How do I install PDO drivers for PHP on Windows?

Question

I installed Apache, PHP 5.6 and MySQL 5.7 on a Windows server.

In php.ini, I enabled the following:

extension=php_mysql.dll
extension=php_mysqli.dll
extension=php_oci8_12c.dll
extension=php_pdo_mysql.dll
extension=php_pdo_oci.dll

(And restarted Apache)

But when I try to use PDO in my php page, it still throws the error:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'PDOException' with message 'could not find driver'

What do I have to do to get PDO installed?

Answer 1

The problem was the extension_dir directive did not work as a relative path. Changing from extension_dir="ext" to extension_dir="c:/phpinstall_path/ext" fixed the problem.

Answer 2

In my apache httpd.conf I have (note I have # as remmed out because it took me 1 hour at least). So I left it to show me how not to do it.

#PHPIniDir 'c:\apps\php\'
#PHPIniDir "C:\Apache24\~PHP_download\php-5.6.11-Win32-VC11-x64\"
PHPIniDir "C:/Apache24/~PHP_download/php-5.6.11-Win32-VC11-x64"

#LoadModule php5_module "c:/apps/php/php5apache2_2.dll"
LoadModule php5_module "C:/Apache24/~PHP_download/php-5.6.11-Win32-VC11-x64/php5apache2_4.dll"

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php

In the above folder (and seen below) I have these files:

 Directory of C:\Apache24\~PHP_download\php-5.6.11-Win32-VC11-x64

07/24/2015  12:33 PM    <DIR>          .
07/24/2015  12:33 PM    <DIR>          ..
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            69,632 deplister.exe
07/24/2015  12:32 PM    <DIR>          dev
07/24/2015  12:32 PM    <DIR>          ext
07/24/2015  12:32 PM    <DIR>          extras
07/24/2015  12:32 PM         1,290,752 glib-2.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            16,384 gmodule-2.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM        25,337,856 icudt54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM         1,907,712 icuin54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            51,200 icuio54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           256,000 icule54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            50,176 iculx54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            63,488 icutest54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           195,072 icutu54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM         1,369,088 icuuc54.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            79,826 install.txt
07/24/2015  12:32 PM    <DIR>          lib
07/24/2015  12:32 PM         1,823,232 libeay32.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            46,592 libenchant.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           160,256 libpq.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           237,056 libsasl.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           201,728 libssh2.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM             3,286 license.txt
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           518,643 news.txt
07/24/2015  12:32 PM                43 phar.phar.bat
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            53,242 pharcommand.phar
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            58,368 php-cgi.exe
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            30,720 php-win.exe
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            77,824 php.exe
07/24/2015  12:32 PM             2,523 php.gif
08/29/2015  02:28 PM            74,572 php.ini
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            74,334 php.ini-development
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            74,365 php.ini-production
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            31,744 php5apache2_4.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           845,830 php5embed.lib
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           167,936 php5phpdbg.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM         8,269,312 php5ts.dll
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           180,224 phpdbg.exe
07/24/2015  12:32 PM            21,360 readme-redist-bins.txt
07/24/2015  12:32 PM             3,634 snapshot.txt
07/24/2015  12:32 PM           353,280 ssleay32.dll

And in that same folder, in the php.ini file I have the following block that are pdo-related, with the ones in force not remmed out with a ;

;extension=php_pdo_firebird.dll extension=php_pdo_mysql.dll ;extension=php_pdo_oci.dll extension=php_pdo_odbc.dll ;extension=php_pdo_pgsql.dll ;extension=php_pdo_sqlite.dll

then I have a phpinfo_xyz.php file for testing purposes only (read: delete it when you are done) that contains

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Restart apache, point to that file from a browser and notice the following blocks similar to the following three.

...

...

In the first PHP picture above from phpinfo(), it was the getting the path right in httpd.conf that took the longest. That is why I left in the wrong path attempts seen in this Answer.

So it wasn't until Loaded Configuration File showed up decent that it had a chance.

Good luck. It was not fun. Half the problem was there were like 2 or 4 options of which original download to perform. Sadly I think it took me 2 or 3 hours all together. But I am not as smart as the rest of you.