Win 11 install using Apache Lounge & PHP 8.5 -- almost there!

I'm a total newbie but want to test Grav to see if I can migrate away from Wordpress. I am running Win 11 and installed Apache Lounge to C:\Apache24 (added C:\Apache24\bin to Path) and PHP 8.5 to C:\PHP (added it to Path). I also installed a Microsoft redistributable that was required for Apache Lounge.

I renamed php.ini-development to php.ini, then I copied a Grav skeleton folder to C:\Apache24\htdocs.

When I start the httpd server and go to localhost/grav I see "Index of /grav" and a bunch of directories and files but am not sure where to go from here. Am I supposed to edit the php.ini file or something else to get access to the Grav admin page and begin my exploration? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

You're trying to glue several pieces together, while tools like Laragon install a complete working local development environment for you. See the docs Basics:Requirements:Webservers:Windows for a list of servers used on Windows.

Laragon seems to be very easy to use according other forum members. Others have struggled with XAMPP...

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately, with Laragon I find myself at exactly the same spot -- a page showing "Index of /grav". I also tried IIS and yeah -- the same thing. I'm not a developer, obviously, but this is way more complicated than setting up a Wordpress site, of which I can do in 10 seconds using the Local app. The Grav instructions say getting Grav up and running is "trivial". I guess I'm putting that to the test.

Grav was build with developers in mind and is therefor lean and mean and very performant. That comes with a price for non developers though... Eg. when a theme doesn't fit your needs, you'll soon find yourself editing Twig files using a code editor.

I cannot reproduce your issue using the following steps to install Laragon and Grav using skeleton "Quark Blog Site":

- Download Laragon
- Start installer
- Use default location
- Deselect "Run Laragon when Windows starts" and "Auto virtual hosts"
- Allow installer to start Laragon app
- Check "Apache" to start Apache
- Go to your skeleton zip, right click, extract all into folder C:/laragon/www
- Allow "Replace file in destination:" index.php
- Point browser to "http://localhost"
- Grav shows problem page. You're missing PHP ZIP extension
- Go to Laragon app
- Open menu -> PHP -> Extensions -> check zip
- Refresh browser and Admin2 will ask for a new administrator account

Hi and thanks for helping out! I'm away from home and don't have access to my Windows machine, I only have my laptop that runs Fedora.

I'm pretty sure I did exactly what you suggested. However, I remember that every time I tried to enable the PHP zip extension nothing would happen after refreshing the page (zip extension remained unchecked).

I'm pretty sure I did exactly what you suggested. However, I remember that every time I tried to enable the PHP zip extension nothing would happen after refreshing the page (zip extension remained unchecked).

I would have appreciated it if you had shared this in your first post. It would have saved me from testing the Laragon installation and Grav installation and the write up... Writing what one has tried is one of the sections mentioned in The art of asking great questions..

Remember, we're all volunteers sharing our knowledge and sparse free time...

In my original post I mentioned as much info as I could remember, but forgot to mention the PHP zip extension. My bad 😔

I managed to host it on my Fedora laptop by installing Lerd.

https://lerd.sh/

I was able to quickly install two test sites, a Grav + Admin Panel site and Skeleton site (Oxygen theme). However, when I go to the Skeleton site I do not see a way to log in & access the admin panel. The Grav instructions say the Oxygen skeleton includes the Admin Panel, and all I need to do is append the URL with /admin, but it does not work (404 page not found error), and I don't see anything in the sitemap. Any ideas?

Apparently, the Oxygen skeleton does not come with the Admin plugin. Also, the skeleton comes with Grav 1.7.49.5 and not Grav 2.x

• Contact the owner of the theme/skeleton on Github and ask for an upgrade.
• In the meantime, install only theme Oxygen in a running fresh Grav2 installation.
• Copy demo pages (and maybe other files) over from the skeleton's zip.

@motorambler said:

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately, with Laragon I find myself at exactly the same spot -- a page showing "Index of /grav". I also tried IIS and yeah -- the same thing. I'm not a developer, obviously, but this is way more complicated than setting up a Wordpress site, of which I can do in 10 seconds using the Local app. The Grav instructions say getting Grav up and running is "trivial". I guess I'm putting that to the test.

This sounds like the web server software is not configured to recognize index files other than .htm, .html, and so it is ignoring the index.php needed to start loading GRAV, so it thinks there is no starting file, causing it to just display the folder contents.

Of course, this could also be happening if PHP is not loaded and running.

I'm no expert, for sure, but I've run into this issue with other local hosting apps like XAMPP, etc.

Laragon was the first local host setup I've seen that made it extremely easy to create a new virtual host WITH SSL cert working. No .conf editing or cert creation needed. Just click, type a folder name, and click again, and it's ready to rock and roll. The license nag is a bit annoying. Guess I need to purchase a license. I do think it is well worth the fee they are asking.