Run IIS with PHP and MySQL on Windows Server

By Admin · Mar 15, 2026 · Updated Apr 24, 2026 · 368 views · 4 min read

Internet Information Services (IIS) with PHP and MySQL creates a powerful web hosting stack on Windows Server. This guide covers installing and configuring IIS, PHP via FastCGI, MySQL/MariaDB, and deploying PHP applications like WordPress on your Windows Server VPS.

Install IIS Web Server

# Install IIS with common features
Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server, Web-Common-Http, Web-Static-Content, `
    Web-Default-Doc, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Redirect, `
    Web-App-Dev, Web-CGI, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, `
    Web-Health, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Log-Libraries, Web-Request-Monitor, `
    Web-Security, Web-Filtering, Web-Basic-Auth, `
    Web-Performance, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Dyn-Compression, `
    Web-Mgmt-Tools, Web-Mgmt-Console `
    -IncludeManagementTools

# Verify IIS is running
Get-Service W3SVC
Start-Process "http://localhost"

Install PHP

# Download PHP for Windows (Non Thread Safe for IIS FastCGI)
$phpVersion = "8.3.14"
$phpUrl = "https://windows.php.net/downloads/releases/php-$phpVersion-nts-Win32-vs16-x64.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $phpUrl -OutFile "C:\temp\php.zip"

# Extract PHP
Expand-Archive "C:\temp\php.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\PHP" -Force

# Configure php.ini
Copy-Item "C:\PHP\php.ini-production" "C:\PHP\php.ini"

# Edit php.ini with common settings
$phpIni = Get-Content "C:\PHP\php.ini"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension_dir = ""ext""", "extension_dir = ""C:\PHP\ext"""
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=curl", "extension=curl"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=gd", "extension=gd"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=mbstring", "extension=mbstring"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=mysqli", "extension=mysqli"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=pdo_mysql", "extension=pdo_mysql"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=openssl", "extension=openssl"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=fileinfo", "extension=fileinfo"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";extension=intl", "extension=intl"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace "upload_max_filesize = 2M", "upload_max_filesize = 64M"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace "post_max_size = 8M", "post_max_size = 64M"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace "memory_limit = 128M", "memory_limit = 256M"
$phpIni = $phpIni -replace ";date.timezone =", "date.timezone = America/New_York"
$phpIni | Set-Content "C:\PHP\php.ini"

# Add PHP to system PATH
$path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "Machine")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$path;C:\PHP", "Machine")

# Verify PHP
C:\PHP\php.exe -v
C:\PHP\php.exe -m

Configure IIS FastCGI for PHP

# Register PHP with IIS via FastCGI
Import-Module WebAdministration

# Add FastCGI handler
Add-WebConfigurationProperty -PSPath "IIS:\" `
    -Filter "system.webServer/fastCgi" `
    -Name "." `
    -Value @{
        fullPath = "C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe"
        maxInstances = 10
        idleTimeout = 300
        activityTimeout = 600
        requestTimeout = 600
    }

# Add handler mapping
New-WebHandler -Name "PHP-FastCGI" `
    -Path "*.php" `
    -Verb "*" `
    -Modules "FastCgiModule" `
    -ScriptProcessor "C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe" `
    -ResourceType File

# Set default document
Add-WebConfigurationProperty -PSPath "IIS:\Sites\Default Web Site" `
    -Filter "system.webServer/defaultDocument/files" `
    -Name "." `
    -Value @{ value = "index.php" }

# Test with phpinfo
Set-Content "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\phpinfo.php" "<?php phpinfo(); ?>"

Install MySQL

# Download MySQL Installer
$mysqlUrl = "https://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-8.0/mysql-8.0.36-winx64.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $mysqlUrl -OutFile "C:\temp\mysql.zip"

# Extract
Expand-Archive "C:\temp\mysql.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\MySQL" -Force

# Initialize MySQL
C:\MySQL\bin\mysqld.exe --initialize-insecure --console
C:\MySQL\bin\mysqld.exe --install
Start-Service MySQL

# Set root password
C:\MySQL\bin\mysql.exe -u root -e "ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'SecureMySQL2026!';"

# Create application database
C:\MySQL\bin\mysql.exe -u root -p'SecureMySQL2026!' -e "
    CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
    CREATE USER 'wp_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'WpP@ss2026!';
    GRANT ALL ON wordpress.* TO 'wp_user'@'localhost';
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
"

Deploy WordPress

# Download WordPress
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://wordpress.org/latest.zip" -OutFile "C:\temp\wordpress.zip"
Expand-Archive "C:\temp\wordpress.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\inetpub\wwwroot" -Force

# Create IIS site
New-Website -Name "WordPress" `
    -PhysicalPath "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wordpress" `
    -HostHeader "www.example.com" `
    -Port 80

# Set folder permissions
icacls "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wordpress" /grant "IIS_IUSRS:(OI)(CI)M" /T

# Install URL Rewrite module for WordPress permalinks
# Download from: https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite

# Create web.config for WordPress
$webConfig = @'
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="WordPress" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url=".*" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>
'@
Set-Content "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wordpress\web.config" $webConfig

SSL Configuration

# Install win-acme for Let's Encrypt
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/win-acme/win-acme/releases/download/v2.2.9.1701/win-acme.v2.2.9.1701.x64.pluggable.zip" `
    -OutFile "C:\temp\win-acme.zip"
Expand-Archive "C:\temp\win-acme.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\win-acme"

# Request certificate
C:\win-acme\wacs.exe --target iis --siteid 2 --installation iis --emailaddress admin@example.com --accepttos

Best Practices

Use Non-Thread-Safe PHP with FastCGI on IIS for best performance
Enable OPcache in php.ini for significant PHP performance improvement
Set appropriate PHP process limits in FastCGI settings based on available RAM
Use URL Rewrite module for clean URLs in PHP applications
Configure request filtering to block malicious requests
Enable dynamic compression for PHP responses
Use win-acme for automatic Let's Encrypt SSL certificate management