[RESOLVED] Error Parsing php.ini inline 1?

danimal67

Hi folks,

I installed PHP 5.2.5 on my boss' w2k server along with a basic submission form.

It works fine, I followed a tutorial to do it as I'm a complete noob on php.

The problem is, whenever he reboots the server, or IIS, there is a javapopup error on the screen saying something like:

"Error Parsing C:\WINDOWS\php.ini in line 1"

When this happens, the form doesn’t work, it just hangs there.
As soon as I click “OK” on the error window on the server, the form goes thru and it works ok.

My question is… what could the error be on line 1?

I'm sorry i don't have access to the php.ini file at the moment, I'll paste a .txt version here asap if anybody can help.. but, is there some sort of common problem on line 1 that could be the culprit?
😕

Cheers!
Dan

Jack_McSlay

there is absolutely nothing we can do to help unless we can take a look at the first lines of your php.ini.

and no, there are no common errors on php.ini line 1, in fact, the php.ini file does not have a set length or amount of lines at all

bradgrafelman

More importantly, is there even a php.ini file in C:\WINDOWS\ and, if so, why is it there??

NogDog

Maybe one thing to look for would be to make sure it was not saved with a Unicode BOM character at the start of the file. (I.e.: make sure it is saved as a plain ASCII text file.)

danimal67

Thanks for the replies folks. Found the error in line that was causing it, seems to work fine now. The problem was:

;Enable the PHP scripting language engine under Apache.
engine = on

Since it's a W2k server, we tried it with that OFF... and so far so good.

As for having a php.ini file in the WINDOWS directory... honestly I have no clue.
As i said, I'm a total noob with PHP, i just followed a tutorial on installing it from the ntcompatable website, and the line said:
"Copy C:\Program Files\PHP5\php.ini-dist to C:\WINDOWS\php.ini and restart IIS"

Is that a bad thing?

Cheers!
Dan

bradgrafelman

danimal67 wrote:
Is that a bad thing?

Yes. No PHP-related file (e.g. DLL's, php.ini, etc.) should be moved outside of the PHP folder. For one reason, if you install PHP properly then there is no need to do so. For another, moving files to various locations on your system makes it harder to upgrade PHP or replace a previous installation.

danimal67

Thanks for the info Brad,

Since i only have limited access to our server, and it does seem to be working fine at the moment, and i doubt we'll be upgrading PHP anytime soon; i think i'll have to leave it as is for the moment.

I do see your point though, and if I ever install PHP again i'll see if i can get it to work without copying that file to the WINDOWS folder. I wonder why they included that step?

Here is the tutorial in case anybody is interested....

http://www.ntcompatible.com/faq-88.html

Cheers!
Dan

Weedpacket

FYI, here are the official installation instructions
http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.php

Under http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.manual.php there is the note:

Previous editions of the manual suggest moving various ini and DLL files into your SYSTEM (i.e. C:\WINDOWS) folder and while this simplifies the installation procedure it makes upgrading difficult. We advise you remove all of these files (like php.ini and PHP related DLLs from the Windows SYSTEM folder) before moving on with a new PHP installation. Be sure to backup these files as you might break the entire system. The old php.ini might be useful in setting up the new PHP as well. And as you'll soon learn, the preferred method for installing PHP is to keep all PHP related files in one directory and have this directory available to your systems PATH.

I note the tutorial you followed is about three years old. The manual is generally more up to date.

danimal67

Thanks Weed.

Will definitely use that if there is a next time.

😃