How to Update XAMPP in Windows

Published by arifur on June 4, 2012June 4, 2012

To update XAMPP in Windows. Please follow these steps.

Download the latest version of XAMPP
Now backup your existing "htdocs" folder.
Backup your existing "data" folder, which is inside the mysql folder.
Over-right all the files of existing "xampp" folder with the latest version of "xampp"
If you have installed the installer version of XAMPP then just download the latest installer version of XAMPP and just install the latest version on the same location so it overwrites the existing files.
After overwriting all the files run "setup_xampp.bat", which is inside the "xampp" folder.
Copy all your sites folder back to "htdocs" folder.
Copy your old "data" folder and paste it inside the "mysql" folder
Now fire up Apache and MySQL
Visit your sites.
If you can visit you sites then its done. But sites that uses MySQL database might cause some problem if you used any other user name and password other than the default xampp password. In that case follow on.
Visit "phpMyAdmin" from http://localhost/phpmyadmin
Press the "Privileges" tab, here if you used "root" user with a password then change the passwords for both root at localhost and 127.0.0.1
If you used a different user name and password all together then create the new user using your old details that you used on your previous XAMPP installation.
Now you should be able to visit your sites that uses MySQL database. eg: Joomla, wordperss etc
Remember if you change the root users passwords then phpMyAdmin will not be able to connect to the MySQL database until you change the phpMyAdmin configuration.
To change phpMyAdmin configuration goto (using file explorer not your browser) "xampp/phpMyAdmin" and open "config.inc.php"
On line 21 of "config.inc.php" type the root users password. eg:$cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘password’] = ‘root_users_password‘;
If you want then you can change the user name too, in that case you will have provide that users password.

If you have followed my instructions then you should have a functioning XAMPPP with no issues. If you do face any problem then please leave a comment and I will do my best to get back to you.

13 Comments

Felipe · October 25, 2012 at 2:28 am

Nice Post! 😉

ka · November 21, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Thank you so much, your post has helped me a lot and saved my day (and many nerves)!

abouthack · November 21, 2012 at 6:50 pm

Always happy to help 🙂

cheap north face · November 26, 2012 at 9:43 am

Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any tips?

Paolo · May 9, 2013 at 10:48 am

Thank you very much for your tutorial. It helped me a lot.

Rogelio S. · October 5, 2013 at 6:41 pm

Me funciono perfecto con la version de XAMP 1.8.2. Muchas gracias!!!

Paula · September 29, 2014 at 8:30 pm

To bad step 5 does not work!

David · September 13, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Paula – I know this is a late response, but what I’ve been able to do is stop all apache/mysql/xampp processes, rename the original xampp folder to xampp-old and then run the installer to install to the same location as the previous install. Then, just copy the htdocs and mysql data folders in and make any other changes you need and delete the old xampp-old folder.

arifur · September 13, 2015 at 6:18 pm

Yes that should do it. Also make sure to change the mysql root password to the one you had on the old xampp.

Martin · September 15, 2015 at 8:03 pm

I followed all the instructions and created the users for my DBs.

I get this error on accessing my drupal based websites

Uncaught exception thrown in shutdown function.
PDOException: SQLSTATE[42S02]: Base table or view not found: 1146 Table 'testdrupal.semaphore' doesn't exist: DELETE FROM {semaphore} WHERE (value = :db_condition_placeholder_0) ; Array ( [:db_condition_placeholder_0] => 183393756955f8790f1510d6.46726236 ) in lock_release_all() (line 269 of C:\xampp\htdocs\drupal_test\includes\lock.inc).

When I go to the database in phpmyadmin. I can see the table in the view but when I click it says no table exists.

Thanks for any help.

Adam · February 22, 2016 at 9:56 pm

An easy way..
How to upgrade XAMPP for Windows to a newer version in few steps. very easy!

First, download and install the latest version of XAMPP in a new installation folder.

Say your older version is in C:\xampp and the newer version was installed in D:\xampp;
Okay.. Delete the htdocs and MySQL folder in D:\xampp and replace them with the ones in C:\xampp.
Thats it !!

nana · March 6, 2016 at 8:13 pm

you rock!! you are the best guy ..!!! it works like magic.
after going through all the tutorials on the internet yours was soo easy and worked most importantly.
my xamp crashed and i thought i had lost all my data. hwww…

arifur · March 6, 2016 at 9:29 pm

Thanks