Loading the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server

Article
03/07/2023

This page provides instructions for loading the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server into the PHP process space.

You can download the prebuilt drivers for your platform from the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server GitHub project page. Each installation package contains SQLSRV and PDO_SQLSRV driver files in threaded and non-threaded variants. On Windows, they are also available in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. See System Requirements for the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server for a list of the driver files that are contained in each package. The driver file must match the PHP version, architecture, and threadedness of your PHP environment.

On Linux and macOS, the drivers can alternatively be installed using PECL, as found in the installation tutorial.

You can also build the drivers from source either when building PHP or by using phpize. If you choose to build the drivers from source, you have the option of building them statically into PHP instead of building them as shared extensions by adding --enable-sqlsrv=static --with-pdo_sqlsrv=static (on Linux and macOS) or --enable-sqlsrv=static --with-pdo-sqlsrv=static (on Windows) to the ./configure command when building PHP. For more information on the PHP build system and phpize, see the PHP documentation.

Moving the Driver File into Your Extension Directory

The driver file must be located in a directory where the PHP runtime can find it. It is easiest to put the driver file in your default PHP extension directory - to find the default directory, run php -i | sls extension_dir on Windows or php -i | grep extension_dir on Linux/macOS. If you are not using the default extension directory, specify a directory in the PHP configuration file (php.ini), using the extension_dir option. For example, on Windows, if you have put the driver file in your c:\php\ext directory, add the following line to php.ini:

extension_dir = "c:\PHP\ext"

Loading the Driver at PHP Startup

To load the SQLSRV driver when PHP is started, first move a driver file into your extension directory. Then, follow these steps:

To enable the SQLSRV driver, modify php.ini by adding the following line to the extension section, changing the filename as appropriate:

On Windows:
```
extension=php_sqlsrv_82_ts.dll  
```
On Linux, if you have downloaded the prebuilt binaries for your distribution:
```
extension=php_sqlsrv_82_nts.so  
```
If you have compiled the SQLSRV binary from source or with PECL, it will instead be named sqlsrv.so:
```
extension=sqlsrv.so
```
To enable the PDO_SQLSRV driver, the PHP Data Objects (PDO) extension must be available, either as a built-in extension, or as a dynamically loaded extension.

On Windows, the prebuilt PHP binaries come with PDO built-in, so there is no need to modify php.ini to load it. If, however, you have compiled PHP from source and specified a separate PDO extension to be built, it will be named php_pdo.dll, and you must copy it to your extension directory and add the following line to php.ini:
```
extension=php_pdo.dll  
```
On Linux, if you have installed PHP using your system's package manager, PDO is probably installed as a dynamically loaded extension named pdo.so. The PDO extension must be loaded before the PDO_SQLSRV extension, or loading will fail. Extensions are usually loaded using individual .ini files, and these files are read after php.ini. Therefore, if pdo.so is loaded through its own .ini file, a separate file loading the PDO_SQLSRV driver after PDO is required.

To find out which directory the extension-specific .ini files are located, run php --ini and note the directory listed under Scan for additional .ini files in:. Find the file that loads pdo.so. It is likely prefixed by a number, such as 10-pdo.ini. The numerical prefix indicates the loading order of the .ini files, while files that do not have a numerical prefix are loaded alphabetically. Create a file to load the PDO_SQLSRV driver file called either 30-pdo_sqlsrv.ini (any number larger than the one that prefixes pdo.ini works) or pdo_sqlsrv.ini (if pdo.ini is not prefixed by a number), and add the following line to it, changing the filename as appropriate:
```
extension=php_pdo_sqlsrv_82_nts.so
```
As with SQLSRV, if you have compiled the PDO_SQLSRV binary from source or with PECL, it will instead be named pdo_sqlsrv.so:
```
extension=pdo_sqlsrv.so
```
Copy this file to the directory that contains the other .ini files.

If you have compiled PHP from source with built-in PDO support, you do not require a separate .ini file, and you can add the appropriate line above to php.ini.
Restart the Web server.

Note

To determine whether the driver has been successfully loaded, run a script that calls phpinfo().

For more information about php.ini directives, see Description of core php.ini directives.

Loading the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server

Moving the Driver File into Your Extension Directory

Loading the Driver at PHP Startup

See Also

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