How do I get the latest FastCGI and PHP versions to peacefully coexist on IIS 6?
- by BHelman
I have been going round and round trying to get any sort of PHP running on IIS 6.  I somehow managed to successfully get version 5.1.4 running using the php5isapi.dll file.  However, I want to upgrade a website to begin using a Content Management System.  I have never dug into CMS before so I'm open to programs that are easy to use.  I am currently looking into TomatoCMS and ImpressCMS - but that's beside the point.
I have never done an installation with PHP before and I think I'm getting familiar with how it works.  However the current situation is this. Microsoft's Web Platform Installer 2.0 installed FastCGI for me.  I need to upgrade to PHP 5.3.1 for a CMS system.  So I downloaded the Windows installer and let it go at it.
After consulting several other blog articles, I believe I know how it is supposed to work but I am currently not having luck.
THE SETUP
*.php is a registered extension in IIS 6 for all websites (on Win 2k3).  The application that it calls is C:\Windows\system32\inetsvr\fcgiext.dll, like it should.
The fcgiext.ini config has the proper lines:
[Types]
php=PHP
[PHP]
ext=C:\program files\PHP\php-cgi.exe
And the php.ini file also has the correct configs.  All extensions are disabled and I changed the correct things for FastCGI.  And everything is registered correctly with the PATH variable.  Everything is exactly how it should be.
BUT when I launch the "info.php" page () on another computer, I get the following error:
FastCGI Error
The FastCGI Handler was unable to process the request.
Error Details:
* Section [PHP] not found in config file.
* Error Number: 1413 (0x80070585).
* Error Description: Invalid index.
HTTP Error 500 - Server Error.
Internet Information Services (IIS)
A quick Google search reveals that I have it all setup correctly as far as the INI's go and the mapping of the php extension.  I am completely at a loss.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Although the server is hosting three small websites, I don't really care what I have to do to it to get it to work.