1. Download PHP

From the official PHP Windows downloads, download:

PHP 8.4 → VS17 x64 Thread Safe

Extract it to:

D:\php84

You should have:

D:\php84\php.exe
D:\php84\ext\
D:\php84\php.ini-development
D:\php84\php.ini-production

2. Install Visual C++ Redistributable

PHP's Windows builds require the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable.

Install the x64 Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015–2022 from Microsoft.

3. Create php.ini

Copy:

Copy-Item D:\php84\php.ini-development D:\php84\php.ini

Now you have:

D:\php84\php.ini

4. Configure PHP extensions

Open:

notepad D:\php84\php.ini

Find:

;extension_dir = "./"

Make sure you have:

extension_dir = "ext"

Then enable the extensions Laravel/Composer commonly needs.

Find these:

;extension=curl
;extension=fileinfo
;extension=mbstring
;extension=openssl
;extension=pdo_mysql
;extension=mysqli

Change them to:

extension=curl
extension=fileinfo
extension=mbstring
extension=openssl
extension=pdo_mysql
extension=mysqli

Also useful for Laravel:

extension=intl
extension=zip

So enable:

extension=intl
extension=zip

Your important extensions are therefore:

extension=curl
extension=fileinfo
extension=mbstring
extension=openssl
extension=pdo_mysql
extension=mysqli
extension=intl
extension=zip

5. Add PHP to Windows PATH

Open:

Start → Edit the system environment variables → Environment Variables

Find Path.

Add:

D:\php84

If you already have other PHP versions:

D:\php83
C:\php85
D:\php84

put:

D:\php84

above the other PHP directories.

For example:

D:\php84
D:\php83
C:\php85
C:\Users\ADMK-Solutions\.config\herd-lite\bin

Windows uses the first matching php.exe it finds.

6. Restart your terminal

This is important.

Close PowerShell/CMD completely.

Open a new PowerShell.

Run:

where.exe php

You want:

D:\php84\php.exe

to be the first result.

Then:

php -v

You should see:

PHP 8.4.x

7. Check which php.ini PHP is using

Run:

php --ini

You want:

Loaded Configuration File: D:\php84\php.ini

If it says (none), your php.ini isn't configured correctly.

8. Check PHP extensions

Run:

php -m

Or check the important ones together:

php -m | Select-String "curl|fileinfo|mbstring|openssl|pdo_mysql|mysqli|intl|zip"

You should see something similar to:

curl
fileinfo
intl
mbstring
mysqli
openssl
pdo_mysql
zip

This step is very important.

For example, your earlier Composer error:

requires ext-fileinfo

happened because:

;extension=fileinfo

was still commented out.

And your migration error:

could not find driver

happened because:

;extension=pdo_mysql

wasn't enabled.

9. Check Composer

If Composer is already installed:

composer --version

Then:

composer diagnose

Composer should now be using your PHP 8.4 installation.

You can check:

composer about

10. Go to your Laravel project

cd D:\afzaal\restaurant-sass

Check PHP:

php -v

Then install dependencies:

composer install

Don't run composer update unless you specifically need to update dependencies.

composer install uses your existing composer.lock.

11. Create .env

If .env doesn't exist:

Copy-Item .env.example .env

Then:

php artisan key:generate

You should get:

Application key set successfully.

12. Configure MySQL

Since you're not using Docker, your MySQL must be running directly on Windows.

For example, if using XAMPP:

XAMPP
 ├── Apache
 └── MySQL 

Start MySQL.

Then your .env might look like:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=restaurant_sass
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

If your MySQL root user has a password:

DB_PASSWORD=your_password

13. Create the database

You need a database called:

restaurant_sass

You can create it through:

• phpMyAdmin

• MySQL command line

• MySQL Workbench

For example, SQL:

CREATE DATABASE restaurant_sass;

14. Test MySQL connection

Check whether MySQL is listening on port 3306:

Test-NetConnection 127.0.0.1 -Port 3306

You want:

TcpTestSucceeded : True

If you get:

False

your MySQL server isn't running or isn't using port 3306.

15. Clear Laravel configuration

After changing .env:

php artisan config:clear

You can also run:

php artisan cache:clear

16. Run migrations

Now:

php artisan migrate

If everything is configured correctly:

INFO  Preparing database.

INFO  Running migrations.

17. Install Node dependencies

Your Laravel React/Inertia application also needs Node.

Check:

node -v
npm -v

Then from your project:

npm install

18. Start the application

For development, you can use your project's Composer script:

composer run dev

Or run Laravel and Vite separately:

Terminal 1:

php artisan serve

Terminal 2:

npm run dev

Laravel will normally be available at:

http://127.0.0.1:8000

Your complete flow

When installing a new PHP version, remember this order:

1. Download PHP
       ↓
2. Extract PHP
       ↓
3. Install Visual C++ Redistributable
       ↓
4. Create php.ini
       ↓
5. Set extension_dir
       ↓
6. Enable PHP extensions
       ↓
7. Add PHP to Windows PATH
       ↓
8. Restart terminal
       ↓
9. php -v
       ↓
10. php --ini
       ↓
11. php -m
       ↓
12. composer --version
       ↓
13. cd Laravel-project
       ↓
14. composer install
       ↓
15. Copy .env.example → .env
       ↓
16. php artisan key:generate
       ↓
17. Start MySQL
       ↓
18. Configure .env
       ↓
19. php artisan config:clear
       ↓
20. php artisan migrate
       ↓
21. npm install
       ↓
22. composer run dev

For your particular machine

You currently have multiple PHP installations, so your main thing to watch is:

where.exe php

The first result determines which PHP your terminal uses.

For this Laravel project, make sure it is:

D:\php84\php.exe

Then make sure:

php --ini

shows:

D:\php84\php.ini

and:

php -m | Select-String "openssl|fileinfo|pdo_mysql"

shows all three.

That three-part check will prevent the exact Composer and MySQL errors you just encountered.