Configuring PHP MySql extension

Question

I am trying to load a MySql extension for PHP development.

Running <?php phpinfo(); ?> I can see that the MySql extension is not loaded. This is also apparent when running a script that uses the mysql_connect function and receiving the error Fatal error: Call to undefined function mysql_connect() in C:\Apache24\htdocs\test.php on line 11.

Running php --ini I receive an output of:

Loaded Configuration File:          C:\php\php.ini
Scan for additional .ini files in:  (none)
Additional .ini files parsed:       (none)

So when I edit my php.ini file in order to enable the MySql extension I know I am editing the correct .ini file. The output of phpinfo() points to the same file.

In my php.ini file I have changed

;extension=php_mysql.dll

to

 extension=php_mysql.dll

For my extension directory in my php.ini file:

extension_dir = "./ext"

within that directory I do have the php_mysql.dll file.

I am at a bit of a loss here and don't really know what I am missing. Every answer I have found on the SE sites and elsewhere just point to uncommenting a line in the php.ini file and checking that the extension_dir is pointing to a location that contains the correct .dll file.

What am I missing to properly load this extension?

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Solution

A common cause of this can be php's install directory not being included in the PATH environment variable ( See: PHP: Installation of Extensions in Windows ), which causes the php module to fail to find mysql.

Any error in the logs about failure to load the extension?