Install Gibbon on Windows

This page provides download links and step-by-step instructions for installing Gibbon on Windows.

WARNING

This installation method is intended only for local testing and evaluation.

The database credentials are insecure. Do not use this setup for live school environments. For real deployments, configure secure credentials and use a production‑grade server stack.

Prerequisites

Install XAMPP

XAMPP provides Apache, PHP, and MySQL needed to run Gibbon.

1. Go to the XAMPP home page and download the XAMPP for Windows installer.
2. Double-click the installer in your Downloads folder and follow the prompts to install XAMPP.

INFO

Click Yes to continue with installation if you see a question regarding antivirus software running may interfere with XAMPP installation.

INFO

Click OK if there is a message about Windows User Account Control (UAC) being activated and to avoid installing XAMPP to C:\Program Files.

3. When XAMPP setup is completed, check the box to launch the XAMPP Control Panel and click Finish.

Configure Apache

A few PHP Extensions required by Gibbon are not enabled by default in XAMPP. You will need to enable these extensions before you can proceed with installation.

1. Click Config in XAMPP Control Panel and select PHP (php.ini) to open this file in Notepad.
2. In php.ini file, find the following lines and remove the semicolon (;) at the beginning of each line to enable the extensions:

;extension=zip
;extension=gd
;extension=intl

3. Save the php.ini file and close Notepad.

Start XAMPP services

1. In the XAMPP Control Panel, click the Start button for Apache to start the web server.

INFO

Click Allow to enable public and private network access for Apache HTTP if prompted by Windows Firewall pop-up.

2. Click Start button for MySQL to start the database server.

INFO

Click Allow to enable public and private network access for mysqld if prompted by Windows Firewall pop-up.

3. Verify you can see XAMPP welcome page by opening http://localhost/dashboard in your web browser.

Configure MySQL

Set a password for the root MySQL user.

1. Click Shell on the XAMPP Control Panel to open a command prompt window.
2. Run the following command to set a password for the root user:

mysql -u root -p

INFO

Press Enter when you are prompted for a password. This will log you in to MySQL without a password since the root user does not have one by default.

3. Run the following command to set a password for root user:

alter user 'root'@'localhost' identified by 'root';

Create database

Set up a database for Gibbon using phpMyAdmin.

1. Click Admin button for MySQL in the XAMPP Control Panel.
2. Your browser will open http://localhost/phpadmin/ in a new tab.
3. Click Databases tab.
4. Enter gibbon as the name of a new database and click Create button.

Create web directory

Create a folder for Gibbon files.

1. Click Shell button located on right-hand side of XAMPP Control Panel.
2. In the shell window, run the following command:

mkdir htdocs\gibbon

3. Verify the new folder exists:

dir htdocs

Download Gibbon

1. Go to Gibbon's download page and download the latest version of Gibbon.
2. Right-click on GibbonEduCore-InstallBundle.zip in your Downloads folder, select Extract All.. then click Extract button to unpack archive.
3. Copy contents in GibbonEduCore-InstallBundle folder into the htdocs\gibbon folder. You can do this in the file explorer or run the following command:

copy c:\Users\<your-username>\Downloads\GibbonEduCore-InstallBundle\* c:\xampp\htdocs\gibbon\

Install Gibbon

1. Open http://localhost/gibbon.
2. The Gibbon installer will check system requirements. Click Submit button.
3. Enter your database settings:

• Database Server: localhost
• Database Name: gibbon
• Username: root
• Password: root

4. Set Install demo data to Yes then click Submit.
5. To finish installation:

• Enter surname, first name, email, username and password to create administrator account
• Leave System Settings with default values
• Provide an organization name and initials
• In the Miscellaneous section, select country, currency and timezone
• Click Submit to continue.

Verify Gibbon installation

1. Go to the Gibbon login page at http://localhost/gibbon.
2. Log into Gibbon using the admin account you created.

Where to go next

• Explore the Gibbon home page.
• Access information within a Gibbon system using the Fast Finder.