How to Install Magento 2 on Windows 10 & 11 (Using XAMPP)

Installing Magento 2 on Windows is an ideal way for local development and creating a safe environment for testing.

This blog shows you how to install Magento 2 on Windows 10/11 using XAMPP. 

Steps for Installing Magento 2 on Windows 

Before you start installing, here is a table with all the needed software for Magento 2 installation on Windows. 

Step 1: Install XAMPP

• Go to the Apache Friends > download the XAMPP installer for Windows. Make sure the version includes PHP 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3.
• Run the installer and follow the setup prompts.
• Install XAMPP to the default location (C:\xampp).
• Once installed, open the XAMPP Control Panel.
• Start the Apache and MySQL services.

Step 2: Install Composer

• Go to the getcomposer.org page > download the Windows Installer (Composer-Setup.exe).
• Run the installer.
• Complete the setup and add it to the correct path is: C:\xampp\php\php.exe.
• Complete the rest of the installation steps.

Step 3: Install & Run Elasticsearch (Mandatory)

Magento 2.4+ will not install without a search engine. 

• Go to Elasticsearch & Download the Windows ZIP file for the latest 7.x version.
• Unzip the folder to a simple location, like C:\elasticsearch.
• Go into the bin folder (C:\elasticsearch\bin) and double-click the elasticsearch.bat file.
• A new command window will open and run the server. You must leave this window open the entire time you are working on your Magento store.

Step 4: Configure PHP 

• Open XAMPP Control Panel and select PHP(php.ini).
• Remove the semicolon (;) from the beginning of each one to enable them:
  • extension=intl
  • extension=soap
  • extension=xsl
  • extension=sockets
  • extension=zip
  • extension=gd
• Save and close the php.ini file.
• Stop and then Start the Apache service for the changes to take effect.

Step 5: Create Your Database

• Open your browser and go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/.
• Click on the “Databases.” Under “Create database,” enter a name and click “Create”.

Step 6: Download Magento 2 (via Composer)

1. Open the XAMPP Control Panel and click the “Shell” button. This opens a command prompt in the correct location.
2. Navigate to your htdocs folder, which is the root directory for all web projects. Type: cd htdocs

Run the Composer create-project command to download Magento. (This may take 10-15 minutes).

composer create-project --repository=[https://repo.magento.com/](https://repo.magento.com/) magento/project-community-edition=2.4.7-8 magento2

3. Go to the Magento Marketplace, log in (or create an account), go to “My Profile” > “Access Keys,” and generate a new key pair. Use the Public Key as your username and the Private Key as your password.

Step 7: Run the Magento Install Command

After Composer finishes, all the files will be in C:\xampp\htdocs\magento2. In the same XAMPP Shell, navigate into your new project folder: cd magento2

Now, run the single setup:install command to tell Magento how to set up your store.
Copy this full command, paste it into your shell, and press Enter:

php bin/magento setup:install --base-url="[http://127.0.0.1/magento2/](http://127.0.0.1/magento2/)" --db-host="localhost" --db-name="magento2" --db-user="root" --db-password="" --admin-firstname="admin" --admin-lastname="admin" --admin-email="[email protected]" --admin-user="admin" --admin-password="AdminPassword123" --language="en_US" --currency="USD" --timezone="America/New_York" --use-rewrites="1" --backend-frontname="admin" --search-engine="elasticsearch7" --elasticsearch-host="localhost" --elasticsearch-port="9200"

Post-Install Fixes & Troubleshooting

Admin Panel gives a 404 “Not Found” Error

Symptom: The storefront at http://127.0.0.1/magento2/ works, but the admin panel at http://127.0.0.1/magento2/admin gives you a 404 error page.

Cause: This is the most common issue with XAMPP. It happens because Apache’s URL “rewrites” (the mod_rewrite module) are not configured to work with Magento’s directory structure out of the box.

The Solution (The “Pub” Directory Fix): This is the exact solution you had in your original article. It’s a well-known workaround for XAMPP.

• Go to your C:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\pub\ folder.
• Copy the index.php and .htaccess files.
• Paste them into your root folder: C:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\ (and overwrite if asked).
• Open the new index.php file (the one in the root folder) in a text editor.
• Find this line: require __DIR__ . ‘/../app/bootstrap.php’;
• Change it by removing the ../: require __DIR__ . ‘/app/bootstrap.php’;
• Save the file.
• Go to phpMyAdmin , select your magento2 database, and click the SQL tab. Run this SQL query to update the database paths:

SQL
INSERT INTO core_config_data (path, value) 
VALUES 
('web/secure/base_static_url', 'http://127.0.0.1/magento2/pub/static/'),
('web/unsecure/base_static_url', 'http://127.0.0.1/magento2/pub/static/'),
('web/secure/base_media_url', 'http://127.0.0.1/magento2/pub/media/'),
('web/unsecure/base_media_url', 'http://127.0.0.1/magento2/pub/media/')
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE value = VALUES(value);

Finally, run a cache flush from your command line: php bin/magento cache:flush

Admin Panel is a Blank White Page

Symptom: You go to the admin URL, and the browser loads a completely blank white screen. No error, no text.

Cause: This is a specific, known bug when running Magento on Windows. A file validator in Magento’s code has an issue with the Windows-style file paths (which use a backslash \ instead of a forward-slash /).

The Solution (Edit Validator.php):

• Navigate to the file: C:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\vendor\magento\framework\View\Element\Template\File\Validator.php
• Open this file in your text editor.
• Find the isPathInDirectories function (around line 114).
• Find this line of code inside the function: $realPath = $this->fileDriver->getRealPath($path);
• Replace that one line with this code, which adds a str_replace: $realPath = str_replace(‘\\’, ‘/’, $this->fileDriver->getRealPath($path));
• Save the file and refresh your admin page. It should now load.

The Entire Site is Extremely Slow

Symptom: Every single page load, on both the admin and the storefront, takes 10-30 seconds.

Cause: This is often a Windows networking issue where “localhost” is resolved very slowly. Using “127.0.0.1” (the direct IP address for your local machine) is almost always faster.

The Solution (Change Base URL to 127.0.0.1):

• Go to phpMyAdmin (http://localhost/phpmyadmin/) and open your magento2 database.
• Find the core_config_data table and click “Browse.”
• Find the rows for web/unsecure/base_url and web/secure/base_url.
• Change their value from http://localhost/magento2/ to http://127.0.0.1/magento2/.
• Run a cache flush from your command line: php bin/magento cache:flush
• Now, access your site using http://127.0.0.1/magento2/ in your browser. You should feel a significant speed improvement.

Now, try this solution and install Magento 2 on Windows. If this process overwhelms you, our Magento 2 developer can manage this task for you with complete ease.