you get a “Bad command or filename” error. (If your Windows PATH is not set right, you might not even get past line one!) You look a little deeper into the ReadMe and see that, oh yes, for Windows machines you might have to say “nmake” or “dmake” instead. Still, the results are the same - or you get a bunch of errors. Why is this? Well, the authors of Perl mods often don’t use Windows at all, so they don’t really bother to tell you some important details. In fact, they secretly want you to install Linux instead, so they purposely make it tough on you!

Important Detail:

The ReadMe file mentions the command “make” as if it will just magically work. However, “make” is not a standard DOS command. (It’s actually not even a standard UNIX command) It is a utility program that comes with a C compiler. Although you can get C compilers from a number of places, Windows does not come with one pre-installed. So, you can type “make” until your fingers get blisters, but it won’t do you any good.

Hey, I thought I was programming in Perl - why do I need a C compiler, you ask? Good question. The first reason is that this is simply a familiar way for UNIX admins to install software, even though there may not even be any code to compile. The second reason is that some Perl modules make system calls or other low-level stuff that is not available using pure Perl code. So, they write a some of the code in C to go along with the Perl module. You may already know that C code needs to be compiled into binary form for each specific operating system. It’s not possible for the module author to provide pre-compiled versions for every operating system known to man. So, they just give you the C source code instead and let you compile it yourself for your own particular system. This is no big deal for most UNIX admins because, as I mentioned, this is a familiar way to install software. In fact, UNIX comes with a C compiler all set up and ready to use.

For Windows administrators though, this procedure is probably unfamiliar. Windows software typically comes pre-compiled, so there is no need to compile it. Windows doesn’t even have a C compiler built-in, so you have to buy or download one on your own. It is possible that you are a Windows NT guru and have set up umpteen gigantic corporate networks without ever once compiling a single program.

The good news, holmes, is that you have 4 (count ‘em, 4) options for installing modules on windows. The bad news is that there is no garauntee that any of them will work! Some modules were programmed on UNIX machines and never tested on Windows. They may not even compile correctly on Windows at all without code modification. Hopefully this is not the case for your module, but be prepared to either just accept it, or get really involved in porting that module to Windows!

Option 1

Option 1 is to download nmake.exe from Microsoft, run the executable (which will extract 3 files) and save these 3 files in your Windows directory. Next, download UNIX Utilities for Windows and extract all the files. Locate tar.exe, gunzip.exe and gzip.exe and copy them to your Windows directory as well.

Now your machine is ready to do some mod installing! At this point you should be able to follow the regular Perl module installation instructions, except where it says “make” you type “nmake” instead. Cross your fingers and hope that the module installs properly!! If it does, you’re all set. If not, move on to Option 2 and hope for the best…

Option 2

Option 2 is to use the MCPAN feature that is built into Perl. To do that, you need to have already done Option 1, because MCPAN still requires nmake to be installed on your machine. so, at the command line, you type:

perl -MCPAN -e "YOUR::MODNAME"

(substitute “YOUR::MODNAME” with the name of the mod you’re installing, of course) The first time you run this utility, it will ask if you are ready to continue with the manual configuration. Unless you know your networking stuff pretty well, i’d just hit No at this point and let Perl auto-configure it for you. After that it will attempt to load the module from CPAN and install it. It will look for required modules and try to install those for you as well.

Option 3

Option 3 is actually easier than Option 1 and 2, but only if you have installed ActiveState Perl ( http://www.activestate.com/ ). ActiveState Perl is a nice Windows port and it includes a utility called PPM which is used to install modules. The modules that PPM supports have been compiled for windows and uploaded to the ActiveState module repository. (Note: If you installed Indigo Perl, they created a browser based interface for installing modules which is really nice - check the docs for that). For this step, you do NOT need to have done Option 1 because PPM used pre-compiled modules - you don’t have to compile them yourself. That is one nice feature if Option 2 is crashing during the compilation process.

To use PPM, just go to the DOS command line and type “PPM” (without the quotes). You will be at the PPM command promt. (I should mention that you need to be connected to to the Internet at this point).

At the PPM promt, enter “install YOUR::MODNAME” - you will be prompted if you want to continue. At that point, PPM will connect to ActiveState and see if the module you requested is available in a pre-compiled form. If it is, it will install the module and you are all done! PPM is especially nice because it will even install other required modules for you.

If you get an error message that the module was not found, then it’s not available from ActiveState. You’re once again out of luck. Try Option 1 and 2 if you did not already. Otherwise move to Option 4.

Option 4

Option 4 is a kind of last resort that may not really work. Basically, some modules force you to go about all the MakeFile business, but in reality it is merely one or more .pm files. If this is the case, you can often just copy the .pm file(s) to your C:\Perl\Lib or C:\Perl\Site\Lib directory. Make sure you maintain the directory structure, for example Crypt::RC4 would be saved in C:\Perl\Site\Lib\Crypt\RC4.pm. So you might have to create some sub-directories to maintain the structure.

That’s It!

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