You are a Web Developer using PHP and MySQL to develop your dynamic websites or a newbie in the world of dynamic web development, then you know how much important is a local web applications testing environment for you to develop and test your dynamic (php, mysql) web pages and applications.

Most web developers have their own dedicated web server’s or shared web hosting space to host their website’s, but most web developers don’t use their live web server to test their under development websites or web applications.

What Is A Local Web Testing Server?

A local web testing server is a ‘server’ that mimics your web server but can run on your local computer or shared network resource computer. The advantages to using it means that you no longer need to upload dynamic files to see how they work. Instead, you will be able to work on your website locally, including any testing to your databases, without ever affecting your live website.

In this article i want to show you how to set up a local web testing server on your windows pc in a few easy steps, as you know install and configure Apache MySQL and PHP separate packages not that easy for everyone, i have installed and tested few popular AMP (Apache MySQL PHP) packages myself and find XAMPP (Apache MySQL PHP Perl), XAMPP has many benefits why i am selecting this server is that it is high performance web server that can help you to speedup your web development, it works across all platforms including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris. and it comes with an optional installer which makes it easy to install.

How to Install XAMPP on Your Computer

First you need to download XAMPP package form Apache Friends website go to link click on “XAMPP for Windows” link (if you are using another operating system find proper package for your OS) scroll down the page find “Installer” link and click to download the package, Using the installer version is the easiest way to install XAMPP.

XAMPP Install

Now you’ve downloaded XAMPP Installer .exe file, double click to run the installer in destination folder choose appropriate folder and click next to begin the installation process, After the installation is complete, you will find XAMPP under Start > Programs > XAMPP. You can use the XAMPP Control Panel to manually start/stop all servers and also you can use all servers as windows services, by using server as services you don’t need to start servers when you restart your computer.

XAMPP Install

Start Up the Servers

Launch the XAMPP Control Panel under Start > Programs > XAMPP, Start the Apache web server, Start the MySQL database server.

XAMPP Control Panel

Now open your browser type “http://localhost” without quotes, you will see the default XAMPP settings page.
Congratulations you’ve installed XAMPP successfully on your local network computer.

Now it’s time to create or test your website on your local web server, go to server’s htdocs folder (under folder where you’ve installed server) create new folder name it test or as you like (without spaces) add your project’s files, open your browser type “http://localhost/test” without quotes, you will see the result, now you can develop, test, and prepare your dynamic websites without having to upload to your live server every time you make a change.

Hey if you’ve a question don’t hesitate to ask me, leave a comment i will happy to ans your questions.