Changing documentroot in Apache http.conf file stops PHP parsing

Question

• Windows 10 workstation
• Apache 2.4
• PHP 7.2.

I have installed Apache and PHP on a Windows 10 developer workstation and everything (including PHP) works beautifully. But when I change the DocumentRoot in the http.conf file, Apache stops sending .php files to the PHP engine.

Apache opens the .php files in the new directory, but the <?php> code no longer gets parsed and processed by the php engine (php.exe). Apache no longer runs those files through the php module.

Here is what I have changed in the http.conf file:

OLD SETTING:

DocumentRoot "${SRVROOT}/htdocs"
<Directory "${SRVROOT}/htdocs">

NEW SETTING:

#DocumentRoot "${SRVROOT}/htdocs"
DocumentRoot "C:/WWW"

#<Directory "${SRVROOT}/htdocs">
<Directory "C:/WWW">

When I change it back again, PHP works just fine.

I have also tried changing the doc_root setting in php.ini , but that does not help. Apache loads the .php page, but does not send it to the php server.

Answer 1

Thank you for responding. The problem was a minor one. In the fresh install of PHP 5.3, the short_open_tag in PHP.ini was defaulted to Off . The phpinfo file in the Apache directory opened with <?php> and the file in the new directory opened with <?> , so it didn't parse. I've changed the php.ini file with short_open_tag = On and all is well now. In newer versions of PHP ... from 5.4 on up, the short open tag <?> will always work, regardless of the short_open_tag setting.

Simple little things can sometimes trip us up.