Windows installation using XAMPP

XAMPP is a fully functional web server package. It is built to test web based programs on a personal
computer. It is not meant for online access via the web on a production server. This page describes
how to install the XAMPP webserver package of programs and how to install a Moodle standard
package on the server which was created.
TIP: These guidelines are intended for a Standard Moodle installation on a Windows PC for a
private or test Moodle installation, not a production (public) site or service. XAMPP-lite is
used to create a Complete install packages for Windows which has a different installation
process.

CONTENTS
[hide]

1 Overview

1.1 XAMPP

1.2 XAMPP using Bitnami to install Moodle

2 Preparation

2.1 Get Moodle

2.2 Get XAMPP

2.3 Allow yourself some time

3 Create XAMPP webserver

3.1 Installing XAMPP

3.2 Launch XAMPP

4 Option create the database

4.1 MySQL security

5 Prepare server for Moodle

5.1 Extract standard Moodle package files

5.2 Moodledata folder

6 Start of initial Moodle install

6.1 Go to moodle in web browser

6.2 Select language

6.3 Diagnostic report

6.4 Paths for Moodle installation

6.5 MySQL database settings

6.6 Server check

6.7 Moodle install confirmed

6.8 Moodle copyright & license

6.9 Now you can Moodle

7 Troubleshooting

7.1 Bitnami

7.2 Skype

7.3 Still having problems but do not have Skype installed, using Windows 10?

7.3.1 Moodle Networking does not work

7.3.2 Installs but will not load after creating admin

8 See also

Overview
Note: This page was updated showing an installation for XAMPP 1.7.1 but some older
screenshots were kept. It is now October 2015 and XAMPP's current version is 5.6.8 and
Moodle is 3.0 Windows is no longer supporting XP, Windows 10 is the desktop latest and
greatest.
This is a guide for installing XAMPP and Moodle on a computer. The instructions are in the
process of being updated. You may find the older instructions in previous versions of
MoodleDocs.

XAMPP

Download the latest version of XAMPP from Apachefriends.org

Install XAMPP - It will ask if you want to install it at C:\xampp

o

Alternatively, install in C:\xampp123 if you plan on installing more than one webserver

Use control.exe in the XAMPP folder to start and stop Apache and MySQL

Note the MySQL port.

If Apache will not start because of a port conflict

o

then use config button to change the http listening port to something like
127.0.0.1:181

Type localhost in your browser, or 127.0.0.1:181 (if you changed the port number)

You should get to localhost/xampp splash page, your localhost webserver is running.

Unpack the latest version of Moodle into the c:\xampp\htdoc folder.

o

Alternative rename the moodle folder if you plan on having different versions of
Moodle

For example rename it something like C:\xampp\htdocs\moodle31

In your web browser type in 127.0.0.1\moodle or 127.0.0.1:181\moodle31

You will need to know port number and the usual Moodle Installation initial questions.
o

Xampp uses the Mariadb database (based upon MySql), if the install says your
MySQL database is too old go to the c:\xampp\htdocs\moodlel\config.php file and
change the database line to $CFG->dbtype = 'mariadb';

If you have not changed the database password, The dbuser = 'root' and dbpass =;

The Moodle install process takes a long time. Be patient, even when things don't look like
anything is happening.

XAMPP using Bitnami to install Moodle

Download the latest version of XAMPP from Apachefriends.org

Install XAMPP

Use control.exe in XAMPP folder to start and stop Apache and MySQL

Note the MySQL port.

If Apache will not start because of a port conflict

o

then use config button to change the listening port to something like 127.0.0.1:181

Type localhost in your browser, or 127.0.0.1:181 (if you changed the port number)

You should get to localhost/xampp splash page.

Click on the Moodle icon to allow Bitnami to install the latest version of Moodle.

You will need to know port number and the usual Moodle Installation initial questions.

The Moodle install process takes a long time. Be patient, even when things don't look like
anything is happening.

What follows are old XP instructions which will not help much.

Preparation
Get Moodle
Download the standard version of Moodle you wish to install from Moodle.org Standard install
packages.
Alternative, once XAMPP is installed use the Moodle link and allow Bitnami to download a
current version and start the free install for you.

Get XAMPP
Go to apachefriends.org and download XAMPP for Windows. This example assumes that you
have downloaded the Installer package. There are several XAMPP packages to download.
Installer is about 1/2 the size of the same package as a zip file.

Allow yourself some time

Allow an hour or more to get to the Moodle Front Page on a new site. The time will depend upon
the speed of your computer, download connection and of course your familiarity with the
process.
TIP: On slower internet connections, download what you need into a folder for a later install.
The serious moodler might create a MoodleZip folder to put all their different Moodle related
zipfiles.

Create XAMPP webserver

Installing XAMPP

Run the installer, eventually you will be presented with an option about where to install the
package. A best practice is to give the xampp folder a name that is unique. For example in
C:\xampp568
Continue with the installation, this will take a while!
Eventually you will be presented with the option to install Apache, MySQL, Filezilla and
Mercury as a service.

Its probably best to choose No for now. You can always enable these as services later.

Next youll be asked if you want to start the XAMPP Control Panel. Say yes. You can find the
XAMPP-control.exe file in your XMAMPP folder. It is useful.

Launch XAMPP
There are several ways to start your webserver.

Server directory start/stop files

One way to start/stop: XAMPP control panel

1. On your Desktop, locate the shortcut XAMPP icon and double click to launch the Control
Panel.

o When the XAMPP Control Panel has launched, click the Start buttons for Apache
and MySQL (see below).
2. Alternatively, there are several start stop bat and exe files in the xampp folder. The
XAMPP-control.exe file takes the place of these.

If all is well you will see something like this.

If Apache fails to run i.e. the "Running" text with the green background keeps
disappearing) and you are using Skype or another program that uses port 80 e.g. IIS please review "Troubleshooting" at the end of these instructions.

Option create the database

In some older versions of Moodle, it was necessary to created the database before Moodle
could install the tables as part of the install process. In Moodle 3.x this is not necessary.
However, you can create the database before starting the Moodle install and then put that
database name when Moodle asks for it. While these instructions refer to MySQL, they also
work for MariaDB which is part of XAMPP.
To create a MySQL database for your Moodle site we will use the phpMyAdmin utility
included with XAMPP.

To access phpmyadmin launch the web browser of your choice, type

localhost/phpmyadmin or 127.0.0.1/xampp/ in the address bar.

If you have set a password you will be prompted for it.

When phpMy Admin has launched in your browser window, enter the name of your
database in the Create new database field. Usually this is simply moodle, but you
might say moodle310.

From the "Collation" drop down list select "utf8_unicode_ci"

Click the Create button to create the database.

You should see the database on the left with your "moodle MySQL database name without
files in it and/or a notice that it was created.

MySQL security
Security on a localhost may not be a big concern. The recent versions of XAMPP do not set
a password for root, the superuser. Go to the file C:\xampp\phpmyadmin\config.inc.php, edit
the line $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = ; For example to:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = 'password2016';

Prepare server for Moodle

You will need to extract the folders and files from the downloaded package and create the
moodledata folder (where images, course and user data/files will be located).

Extract standard Moodle package files

Locate the zip file of the standard install package you downloaded from Moodle.org. The
easiest method is to extract everything in the file to the htdocs folder that XAMPP just
created. Most Windows operating systems come with an program that will recognize a zip
file and ask you where you want to extract the files.

Extract the Moodle files to htdocs. A default folder named moodle is created with all
the Moodle folders and files within it. If you anticipate wanting to have different versions
of Moodle on this web server, change the name of the3 folder from moodle to say
"moodle31' and then the next one to say "moodle35", etc.

Moodledata folder
It is a good practice to manually create the moodledata folder. In an standard default install,
Moodle will look for it in the top most level of folders on your server, the same level as
htdocs, apache, and php folders. If you anticipate adding different versions of moodle on
your XAMPP server, give the moodledata folder a unique name.

For example: "C:\xampp\moodledata301" or "C:\xampp\moodledata350".

You may have to change the permissions of the folder in some operating systems. To do
this right click on the moodledata folder, select properties and the "Security" tab.

Another box will pop up. Select "Users" and give them "Modify" and "Write" permissions,
along with whatever existed already.

Start of initial Moodle install

You have now installed a webserver on your computer. Next you need to get Moodle to
install itself. You will use your favorite web browser to do this.
Other pages in MoodleDocs describe the install process. We will just cover the first few
screens.

Go to moodle in web browser

Browser address
In your web browser, type the path to the folder containing the Moodle files in te address
bar in this example its http://localhost/moodle.

Select language
The initial install page will ask you to choose your preferred language.

Select language

Click the Next button.

Diagnostic report
A diagnostic report is displayed hopefully every line has an "OK" in the status column.
If not you may need to address some issues. Clicking on the report link will give you
some hints to cure the problem. Generally speaking a line that has a "check" in the
status column will allow you to continue.

Click the Next button to continue.

Paths for Moodle installation

The paths for your Moodle installation are shown accept these or amend as desired.

Click the Next button to continue.

MySQL database settings

The interface on this screen changes over time. However, the database settings fields
are the same in 3.0. The fields are populated with some suggested values.

In this example the database created is moodle153. If you created a password for
root place it here. If you want the MySQL user admin to log into the moodle MySQL
database, place that user and the password here.

As a best practice, change the "mdl_" prefix to something else, perhaps "mdl_30_".

In later versions of Moodle you maybe asked for the database port number. Refer to
the XAMPP-Control.exe program main screen for that information. The default
maybe 3306.

TIP: You may want a separate database for each version of Moodle. UsephpMyAdmin to
create the database (remember should be UTF-8)with a name something like moodle30.
Then on this screen put the new database name.
TIP: DO NOT USE THE ROOT USER WITHOUT A PASSWORD FOR PRODUCTION
INSTALLATIONS AS THIS CREATES A SECURITY VULNERABILITY.

MySQL database settings screen

When you have added or edited information on the page, click the Next
button to continue.

TIP: This information is creating and can later be edited in the htdocs/moodle/config.php file.

Server check

Server check with minor issues

This screen will report any issues with your webserver settings. Typically
the CURL settings and OpenSLL settings in a new XAMPP install will
receive a mild or critical warning.
TIP: It is possible to open Windows Explorer and edit the php/php.ini file using a plain text
editor e.g. notepad at this point and then use the refresh button at the bottom of the server
check page once you have saved your changes. However, exiting the Moodle install at this
point is not the end of the world, all your settings up to this point have been saved.
Localhost\moodle will start the install again.

Moodle install confirmed

Moodle will tell you it has install the basics.

Confirmed

Click the Continue button to proceed.

Moodle copyright & license

The Moodle copyright / license notices are displayed.

Copyright & license

Click the Yes button to continue.

Now you can Moodle

You will be asked to create the admin user for your Moodle site. Then
as the admin Moodle user, you will be taken to the Front Page settings
to start to build your new site. Good job !

Troubleshooting
Bitnami

If you have previously created a Moodle install with

the Bitnami installer you may find that Apache will not start. This is
because Bitnami installs a service for Apache and MySQL. To
disable these go to Control Panel > Administrative tools > Service
to locate and disable these services.

Skype

If XAMPP does not work when you launch your browser and you
have Skype enabled it may be necessary to change the port
settings. You may also have issues with other programs and it
might be easier to change the port settings in XAMPP and Moodle.
Here is how to change them in Skype.

Locate "Options..." in Skype.

Locate the "Connection" options.

Remove the tick / check from the Checkbox.

Click the "Save" button.

You may need to re-start your computer for this to take effect.

Or you can quit your Skype session while you are working on
Moodle.

Still having problems but do not have Skype

installed, using Windows 10?

Check for another program which may be using port 80. IIS is
commonly found to be the culprit. You can put the service called
World Wide Web Publishing Service on manual. If you use MS's
Shared space, then do not fight city hall, leave it running.

You can change the port for you XAMPP webserver. The easiest way is
to use XAMPP-Control.exe, then click on the config button for Apache.
This will open up the httpd.conf file. Look for the Listen lines. A best
practice is to comment out (with a #) the current active line and type in
a new line. For example you might type Listen 127.0.0.1:181

Next you will need to go to the Moodle config.php file and change the
wwwroot location by adding the port to the address. For example:
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://127.0.0.1:181/moodle';
Don't forget to save the file and restart Apache.

Moodle Networking does not work

You may need to enable curl. Curl help which will tell you the line of
code in the php/php.ini file to change. Or find more instructions at this
link Enable curl in XAMPP on XP

Installs but will not load after creating admin

You install Moodle, your browser takes forever and then it tells you it
can not find the page. [Ken White gave excellent instructions here] in
2013 which also worked with on 3.0 install in 2015.
Have had to do this once on a stubborn server ...run this from
your browser
http://server/admin/purgecaches.php
and it that might work.
If not continued to physically removed the contents of:
/moodledata/cache/cachestore_file/default_application
which is what the purgecaches.php script was to do.
At that point, clear the browser cookies and cache (or open
another browser) and try it again.