Getting XAMPP to work with multiple version of PHP

Please note
This answer is not valid for new version of XAMPP.

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First, you'll need to stop Apache from XAMPP. Then,

Go go cmd and switch to your XAMPP folder. For example, if your XAMPP folder is in C:\

C:\>cd C:\XAMPP 

In this folder is a file named php-switch.bat, run from the command line. If not, you can also run php-switch.bat directly.

You'll see the version you are now on, and procedure to switch. For example, type 4 to switch PHP 4 then follow the procedure.

PHP 4 will install in your XAMPP\PHP directory and successfully switch. then re-enable the Apache.

The best method is to change the PHP settings in

/apache/conf/extra/httpd-xampp.conf

to reflect the new version of PHP you want to use

In my case I unpacked PHP5.4 to C:\XAMPPLITE\PHP5.4 and then updated key lines in this file such as:

SetEnv PHPRC "C:\\xampplite\\php5.4"

LoadFile "C:/xampplite/php5.4/php5ts.dll"

PHPINIDir "C:/xampplite/php5.4"

You also need to ensure that the correct version of php5apache2_2.dll is installed

To ensure this I copied the new version of php5apache2_2.dll to the Apache modules directory with a unique name, and then modified the configuration to match that:

copy php5.4\php5apache2_2.dll apache\modules\php5apache2_2-5_4.dll

and in the httpd-xampp.conf file

LoadModule php5_module modules/php5apache2_2-5_4.dll