PHP.ini in subdirectory causes HTTP 400

walkerstevenj

Hi All,

I'm currently working with a new hosting company using Windows IIS running PHP 4.3.6. I am trying to customize the php.ini local to my web domain only. I have downloaded the recommended PHP 4-style php-dist.ini, renamed it to 'php.ini' and put it in the root of my web directory. However, any browser request returns an HTTP 400 error. I've gone through the settings thoroughly and don't understand what could be causing this to break.

Is there some special step I'm missing? I don't have access to the default php.ini in WINNT, but I made sure to get the critical info (include paths, etc) by running phpinfo() first and set the variables the same in my ini file.

Anybody have an idea what's wrong? Thanks in advance,

Walker

MarkR

php.ini will be ignored if it is anywhere except the place where PHP looks for it. This will typically either be in PHP's directory, or Windows directory. Not your directory.

Have you tried running PHP scripts without having a php.ini file anywhere in your web space? Do they still return 400?

If you're using IIS, I THINK the only way to configure PHP on a per-directory basis is via the registry. Which you won't have access to.

IIS is not a useful platform for hosting PHP applications. really.

Mark

walkerstevenj

Thanks Mark,

According to my host it is possible to do this. I just don't know if this is a PHP problem or a IIS problem that I'm seeing.

If you're using IIS, I THINK the only way to configure PHP on a per-directory basis is via the registry

You are right. I'm talking to my hosting company right now to find out more about the configuration. I also found this in the php manual:
http://us3.php.net/manual/en/configuration.changes.php

IIS is not a useful platform for hosting PHP applications. really.

Is there something more I should know? I certainly have encountered differences using this host than my previous unix host, but many of them have turned out to be PHP version/configuration issues. Probably the biggest setback is that I cannot use .htaccess files... so I'm just learning how one gets the same functionality using IIS.

Walker

MarkR

Not only does IIS not support .htaccess, you also can't even configure PHP on a per-virtual host basis either.

Even with local access, there is no way anybody without admin rights can even tweak a single bit of config on IIS.

This means that you're stuck with a single PHP configuration (unless you really believe that storing the configuration in the registry is a maintainable way to store your PHP config) regardless of how many sites you're running.

Mark

walkerstevenj

Ok, the solution has been found! My hosting company gave me a copy of their php.ini file as a starting point. I compared it with the recommended default and found several differences, but most critically:

; cgi.force_redirect is necessary to provide security running PHP as a CGI under
; most web servers. Left undefined, PHP turns this on by default. You can
; turn it off here AT YOUR OWN RISK
; You CAN safely turn this off for IIS, in fact, you MUST.
; cgi.force_redirect = 1
cgi.force_redirect = 0