A simple Windows Webserver for PHP and CGI Scripts

A simple Windows Webserver for PHP and CGI Scripts

What is this?

The Windows Webserver was developed for testing PHP and CGI/FCGI programs under Windows, without installing an Apache or IIS environment. The Webserver is easy to install and comes with buildin PHP 7.3.0 FastCGI support, mod_rewrite and SSL/TLS 1.2. Also FTP(S) is integrated. WWebserver is not Apache and was developed from the scratch. It was tested with common OpenSource applications like Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, Typo3, Magento, phpMyAdmin, PIWIK, AWstats. It's like XAMPP - but much more smarter.

Installation and Configuration

1. Install complete program with PHP 7.3.0 (Win7+)
wwebserver_php_730_setup.exe (34.8 MB)

Or with PHP 5.4.45 (WinXP+)
wwebserver_php_5445_setup.exe (16.5 MB)

Or use only command line, the smallest version without buildin PHP.
You have to download your preffered PHP version manually and configurate with FastCGI support.
wwebserver_14_cmd.zip (206 KB)

2. Type in your Host, Port, Document Path and start it.

Windows Webserver for PHP and CGI Scripts

The default HTTP Port is 80, but you can choose any other Port if there is just running another Webserver on your system.
If you dont need SSL you can mark checkbox No HTTPS.

After starting you can close the window and control the Webserver with the Taskbar Icon.

Windows Webserver for PHP and CGI Scripts

3. Open your Webbrowser and start your PHP application like:

http://localhost/index.php

Virtual Directories

You can define virtual directories to handle multiple document paths.
Therefore edit the following configuration file:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\vdir.txt

# Definitions of virtual directories
# <Path>;<Directory>
#
# Note: There must be an '/' on end of <Path>

pma/;C:\phpMyAdmin
typo3/;C:\typo3
drupal/;C:\drupal
wordpress/;C:\wordpress

You can start the applications now verry simple like: http://localhost/wordpress

Note: After changing vdir.txt please STOP and START Webserver again.

CGI Programs

You can define own CGI Programs for example Perl or Ruby.
Therefore edit the following configuration file:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\cgi.txt

# Definitions of CGI programs
# <Alias 1> <Alias 2> ...;<Full path to CGI program>
# <Alias 1> <Alias 2> ...;PHPBuildIn
# <Alias 1> <Alias 2> ...;PHPFCGI [<Full path to php-cgi.exe>]
# <Alias 1> <Alias 2> ...;FCGI <Full path to FastCGI program> | <IP>:<Port> or <Pipename>
# <Alias 1> <Alias 2> ...;FCGI <IP>:<Port> or <Pipename>

.php .php4 .php3;PHPFCGI
.rb;C:\ruby\bin\ruby.exe
.pl;C:\perl\bin\perl.exe

In this example we associate file extensions .rb with Ruby scripts and .pl with Perl scripts.
.php .php3 .php4 files are associated with PHP FastCGI support.

Note: After changing cgi.txt please STOP and START Webserver again.

PHP Configuration

You can control the PHP environment with the php.ini file:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\php.ini

You can enable/disable the PHP extension DLL's located in directory:

C:\WWebserver\ext

Note: After changing php.ini you have to EXIT and RESTART the Webserver.

Virtual Hosts

You can define virtual hosts. Therefore edit the following configuration file:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\vhost.txt

# [<unique name>=]<hostname1>[,<hostname2> ...];<Directory>
# You can create for every virtual host a own configuration directory: cfg/vhost/<hostname>
# Following configuration files can be overwritten: mime.txt, vdir.txt, cgi.txt, php.ini (only for FastCGI)

# Example
mydomain.com,www.mydomain.com;C:\MyDomain.com
mydomain2.com,www.mydomain2.com;C:\MyDomain2.com

URL Rewriting

Read more about mod_rewrite, Redirect and .htaccess.

Directory Protection

WWebserver understand the HTTP Basic Authorization.
Read more about directory protection.

SSL/TLS 1.2

WWebserver support TLS 1.2 per default (based on OpenSSL v1.1.0b). Self signed X.509 certificates (RSA 2048 Bits) are generated automatically for every hostname. You can install your own certificates in the following directory:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\ssl for public certificates

C:\WWebserver\cfg\ssl\key for private key files

Certificates and key files must have the following filename convention: <hostname>.crt, <hostname>.key

Note: Old Webbrowsers does not support TLS 1.2. You need modern Browser for HTTPS connections.
Self signed certificates are marked as insecure by most Webbrowsers.

FTP-Server with explicit TLS

Read manual: Configuration of internal FTP-Server

Cronjobs

You can execute cronjobs with WWebserver. Crontab is organized like Linux crontab. Please edit following file:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\crontab.txt

# <min> <hour> <day> <month> <weekday> <url>|exec <cmd> [<resultfile>]
# Weekday: 1 = Mon, 0 = Sun

# In this example we call every 10 minutes a URL and save the result in cron_result.html
*/10 * * * * https://www.mydomain.com/program.php?param1=1&param2=2 cron_result.html

# In this example we execute a local program (wget.exe) on Saturday 23:00
0 23 * * 6 exec c:\wget.exe http://www.mydomain.com/program.php?param1=1&param2=2 -O cron_result_wget.html

Note: You dont need to restart Webserver after changing crontab.txt.

Server Optimization

Number of parallel requests, timeouts can be set with following configuration file:

C:\WWebserver\cfg\speed.txt

Special Files

You can lock access to specific directory and all sub directories simply by creating the following empty file:

forbidden

Command Line Options

You can see all command line options with --help:

C:\WWebserver\wwebserver_cmd.exe --help

Server Administration Panel

http://localhost/wwadmin/

Webserver Administration Panel

Experimental Laboratory for Scripts

Read manual: Install WWLabor

Browser inline editor for PHP

Forum

Bug reporting and discussion: Take a look at the Windows Webserver Forum.

Old versions (also for Windows 2000) you can find here.