Hello 
I had an old tutorial of how to make work coldfusion MX7 in xampp… time had changed a lot and I decided to create a new tutorial, as well very detailed.
This first part want to take care of the installation over XAMPP in windows. In further parts I’ll go in customization of the installation, but for now, let’s take care about what we need that is installing coldfusion in xampp.
Requierements :
- 1GB Memory RAM
- If you use windows 7 or vista, nothing to worry about. If you use Windows XP you may need to download the latest java runtime from here
- At least 1GB of space in your hard disk for installation package and final product
- XAMPP from apache-friends.org. I choosed to use the latest full package (1.7.4) that can be downloaded from here
Considerations
I will assume that the disk who will contain CF9 is C:\
Now let’s start.
1. Make sure you can extract your package in the root of your hard disk, if you cannot success on it, create the folder “xampp” in the root of your hard disk and then extract the content of the XAMPP package on that folder. let’s prove that it works, then we do double click on C:\xampp\xampp-control.exe. We should got this small application:
2. and lets run xampp in our local server as http://127.0.0.1:
3. Now that we know that xampp runs without any problems, Download Coldfusion 9 package from Adobe. The version 9 for windows is around 434MB
4. now we proceed with the installation of Coldfusion 9. Remember if you have Windows XP you may need to install java runtime (JRE6) before you continue with the installation. Double click on the downloaded package and then the installer will start to decompress the installation.
5. The installation will greet us with the welcome screen. Click on Next.
6. Accept the terms of the licence. Click on Next.
7. Here we need to decide what kind of installation we need. if you bought Coldfusion 9, you should input the serial of the product. If you are developer you can use the developer edition or use for 30 days the enterprise edition trial. Click on Next.
8. Here we need to choose “Server Configuration” if we want XAMPP to contain Coldfusion 9. Click on next.
9. Next we need to choose what subcomponents Coldfusion 9. It is recommendable to leave it as is.
10. By default Colfusion 9 will install under C:\coldfusion9. You may change the location, but it is recommendable to leave as is.
11. To make XAMPP able to host Coldfusion, we need to add apache on the set of webservers who will provide Coldfusion. Click on Add.
12. Under Web Server will show, depending on what you have running or have installed on your PC the web servers you have. In this case we will choose Apache. Next we need to find the directory where httpd.conf is. Click on the suggested button:
13. then explore to C:\xampp\apache\conf directory and select it. (for your information, it will look for apache2.conf or httpd.conf – the main apache config file – ).
14. Now we need to find the apache2 binary file…
15. Browse to C:\xampp\apache\bin and select httpd.exe
16. Now we can continue with the installation. Click in OK.
17. Now that xampp apache will be parsed for CF9, we can proceed, click on next.
18. By default, the installer will choose a location that is not the real htdocs location for xampp administrative page:
19. For the sake of administrative management, we need to relocate the directory on c:\xampp\htdocs, in that way we can manage a custom code I will provide in next parts.
20. Now it’s time to input the administrative password for CF9.
21. If you use Dreamweaver or CFbuilder, or any eclipse release that accept connections to Coldfusion RDS services, we may need to input a password to let those editors to explore the applications we build.
22. Now we are ready to perform the installation. Press Next.
23. The installer will install all services, libraries and files. It will inform you about any progress the installation has.
24. Once the installation is finished, we may launch the configuration wizard in the browser. IT IS IMPORTANT TO DO IT!
25. For first time CF9 will be launched on xampp apache server, so proceed giving the password to the configuration application.
26. Then the application will start to configure CF9. Here you can take a coffee and wait about 5 minutes… if in 5 minutes the administrative environment of CF9 does not start, it is recommendable to click on continue
27. When the configuration is finished, you can click in ok.
28. Congratulations! now you are running Adobe Coldfusion CS9 in XAMPP ^^
Troubleshooting
Q. Looks like index.cfm is not a default index file directory in my apache configuration. What should I do?
A. Thanks to DWCouch I figured out I missed that step in the configurations when you run your CF Sites.
To solve this problem, please open your httpd.conf file in {drive}:\xampp\apache\ directory and go to the line #245 :
DirectoryIndex index.php index.pl index.cgi index.asp index.shtml index.html index.htm \
default.php default.pl default.cgi default.asp default.shtml default.html default.htm \
home.php home.pl home.cgi home.asp home.shtml home.html home.htm \
modify it to:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.pl index.cgi index.asp index.shtml index.html index.htm \
default.php default.pl default.cgi default.asp default.shtml default.html default.htm \
home.php home.pl home.cgi home.asp home.shtml home.html home.htm \
index.cfm index.cfml
And Restart your XAMPP Server
Q. I have a Windows 7 PC 64 bit environment, and I can’t setup datasources with my ODBC Driver. I got this error:
“Unable to update the NT registry.
Variable DRIVERPATH is undefined. “
A.Please consult this thread in Adobe Forums:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/142416
It explains about a solution using the Registry of windows to solve problems related to ODBC Database connections through CF.
If you find this tutorial useful or there is something I’m missing, make a comment below ^^
Enjoy!
Read Part 2 : How to add CF admin Panel to XAMPP Admin Panel
Nearly Perfect!
Your walk-through was really great, I have had a few issues w Windows7x64:
Got an Error adding a datasource and found a solution here
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/142416
Also….
I had to add index.cfm to httpd.conf:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.cfm index.pl index.cgi index.asp index.shtml index.html index.htm \
default.php default.pl default.cgi default.asp default.shtml default.html default.htm \
home.php home.pl home.cgi home.asp home.shtml home.html home.htm
thank you for your observations, I’ll update then the post. It is rare that I got automatically with no problems the settings of index.cfm in my apache configuration…. nevertheless let me check.
Thank you
thank you for your notes, I’m glad this post was helpful.
regarding the issue on x64 machines and windows 7, I need to wait a little bit for my new Sager Laptop this middle June, so I can test all the features in a milestone environment in a virtual PC.
In other hand, I didn’t had problems related with the DocumentIndex property. Looks like if you had run the CF installer with administrative rights it can work, other times it doesn’t add the index.cfm parameter, so let me explore this. Thank you for your suggestions ^^
Hello and thanks for taking the time to map these steps out! Very easy to follow though I cannot seem to get the CF administrator to launch at all. On a win 7 64bit machine. I get the typical File not found: /CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm. I’ve even tried installing CF within htdocs to no avail. Any ideas?
TIA Bob
Hi Bob
interesting, Now that I have my new laptop in 64 bits I can try to see what is happening, please wait for my next post, sure it will have a lot of solutions related to 64 bit machines with windows 7.
Hello,
Thank you for the guide! I am having a problem though. I got to step 24 and told it to launch the configuration wizard in the browser, but it just goes to the browser and “downloads” the file instead of opening the page. I did add “index.cfm” to the httpd.conf file. Any idea whats going on?
if it opens and download the file, try to reinstall. it is common when you don’t select the correct config folder of apache.
Let me know if you still have problems. thank you ^^
I get the same think as Joshua. index.cfm just keeps trying to download in the browser. I’m almost positive that I’m pointing to Apaches config folder. Uninstalled/installed going on my 12th try LOL.
Thanks for this step-by-step.
I have WAMP installed and installed CF9 and configured it using this.
Only had to create an alias for it and all was good to go from start to finish.
No debug required.
Great, thanks
I am using XAMPP for my Apache install. When selecting the bin “httpd.exe”, I get the error message “Adobe ColdFusion 9 does not support this version of Apache..” (apparently, it will only accept “apache.exe”, not “httpd.exe”.) Is there a workaround for this? I am not seeing this issue anywhere via Google.
Otherwise, an excellent walkthrough. Thank you!
Hi jackD
What version of XAMPP are you using, also describe your OS environment. It is very important to know your problem. Thanks
Windows XP / SP3; 1Gig RAM; PLENTY of hd space
XAMPP 1.7.7 (Control Panel 2.5) installed to D:\xampp (D:\xampp\apache\conf and D:\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe for config directory and bin – I have no room on C:\ for this)
XAMPP is running fine, Apache starts with no problem, although I cannot restart – apparently, if Apache stops, something else jumps in and takes port 80.
OH! And it’s Apache 2.2.21
Nevermind. It all failed, no matter what I do. I’m scrapping it and starting from scratch.
Well done. Everything was spot on. Only issue I had was having to update the httpd.conf file but that was advertised in troubleshooting section.
Hi,
I get stuck on step 25: when I open the page localhost:8080/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm (or http://127.0.0.1:8080/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm ) I get a download prompt for the cfm file… Which obviously should be rendered by XAMPP?
How can I fix this?
Hi Casper
Check the screenshots at step 25. As you can see, there is no port 8080. It happens when you install your server in standalone mode without Apache. The best thing you can do is to uninstall, and reinstall adequately your Coldfusion Server making sure in the step 12 you choose correctly your Apache server.
Another thing is if you have shared IIS and XAMPP AT THE SAME TIME! do not do that, since the fight for the port 80 will be a miserable loss of time.
Thanks for the reply, Though I’m not sure what you mean with there is no port 8080?
I use that port because port 80 is already used by other applications (I got that error, so I followed this little tutorial: http://www.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?p=116257#p177450
Which shows how I can switch port 80 to 8080.
Then I can install XXAMP fine, and run the Apache server.
Step 12 I did exactly like you did there, pointing to the right locations…
And, what do you mean by: ‘you have shared IIS and XAMPP AT THE SAME TIME’?
What is that IIS you are talking about? (Internet Information Services?)
How would I not do that?
OK, first of all, check if Skype (it happened to me) uses the port 80 and 443, please read this page : http://drupal.org/node/275924 or http://www.apachefriends.org/en/faq-xampp-windows.html#nostart, it gives you what you need to do in case other app uses that port. The use of port 80 is CRITICAL. The internal operations for Coldfusion requires the use of the 8080 port, that part of its core that is based on JAVAEE WebApps.
Now, Relating to having at the same time Internet Information Services and XAMPP running at the same time, each one will claim to use the port 80 and 443. If you consider that your main projects runs on PHP, set up another ports for your IIS to run and leave XAMPP running the default web ports, or disable the services on IIS.
If you do not have any clue what programs are using the port 80 and 443, you may need to run the XAMPP Port Checker, that usually is under the XAMPP root directory.
Now, quoting from the same of apache friends, the post mentions:
“That solution is fine if you always want to add the port number at the end of the domain name, but the correct solution is to take control of the situation by locating what is using the ports that XAMPP requires for it’s servers and then disable the conflicting servers (Listeners) so you don’t have this conflict.
You can use the built in xampp-portcheck.exe file in older versions or use this little free non install app. currports from here. which is the backbone of the previous versions port check utility:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/cports.html
BTW port 8080 will conflict with Apache Tomcat if you want to be able to use this XAMPP Java feature.“.
So I encourage you to:
- check what programs are interfering with the normal ports (80 and 443) and change its configurations or disable them.
- reinstall XAMPP with the default ports
- uninstall and reinstall Adobe Coldfusion.
This should be enough, If you can’t solve this issue, please let me know how to contact you to help you in a join.me session
Ok, thanks for that.
I changed the Skype ports, but still I cant get Apache to run on port 80. Also note that I do not have Skype running by default (on startup).
I checked my ports with CurrPorts, but port 80 is not used…
Port 443 is used by vmware-hostd.exe though, could that be the problem?
Also, why would I have to reinstall ColdFusion? Because it build its config based on the apache configuration? (I don’t know)
If it just reads the config files, it could work after I fix the port usage and reset the config files to the default ports again (which I’ve done now).
I’d appreciate it if you could perhaps contact me via email (the one I use in this message), so I know when you have replied, and we can communicate faster…
I’ll have a look if I can change that vmware port 443 usage…
Ok sweet, I managed to change the port used by VMWare, and it seems I can now run Apache sucessfully!
And I had a look, and the ColdFusion administration login page works!!!!!
Sweeet!!!
Thank you for your help!, I can continue the tutorial now
Unfortunatly, I’m already running into another problem…
When I install XAMPP on my 64bit windows machine (not the 32bit one from before), I get an error:
The following information is meant for the website developer for debugging purposes.
Error Occurred While Processing Request
File not found: /CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm
XAMPP works just fine…
I tried installing 32bit CF and 64bit CF (not on the C: drive though, as that is my SSD, and its almost full; I’m using my F: drive) but both give this error.
Is there a big difference between the 32bit and 64bit CF? (and which one do you recommend?)
Please contact me via email
I would like to contact you. Please register yourself in the site, so I can contact you
mmm, there is not so much differences between 32 or 64 bit, the only main difference may be is XAMPP that is built on 32 bit, so it is better to use a 32 bit edition. I can do an update to 64 bit to see the differences… soon I will do an update in my article so you can see what is the correct procedure.
thanks.