How to Install Composer and PHP on Windows 10

How to Install Composer and PHP on Windows 10

Last updated on | 83 replies

In this guide we will install Composer and PHP on Windows 10 so that we can install dependencies for our web apps directly from Windows command line.

1. Download and Install Visual C++

In order to run PHP on Windows 10, you will need to install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio. You can download it from the Windows Download page or click the direct link below.

Once downloaded, run the installer and click Install.

Install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015

2. Download and Extract PHP

Go to the Windows PHP download page and download the .zip of the version of PHP you require. In this guide, we are installing PHP 7.4 VC15 x64 Non Thread Safe, which is the latest version as of writing (Jan 2020).

Once downloaded, create a new folder in c:\php7 (or wherever you prefer) and extract your PHP zip to it.

PHP7 for Windows extracted

3. Download and Install Composer

In the second step of Composer Setup, make sure the correct path to php.exe is set and click Next.

Installing Composer PHP Windows 10

If Setup prompts to create php.ini, allow it and click Next.

Skip the Proxy URL settings, just click Next then click Install.

Click Finish once install is complete.

4. Test PHP

If you have any Command Prompt windows currently open, close them now.

Open Command Prompt, type php -v and press Enter. You should now see the PHP version.

Windows 10 PHP 7 in Command Prompt

If it returns a PHP version, you can skip to Step 6 to test Composer.

If you get an error “‘php’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.”, you may need to Add a Path Environment Variable.

5. Add Path Environment Variable

Composer setup usually does this for you, but if for whatever reason it didn’t, you can set one up manually.

So that you don’t have to type the whole path to php.exe every time you run a PHP command, you should add c:\php7 as a path environment variable.

Open System Properties by clicking the start menu and typing sysdm.cpl and press Enter.

Windows 10 view advanced system settings

In System Properties, click Environment Variables.

Windows 10 System Properties

In System Variables, click Path and then click Edit.

Click New, type the path to your PHP folder (c:\php7) and click OK.

Add new path environment variable Windows 10

Close the System Properties dialogue by clicking OK.

6. Test Composer

Open up Command Prompt and type composer -V (that’s uppercase V).

If all was installed correctly, you should see a version number.

Composer in Windows 10 command prompt

Hurrah! You can now run Composer and PHP on Windows 10.

Let me know if this helped. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, or 🍊 buy me a smoothie.

83 replies

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  10. Thank you very much for this blog. It is very user friendly and very important for the beginners.

    Reply

  17. Where then does things like laravel come in haven’t heard you mentioning any of them

    the tutorial was fine

    Reply

  29. When I want to create a project, it gives me:
    $ composer install
    Composer could not find the config file: C:composer;C:UsersAngelAppDataRoamingComposervendorbin;c:UsersSYSTEMAppDataRoamingComposervendorbin;
    To initialize a project, please create a composer.json file as described in the https://getcomposer.org/ “Getting Started” section

    What could it be?

    Reply

  30. Really glad I found this…would have been able to stumble through on my own but am happy I didn’t have to. 🙂 Thank you!

    Reply

  36. Thank you so much
    I am a newbie to composer i am grateful for your input and tutorial. it was really helpful
    God Bless you.

    Reply

  37. while installing composer , an error is coming

    The "https://getcomposer.org/versions" file could not be downloaded: failed to open stream: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions.

    plz help me out from this situation…

    Reply

    1. Sounds like a Windows issue with permissions or firewall or something.

      Did you run the install as Administrator?

      Reply

    2. I dug for this answer for many hours without success.
      Finally I disabled my Bitdefender firewall, and was able to install Composer.

      Reply

  38. i don’t know how i should be thanking you right now, this is amazing, im gonna turn off the adblock and run the page again just to give something back

    Reply

  40. bro when i typed php -v it showed me the version of php but when i try to check about composer nothing happend not an error nothing after typping command composer -v and press enter it just go on next line

    Reply

  46. Thanks a ton!
    Pretty detailed tutorial. I don’t know anything PHP related … yet it worked for me 🙂

    Reply

  47. Thank you for the guide, but I have a problem, when I execute: “php -v” this open result in other cmd window and close inmediately, and when I install composer, I get this message:

    “Your PHP is very old (1.0.0) and must be upgraded to a recent version.”

    php in command line works, but always open a new cmd window.

    php version tested: 7.3 and 7.4
    windows version: windows 10 (1909)

    Can you help me?

    Reply

    1. Have you tried opening CMD in administrator mode before running the commands? Is this the first time you’ve installed PHP on Windows 10?

      Reply

      1. Yes, in administrator mode I get the same result, I have used php 7.2 in window 7 without any problem, but it is the first time that I use php in windows 10.

        Reply

          1. With your help I could see that when I install php in: “D:\php7” get the error, but works fine in: “C:\php7”, searching I found that my folder: “D:\php7” did not had write permissions, I solved my problem by changing the permissions to: read and write. Thank you very much.

  48. You can skip the 3. Add Path Environment Variable step altogether, because Composer-Setup will do this for you. You just need select the PHP version you want to use, as shown in 4. Download and Install Composer

    Note that this will always offer the PHP version found in your Path.

    Reply

  50. The Composer installer script was not successful [exit code 1].
    Script Output:
    The “https://getcomposer.org/versions” file could not be downloaded: failed to open stream: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions.

    This error will occured when I run composer setup file. Any solution for this???

    Reply

  59. please i need a help
    C:\php7>composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
    Using version ^1.10 for phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
    ./composer.json has been created
    Loading composer repositories with package information
    Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
    Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.

    Problem 1
    – phpoffice/phpspreadsheet 1.10.1 requires ext-gd * -> the requested PHP extension gd is missing from your system.
    – phpoffice/phpspreadsheet 1.10.0 requires ext-gd * -> the requested PHP extension gd is missing from your system.
    – Installation request for phpoffice/phpspreadsheet ^1.10 -> satisfiable by phpoffice/phpspreadsheet[1.10.0, 1.10.1].

    To enable extensions, verify that they are enabled in your .ini files:
    – C:\php7\php.ini
    You can also run php --ini inside terminal to see which files are used by PHP in CLI mode.

    Installation failed, deleting ./composer.json.

    Reply

    1. Yes, open C:\php7\php.in in text editor and remove the semicolon before the extensions your require.

      ;extension=gd2

      Reply