Hey guys, I'm trying to install MySQL and PHP on my computer, but I'm having some issues. I downloaded the mysql-essential-5.0.51a-win32 from the mysql website and ran the installer but I get an error once it finishes and tries to start the config. The error is as follows: "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail." Then when I click on the config a second time to try again, a different error comes up: "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel." BTW I am using Windows Vista, what should I do? Also I have one more quick question. If i already have IIS installed through my windows, is it necessary to install Apache on my computer in order to run PHP?
you need a server like apache to preview php files in action, because php is server side scripting. Some soft like Dreamweaver has built in servers for this.
You can use IIS, you just need to install the PHP binaries and map them to the .php extension like so http://www.visualwin.com/PHP/