If you are used to Microsoft's Windows operating system or want to avoid the extra minor learning curve involved with setting up the web server on a Linux distribution, especially, if you haven't done it before, you can easily replicate the Apache, MySQL, PHP web server on a Windows machine. Cost wise, all server components—the Apache web server, MySQL database, and the PHP development language—have freely available Windows versions as well. But the base component of this stack, the operating system, Microsoft Windows, isn't.
Versions of Apache, MySQL, and PHP for Windows are all available on the same websites mentioned above. As Windows doesn't have an apt-get kind of utility, you'll have to download and install all three components from their respective websites, but you have an easier way to set up a WAMP server. There are several pre-packaged Apache, MySQL, and PHP software bundles available for Windows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_WAMPs). I've successfully run Elgg on the WAMP5 bundle (http://www.en.wampserver.com/). The developer updates the bundle, time and again, to make sure it's running the latest versions of all server components included in the bundle.
Note
While WAMP5 requires no configuration, make sure you have Apache's rewrite_module
and PHP's php_gd2
extension enabled. They will have a bullet next to their name if they are enabled. If the bullet is missing, click on the respective entries under the Apache and PHP sub-categories and restart WAMP5.