set up a local web development environment on Windows 11

Here’s how to set up a local web development environment on Windows 11:

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Option A: Use Laragon (Recommended for Windows)

The easiest approach. Laragon bundles Nginx, PHP, MySQL, and Composer in one installer.

1. Download from laragon.org
2. Run the installer → choose Full version
3. Start Laragon → click Start All
4. Everything runs automatically — Nginx, MySQL, PHP, and Composer are ready

✅ Auto virtual hosts, easy PHP version switching, no manual config needed.

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Option B: Manual Installation

1. PHP

• Download from windows.php.net/download → get the Thread Safe ZIP (x64)
• Extract to C:\php
• Add C:\php to your System Environment PATH
• Copy php.ini-development → rename to php.ini
• Open php.ini and uncomment these extensions: extension=curlextension=mbstringextension=opensslextension=pdo_mysqlextension=fileinfo

2. Nginx

• Download from nginx.org/en/download.html → Stable version ZIP
• Extract to C:\nginx
• Start it: open CMD in C:\nginx and run nginx.exe
• Test at http://localhost

3. MySQL

• Download MySQL Installer from dev.mysql.com/downloads/installer
• Run installer → choose Developer Default or Server Only
• Follow setup wizard, set a root password
• Optionally install MySQL Workbench for a GUI

4. Composer

• Download installer from getcomposer.org/download
• Run Composer-Setup.exe → it auto-detects PHP
• Verify: open a new CMD and run composer --version

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Connecting Nginx to PHP (Manual setup only)

Edit C:\nginx\conf\nginx.conf — find the PHP location block and update it:

location ~ \.php$ {
    root           C:/nginx/html;
    fastcgi_pass   127.0.0.1:9000;
    fastcgi_index  index.php;
    fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_name;
    include        fastcgi_params;
}

Then start PHP-FPM in a separate CMD window:

php-cgi -b 127.0.0.1:9000

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Verify Everything Works

php --version        # PHP version
nginx -v             # Nginx version
mysql --version      # MySQL version
composer --version   # Composer version

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💡 Recommendation

If you’re building a Laravel or WordPress app, go with Laragon — it saves hours of config and handles virtual hosts automatically. Manual setup is better if you need precise control over versions or server config.