How to host a laravel website on windows server?

You probably want to use IIS being Windows Server, in case you may have installed one of these programs:

• IIs "default"
• IIS Express
• WebPlatformInstaller

If it is standard IIS or IIS Express

If you are using WebPlatformInstaller do not do this following procedure.

First install PHP:

Download at http://windows.php.net/download / And install in the folder %SYSTEMROOT%\php (examples c:\php or d:\php)

Steps to install PHP on standard IIs

After installing PHP, navigate to %windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\ and then edit applicationHost.config and then add something like (editing the existing locations inside the config):

<defaultDocument enabled="true">
    <files>
        <add value="index.php" />
        <add value="Default.htm" />
        <add value="Default.asp" />
        <add value="index.htm" />
        <add value="index.html" />
        <add value="iisstart.htm" />
    </files>
</defaultDocument>

<fastCgi>
    <application
        fullPath="C:\php\php-cgi.exe"
        monitorChangesTo="C:\php\php.ini"
        activityTimeout="300"
        requestTimeout="300"
        instanceMaxRequests="10000"
    >
        <environmentVariables>
            <environmentVariable name="PHPRC" value="C:\php\" />
            <environmentVariable name="PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" value="10000" />
        </environmentVariables>
    </application>
</fastCgi>

And then add this inside handlers:

<handlers accessPolicy="Read, Script">
    <add
        name="PHP_via_FastCGI"
        path="*.php"
        verb="*"
        modules="FastCgiModule"
        scriptProcessor="C:\php\php-cgi.exe"
        resourceType="Either"
    />

Once installed type this in run: %SYSTEMROOT%\inetpub\wwwroot and you can install Laravel inside it, it can be a folder or directly in the folder wwwroot.

Steps to install PHP no IIS Express

Download

• IIS Express: https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=48264
• PHP Windows: http://windows.php.net/download /

Installing PHP and IIS Express

Install PHP in a folder like C:\php

Swap fullPath='"C:\php\php-cgi.exe"' and scriptProcessor='"C:\php\php-cgi.exe" for the path that made the installation

If you have installed IIs x64:

cd C:\Program Files\IIS Express\

If you have installed IIS x86:

cd C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express\

Then type:

appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/fastCGI /+[fullPath='"C:\php\php-cgi.exe"']
appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/handlers /+[name='PHP_via_FastCGI',path='*.php',verb='*',modules='FastCgiModule',scriptProcessor='"C:\php\php-cgi.exe"',resourceType='Unspecified']

Editing or applicationhost.config

If you have repeated entries as for PHP_via_FastCGI

cd %userprofile%\Documents\IISExpress\config
notepad.exe applicationhost.config

Or using SublimeText or notepad++ or another editor select something like File > Open File

%userprofile%\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config

And look for repeated:

<add name="PHP_via_FastCGI" path="*.php"

Installing PHP with WebPlatformInstaller

This is the only one that does not follow the above steps, as the installation is almost all automated and the My see the easiest way of all

Download

Download WebPlatformInstaller:

• https://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx

Installing IIs

• Select IIs-Webserver:

  

• Enter " php " and install the desired versions except Express, for example:

  

• And type "rewrite":

  

If you notice a message like this:

Then then click on Register new PHP version and navigate to the folder where you installed PHP, after selecting it should look like this:

All suggestions here are for any application written in PHP, not only Laravel

Configuring Laravel

After placing laravel in the desired folder you must move contents of the folder of your project to the "root" folder of your IIS (if it is standard IIs it should be wwwroot) and create inside the folder a file named web.config with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
    <system.webServer>
        <defaultDocument>
            <files>
                <clear />
                <add value="index.php" />
            </files>
        </defaultDocument>
        <rewrite>
            <rules>
                <rule name="Laravel Force public">
                    <match url="(.*)" ignoreCase="false" />
                    <action type="Rewrite" url="public/{R:1}" />
                </rule>
                <rule name="Laravel Routes" stopProcessing="true">
                    <conditions>
                        <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
                        <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
                    </conditions>
                    <match url="^" ignoreCase="false" />
                    <action type="Rewrite" url="public/index.php" />
                </rule>
            </rules>
        </rewrite>
    </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Does not exist

Laravel in production environment

Note that when using laravel for production you must turn off debugging by changing to .env, then change this:

APP_ENV=local
APP_DEBUG=true

By this:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

Sources:

• https://gist.github.com/brcontainer/c2b3c75439fa3e4905e9
• https://github.com/inphinit/inphinit#iis
• https://github.com/inphinit/inphinit/wiki/PHP-com-IIS
• https://pt.stackoverflow.com/a/91799/3635