How to Install phpMyAdmin on Your Windows PC

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: February 5, 2024 Fact Checked

This wikiHow teaches you how to install the phpMyAdmin program on your Windows computer. You can use phpMyAdmin to control a MySQL server from within a web browser, but to do so you must first have a MySQL server set up on your computer. You can also use a free program called WAMP to automatically install phpMyAdmin on your server.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using an Existing Apache Server

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Apache, PHP, and MySQL must all be installed and configured on your computer before you can install phpMyAdmin in this way.
Go to https://www.phpmyadmin.net/ in your browser.^{[1]
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Click Download. It's a green button in the upper-right side of the page. The phpMyAdmin ZIP folder will begin downloading onto your computer.
- You'll also see the version number next to Download (e.g., for the June 2023 version of phpMyAdmin, you'd click Download 5.2.1).
This will return you to the phpMyAdmin webpage.
Double-click the downloaded phpMyAdmin ZIP folder to do so.
Click the regular phpMyAdmin folder in the ZIP folder's window, then press Ctrl+C.
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Go to your Apache host folder. This is typically a folder named "htdocs" inside of the "Apache" folder, which should be located in the "C:" folder on your hard drive.
- The Apache host folder usually has a text document named "index.php" or something similar.
- The fastest way to get to this folder is by clicking This PC on the left side of the window, double-clicking the Apache folder, and double-clicking the htdocs (or similar) folder.
Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied phpMyAdmin folder into the Apache host folder.
Click the phpMyAdmin folder, click Home, click Rename in the toolbar, type phpmyadmin into the folder's name field, and press ↵ Enter.
This folder is located in the "C:" folder along with the "Apache" folder. Once you find the PHP folder, double-click it to open it.
You'll change this file's name to php.ini.^{[2]
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It will open in your default text editor (e.g., Notepad), though you may first have to select Notepad from a list and click OK.
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Find the "extension=php_mbstring.dll" line of text and remove the semicolon. You'll see the semicolon to the left of this line of text.
- You can press Ctrl+F to bring up a "Find" window where you can enter this line of text to go to it.
Once you've done this, your phpMyAdmin server is good to go.
Press Ctrl+S to save, then click the X in the top-right corner of the Notepad window to exit Notepad.
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Run your Apache server. Open Command Prompt in Administrator mode by right-clicking Start
, clicking Command Prompt (Admin), and clicking Yes when prompted, then do the following:^{[3]
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- Type in cd /Apache24/bin and press ↵ Enter (replace "Apache24" with your Apache folder's name).
- Type in httpd -k restart and press ↵ Enter.
Open a web browser, then type http://localhost into the address bar and press ↵ Enter. This should take you to the phpMyAdmin login page.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using WAMP

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WAMP allows you to interact with an existing server on your computer, but won't create a server in and of itself.
Check your computer's bit number. You'll need to know this in order to determine the version of WAMP that you can download.
Go to https://www.wampserver.com/en/ in your web browser.
The number that you choose here will depend on your computer's bit number. Clicking either option will prompt a pop-up window.^{[4]
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It's in the upper-right side of the pop-up window. Doing so takes you to a Source Forge page from which you can download your version of WAMP.
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Click Download. This green button is near the top of the page. WAMP will begin downloading onto your computer.
- The download will take several minutes to complete.
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Install WAMP. Double-click the downloaded WAMP setup file, then do the following:
- Click Yes when prompted.
- Select a language and click OK
- Check "I accept the agreement" and click Next
- Click Next three times.
- Click Install
This will take a few minutes.
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Choose a browser when prompted. Click Yes, then go to your preferred browser's EXE file, click it, and click Open.^{[5]
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- For example: to select Chrome, you would find and click on the Google folder on the left side of File Explorer, then double-click the Chrome folder and select the Chrome icon.
- If you would prefer just to use Internet Explorer, click No instead.
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Select a different text editor if needed. If you don't want to use Notepad as your server's text editor, click Yes when prompted, then find the EXE file for the text editor that you want to use, select it, and click Open.
- Click No if you want to keep Notepad as the default text editor.
Click Next, then click Finish on the final WAMP window. WAMP is now installed on your computer.
Double-click the pink "Wampserver" icon on your desktop, then click Yes when prompted. This will prompt your server to start running.
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Click the WAMP icon in the system tray. On the far-right side of the Windows toolbar, you should see an orange or green WAMP icon. Clicking this will prompt a pop-up menu.
- You may first have to click the upward-facing arrow in the toolbar to see the WAMP icon.
It should be near the top of the pop-up menu. As long as your server is properly installed, doing so will open the phpMyAdmin login page in your preferred browser.

Community Q&A

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What do I do if I type localhost/phpmyadmin/, and it says "localhost refused to connect"?

Community Answer

There is error in the database connection. Try to solve that first. Check your connection code and try again. Also check whether the localhost ID is correct.

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How can I install and use this?

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Go to the phpMyAdmin website and download it from there. You will need a server.

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Tips

If you've set up a web server using a service other than Apache, you might be able to install phpMyAdmin by copying the phpMyAdmin folder into the service's root folder. The folder used will vary widely from service to service.

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Warnings

phpMyAdmin is not set to run directly on a computer that doesn't have other server-related services (e.g., Apache) installed.

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