The program can't start because php7.dll is missing from your computer

Question

I am installing apache kafka in my current xampp. here is installation link. I put extension=php_rdkafka.dll in my php.ini file also etc directory. While xampp restart I got this error message The program can't start because php7.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling program fix this problem. I searched in google found php7.dll file from here put this file in my System32 directory then restarted my PC. While again start xampp same thing happen. Please help me.

My current PHP version is 7.1.11.

Kafka .dll file found here - http://pecl.php.net/package/rdkafka

Solution

The issue is most likely due to the extension(php_rdkafka.dll) that you are trying to install, if your php version is thread safe(ts) then ensure that you have downloaded and installed an extension which is thread safe otherwise use a non-thread safe(nts) extension. In addition to that also ensure that both the extension and php are of the same architecture i.e x86 or x64.

Use php_rdkafka.dll for php version 7.1.

You can verify thread safe status and architecture of the installed php in phpinfo page(see below);

Architecture on phpinfo page

Thread Safe Status