Configuring Xdebug with XAMPP for NetBeans and Eclipse, Windows 7 and Win XP

UPDATE: Since XAMPP 1.7.2 + PHP 5.3 the things get much easier. Here is the quote from NetBeans web site, and it works! With this XAMPP version the only php.ini is located in \php

Xdebug on XAMPP 1.7.2 (PHP 5.3)

XAMPP 1.7.2 comes bundled with the appropriate Xdebug .dll file. You only have to configure php.ini to use it. Note that all Xdebug settings have text explaining them.

1. Locate and open XAMPP_HOME\php\php.ini for editing. This is the only php.ini file in XAMPP 1.7.2.
2. Find and uncomment the line zend_extension = "XAMPP_HOME\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll".
3. Find and uncomment the line xdebug.remote_host=localhost. Change the value of the setting from localhost to 127.0.0.1.
4. Find and uncomment the line xdebug.remote_enable = 0. Change 0 to 1.
5. Find and uncomment the line xdebug.remote_handler = "dbgp".
6. Find and uncomment the line xdebug.remote_port = 9000.
7. Save php.ini.
8. Restart the Apache server.

============ For old XAMP 1.7.0 ==================================
Installing NetBeans was easy. The more difficult part was configuring and making the PHP debugger work.
I have XAMPP installation on my Win XP and NetBeans uses Xdebug (http://www.xdebug.org), so I assumed it will be quite easy to configure all the stuff. Well, it was not that easy just because there is a missing link in NetBeans docs speaking about Xdebug config with XAMPP.

For XAMPP you should work with [xamp-dir]/php/php.ini. In fact there is another php.ini in /apache/bin - do not worry aboput it, it is just a shortcut to the first one.

First, make sure that anything in Zend section in your php.ini is commented out:

[Zend]
;zend_extension_ts = "C:\xampp\php\zendOptimizer\lib\ZendExtensionManager.dll"
;zend_extension_manager.optimizer_ts = "C:\xampp\php\zendOptimizer\lib\Optimizer"
;zend_optimizer.enable_loader = 0
;zend_optimizer.optimization_level=15
;zend_optimizer.license_path =
; Local Variables:
; tab-width: 4
; End:


Next, (IMPORTANT!) find the line
extension=php_xdebug.dll

and comment it out, so it becomes to be
;extension=php_xdebug.dll

That's seems strange and illogical, but trust me you must do it to get the things work. This is missed from most posts / threads RE Xdebug / Xampp, only few of them mention it.

Next, edit Xdebug section of your php.ini to look like:

XDebug]
;; Only Zend OR (!) XDebug
zend_extension_ts="C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll"

xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_host=127.0.0.1
xdebug.remote_portjavascript:void(0)=9000
xdebug.remote_mode=req
xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp
xdebug.profiler_enable=1
xdebug.profiler_output_dir="C:\xampp\tmp"

Now, restart Apache and point your browser to a PHP file with phpinfo().
You should see that xdebug appears twice in your phpinfo():
- once near the Zend Engine 2 logo, with text similar to

This program makes use of the Zend Scripting Language Engine:
Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2007 Zend Technologies
with Xdebug v2.0.4, Copyright (c) 2002-2008, by Derick Rethans

- and the second time much lower at that page, with the tables showing something like:

xdebug
xdebug support enabled
Version 2.0.4

Supported protocols Revision
DBGp - Common DeBuGger Protocol $Revision: 1.125.2.6 $
GDB - GNU Debugger protocol $Revision: 1.87 $
PHP3 - PHP 3 Debugger protocol $Revision: 1.22 $


If you do not see either of this appearances your configuration is incorrect!
Also, if you see the table with "Xdebug support" text, but there is a text saying "XDEBUG IS NOT INSTALLED AS ZEND EXTENSION" your configuration should be fixed.

Now, if you are done with that, go to Xdebug web and pick one of the latest Xdebug dlls. Put it in your [xampp-dir]/php/ext folder and change in php.ini the line

zend_extension_ts="C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll"
to point to the new dll, i.e.
zend_extension_ts="C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug-2.0.4-5.2.8.dll"

"_ts" means thread safe, so you need a thread-safe dll version from Xdebug web.
Note that NOT all thread safe version found there will work with XAMPP. I am not sure why, but from the latest release only php_xdebug-2.0.4-5.2.8.dll works as it is expected, others e.g. php_xdebug-2.0.3-5.3.0.dll or php_xdebug-2.0.4-5.3.0-vc9.dll just does not worked for me, showing "XDEBUG IS NOT INSTALLED AS ZEND EXTENSION" or just disappearing from the phpinfo() at all.

Now save php.ini, restart Apache and verify that you see Xdebug info in two locations in phpinfo(), like it is explained above. If you got it working, both NetBeans and Eclipse PDT will be able to work with Xdebug now

Apache with Virtual Hosts on Windows XP / XAMPP

I wanted my Apache / XAMPP to serve 3 different PHP projects / folders and my WinXP machine development machine.
I did following to allow that:

1. Add VirtualHosts - one for every root and add 'NameVirtualHost" directive. It is typically located in "extra\httpd-vhosts.confd" file. If you have your XAMPP in "C:\xampp", the path will be "C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.confd"

== httpd-vhosts.confd ===

NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1


DocumentRoot "D:/xxx/yyy/zzz/prj1"
ServerName prj1



DocumentRoot "D:/xxx/yy/zzz/prj2"
ServerName prj2



DocumentRoot "D:/xxx/ttt/www/prj3"
ServerName prj3



2. Go to htppd.conf ( "C:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf" in your XAMPP installation) and
verify that you hvae access permissions for every document root folder for prj1,2,3. Otherwwise
you end up with "Access Frobidden!" page.

=== httpd.conf ====


Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all


## The same "" definition should repeat for folder of prj2 and prj3


3. Go to Windows hosts file ("C\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" or similar) and add there new virtual hosts prj1,2,3, so you
can access them just by http://prj1 in your browser

=== hosts ===

127.0.0.1 prj1
127.0.0.1 prj2
127.0.0.1 prj3

4. Restart Apache and pint your browser to "prj1". You should be done now

CURL configuratiion on WinXP and XAMPP

In order to configure CURL on Win/XAMPP it is enough to uncomment just one line in php.ini which points to curl dll. It is also recommended to verify the extension path.
There are multiple php.ini with XAMPP1
Run phpinfo() to see which one is loaded. In my case it was "C:\xampp\apache\bin\php.ini" - there the change should be done.

Restart Apache when you have saved the php.ini changes. In some cases you might need to reboot to get Apache running again.

Installing Apache/XAMPP on a Win XP (Home Edition) machine

I installed XAMPP and Apache did not start, saying that port 80 is used by some other application. I went to /apache/conf/httppd.conf and changed there 80 to 8080, then Apache showed me the same error message for the port 443 (SSL). I changed 443 to 4433 and Apache started OK now, with http:8080 and HTTPS: 4433. It worked but is was quite inconvenient.

Also, I was not sure how easy it will be to configure other applications using these ports, e.g. Eclipse. Even XAMPP management UI did not show Apache configuration while Apache runs on 8080 (definitely it is configurable somewhere in XAMPP too...)

I run 'netstat' in a cmd window, but it showed me nothing - according to 'netstat' nobody uses 80 and 443 on my machine. So after some Internet search I found that actually Skype uses these two ports as an alternative way to receive messages Look in Skype at Tools->Options->Advanced Settings->Connections. There is a check button "Use ports 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections". If checked (default), Skype will use 80 and 443 ports!

I unchecked the button and changed back ports in Apache .conf files and Apache runs OK now.