To process dynamic web pages, you need an application server. An application server is software that helps a web server process web pages containing server-side scripts or tags. When such a page is requested by a browser, the web server hands the page off to the application server for processing before sending the page to the browser. For more information, see Understanding Web Applications.
Make sure the PHP application server is installed and running on the system running IIS. (IIS may be located on your hard disk or on a remote Windows computer.) You can download and install it from the PHP website at www.php.net/downloads.php.
With PHP 5, the extension that allows PHP to work with a MySQL database server is not installed or enabled by default by the Windows installer. You must install and enable it manually.
The zip package contains the extension you need to work with MySQL.
The ext folder contains common PHP extensions, including the MySQL extension.
You must edit this file to enable the MySQL extension.
extension_dir = "./"
This line specifies where PHP looks for extensions.
extension_dir = "C:\PHP\ext\"
Tip: Dont omit the final slash.
;extension=php_mysql.dll
The semicolon (;) at the start of the line tells PHP to ignore the line.
extension=php_mysql.dll
This file is required so that IIS can work with PHP 5 and MySQL.
For more information on enabling the MySQL extension, see the PHP website at www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php. For more information on the application server, see the PHP documentation, which you can download from the PHP website at www.php.net/download-docs.php.
After installing PHP, you can test the server to make sure it works properly. (See Testing the PHP installation (Windows).)