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Ok assuming you have a processor that is a Pentium 4 running at 1Gighz or faster, and at least 512 MB of memory and have access to the internet to download what you need then you will be fine running all the software you need to run zen cart on you local machine. If your machine is a little slower you may still be ok but you will need some patience.
We are going to install zen cart on out Fujitsu Amilo Pro laptop which has a Pentium (R) processor running at 1.6 GHz and 512MB of memory. We have a while back installed Apache Web Server as well as PHP and a MySQL Server. out of interest currently we have Apache 2.0.55 running on our computer configured to run php version 5.2.2. and we also have Mysql server 4.1.16-nt via tcp/ip installed on the same lap top. and also a MYSQL client version installed. Look you need both Server and Client installed other wise how can you possibly make a request to the MySQL server to do something. Listen this is difficult to get unless you are a complete utter web stuff out and out geek. Fortunately when you download MySQL you do get both the server and client software together, but it is worth mentioning that there are in fact two parts to this.
You need php 4.4.x, you also need a working Apache Web Server, and most importantly you need the Apache Web Server to work together with the php installation. What do we mean by this: put simply: Get Apache to run php as an Apache module. We will say more about this on this page further down. Please make a mental note right now; You can not run php as a module and as a cgi at the same time, so do not even try to do this!!? we explain more about this also further down the page.You need a MySQL Database Server running on your machine, best probably to install version 4.x.x, we looked the the MySQL web site go to Downloads of MySQL including MySQL5.0, and 4.1 You will also need a Mail server running on your machine. we have seen one in a book on Zen-Cart and it is called Mercury Mail Server. Many books say this is optional, but we think that it is not optional but actually necessary, because a fair number of features in Zen-cart send out mails to the users and you can not mimic this on a local installation of Zen - Cart without this. Comming to the order you should do things in:
Check that you are running Windows XP SP2 on the computer you intend to put Zen Cart on to
Go and download Apache Web Server, and make sure that you do install Apache as a Service. You really do need to know that the Apache Web Server you do install does work correctly with the Version of php that you are going to download, and yet both are being developed and occasionally they do not work together, there are simple ways to work this out but it involves doing a little research, do a few google searches on the term Versions of php that work with Apache 2.0.55. look the newest version of Apache web Server is 2.0.63 version of Apache at the time of writing this.15th March 2008, we know for a fact that Apache Server 2.0.55 and php Version 5.2.2 seem to work well together, so to save yourself time try to get the two versions that are nearest to these versions if you can, there are nearley always older versions of both Apache and php to download if you search through both the apache and the php.net web sites.Look to be honest you may As Well Down The Most Recient Stable Version Of Apache Web Server 2.X.X And The Same For The PHP so get apache 2.0.66 and PHP 5.2.5 You will soon discover if these two do work with each other since you only need to do a few tasks to configure them, we will write a page on how to Install Apache and how to download PHP 5.2.5 asa zip package and get it working as a module in Apache very soon. This page will be written on this web site and the link to it will be right here as soon as it is written.
Get php Zip file for php 5.2.5 from the php.net web site, we recommend highly getting the Zip file and unzipping it instead of getting the php 5.2.5 installer, for two reasons: which are a. you will learn more buy configuring the php to run as a module in apache server this way and b..should you need to make small and subtle change you php installation at any time it is much much easier if you unzipped the zip file and configured things your self than if you simply used an automatic installer.
Now do the admin things required to get Apache to run php as a module, we write about this on a separate page
Now download and install the MySQL Server you need, Once you have installed it there are a couple of simple post installation configuration tasks you should do and we will mention them too on another web page. We think you should go and download probably two other pieces of software, both are small, free and assist you in both checking that you Mysql server is running correctly and allow you to look at the tables in the databases that will be there once you install Zen -Cart. These two programs are called MySQL Administrator and MySQL Query Browser, both are available as downloads at the main MYSQL Web Site, we do recommend you get them since they do work and are most useful.
Next go to get an Email Server and instal that, we know less about his that about Apache, PHP, and MySQL but that will not stop us from writing about it on another web page being written currently.
We are assuming in fact that you are running XP Home Service pack 2, if you are not sure it is easy to find out, go start | control panel | System. and look at the system properties. it will say in this dialog box.
Here is a link directly to A page at Zen Cart telling you the Minimum Software requirements to run Zen Cart on a local machine
You need to be running Apache Web Server. this is free software it can be downloaded and installed quite simply, you can also find it on disk that come with a professional computing magazines like PC Pro. you should install Apache Web Server first. and check that it is running properly on your machine. The best way to check that it is running is to after installation has been done is to open your browser and type in this : 127.0.0.1 and hit return. You will see a page that says you have got to the Apache Web Server, there will be no other web pages there. Here is a tip- you need Apache Web Server to be running as a service, it will ask you do you want it running as a service during installation, say YES, you can tell if it is running as a service by doing this>> : Go to Start | Settings Control Panel | Adminastrive Tools ( double click on this) , then click once on Services. Look very carefully indeed, if Apache is running you will see this: Name Apache2, then a description then Status that should be Started, then start up type, should be Automatic, then logon as local system. Please note:: that it will not say Apache2 unless you installed Apache 2.x.x, that is 2. something., you may have installed Apache 1.x.x, probably)
Also note that in your task bar on the right hand side there will be a tiny circle with a little green arrow pointing to the right in it and a tiny red feather sticking out of it this is the Apache Monitor, this is a very helpful little program that tells you if Apache is running but will also tell you if it is configured to run php.
Look if you have only installed Apache then clearly it will not be configured to run php yet!! Please note: that Apache will not be able to run any php on itself, on your local machine, until you have installed php and done a tiny bit of configuration of Apache to see the php installation. On A live web server your hosting company will have installed php whatever version and configured the Apache web server to use it but on a local machine you have to do this your self.
Look, when you unzip php it is normal to unzip it into C:\php. Also remember that you need a program to do the unzipping, and you should get this first prior to down loading php. It is possible for you to get a free trial version of winzip which continues to work for 45 days, you can also purchase winzip for about 29.00 Euros. In fact I still have Winzip version 8.1 on my pc and it works perfectly and I can not even remember paying for it!!?
You will next need to down load php, this again is free and again can be downloaded. now officially all you need to run zen - cart is php 4.3.2. ,
but since there are stable versions of php version 4 above this version and also since optimum performance is achieved running php 4.4.x you may as well install what ever is the current stable version of php 4, that is above php version 4.4.0. We looked on the php web site today 14th March 08 and discovered that version 4.4.8 is available to download as a zip package, so that will do. Look if you decide you want to download php 5.2.5 which became available around November 07 then down load that. Note that installing a latter php version than 4.4 should not stop zen- cart from working correctly so, its up to you.
So here is some more help: Downloading php to your computer is simple but you must have a fast enough internet connection, hence we recommend that you use a 1 meg broadband connection or faster, You can also use a dial up connection, but if you do use dial up ensure that you have at least a 56Kbs Modem, and also do not try to do anything else on the internet whilst it is downloading, and lastly do connect at a time when demand for dial up is likely to be very low, like very early in the morning or very late at night so that you get the best connection speed the modem can get from your isp. If you have a very slow connection to the internet then use a freinds machine that has a faster connection than you have and then burn the zip file to a cd and use that. Of couse it goes without saying that you should always scan any file you transfer from else where with an up to date virus and spywear checker before transfering it to the hard disk drive.
Ok... so here are some pages we found which should help you How to Install and Configure PHP 5 to Run with Apache on Windows here are some other useful pages read them carefully Manual installation steps for versions 4 and 5 of php read this page php installed after geting Apache 1.3.x installed in Windows Operating System if you installed apache 1.3.x prior to going to get php from php's web site which is of course php.net. also look at Hints specific to Apache 2.0.x installs on Windows
Clearly, you are not going to download Apache web server 1.3.x and then download Apache web server 2.0.x. : trying to install both on one single computer : that will lead to utterly unbelievable disaster. Once you have installed Apache, do check it is working correctly before even thinking about downloading php.
Remember there are a few little configuration tasks you must do to get Apache to know that php is there ready to be accessed by the server, these are only a few tasks, but you must do them and you must check carefully that you do not miss type whilst carrying them out, I am going to detail these tasks in another web page called strangely post php installation tasks. But Not Here.
There are two problems that you may experience when you actually come to install Zen -cart on your local machine.
One is that during installation it may say there is no Curl Support in PHP, this is a PHP Extension and as Yet I have not found out which versions of PHP Have this extension included. And The Second problem you may encounter is that the installation may say that the Database does not exist. This second probley may be due to the fact simply that you have not created a Database on the MySQL Server with the appropriate name and the appropriate access to it.