How to Install phpMyAdmin on Windows 11 with WSL

Install Windows Subsystem for Linux in 🪟 Windows 11

Installing the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on Windows 11 lets you run Linux tools right on your PC. First, open the Command Prompt as an administrator by searching for it in the Start menu and selecting ‘Run as administrator’. Then, type the command ‘wsl –install’ and press Enter to begin the installation.

Next, right-click the Command Prompt app and choose to Run as administrator.

When the console opens, run the commands below to install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL):

wsl --install

Wait for WSL to be installed.

After installing, you should get a success message similar to the lines below:

Installing: Virtual Machine Platform
Virtual Machine Platform has been installed.
Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux
Windows Subsystem for Linux has been installed.
Downloading: WSL Kernel
Installing: WSL Kernel
WSL Kernel has been installed.
Downloading: GUI App Support
Installing: GUI App Support
GUI App Support has been installed.
Downloading: Ubuntu
The requested operation is successful. Changes will not be effective until the system is rebooted.

Restart your computer.

WSL should be installed and ready to use. When you want to update, simply run the commands below:

wsl --update

Install Specific Linux distro on 🪟 Windows 11

After installing WSL, you can choose which Linux distribution to use on your Windows 11 computer. To see a list of available options, open your Command Prompt and type ‘wsl –list –online’. This command will show you all the Linux distros you can install, like Ubuntu or Debian, so you can pick the one that fits your needs.

wsl --list --online

You should then see all available distributions that can be installed on WSL.

NAME            FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu          Ubuntu
Debian          Debian GNU/Linux
kali-linux      Kali Linux Rolling
openSUSE-42     openSUSE Leap 42
SLES-12         SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v12
Ubuntu-16.04    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu-18.04    Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

To install a Linux distribution from the list above, simply run the commands below using the distribution name. For example, to install Ubuntu 20.04, run the commands below:

wsl --install -d ubuntu-20.04

You should then get a message that the distribution is installed.

Downloading: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Installing: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has been installed.
Launching Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

After installing, you should get a Ubuntu command console with setup details.

Installing, this may take a few minutes.
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: Richard
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-22000-Microsoft x86_64)

Some troubleshooting commands to run when you run into issues.

wsl --set-default-version 1
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto start

Now that Ubuntu Linux is installed and ready, continue below to install the LAMP server to run WordPress. First, install Apache HTTP Server.

Install Apache HTTP Server

Apache is a popular web server that helps websites run, and you can install it on your Linux setup within Windows 11. To get Apache installed on Ubuntu, open your Linux terminal and run the commands ‘sudo apt update’ followed by ‘sudo apt install apache2’. This will set up the web server so you can start hosting sites.

To install Apache on Ubuntu, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and restart Apache2 services.

sudo service apache2 stop
sudo service apache2 start
sudo service apache2 restart

To validate that Apache is installed and functioning, open your web browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address.

You should get a test page if every work.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB is a fast and secure database server that works well with web projects, and it’s easy to install on your WSL Linux system. To install MariaDB and its client tools, open your Linux terminal and run the command ‘sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client’. This sets up the database needed for phpMyAdmin.

To install MariaDB, run the commands below:

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and restart MariaDB services.

sudo service mysql stop
sudo service mysql start
sudo service mysql restart

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

To verify and validate that MariaDB is installed and working, log in to the database console using the commands below:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Type the root password when prompted.

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 46
Server version: 10.3.29-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 Ubuntu 20.04
Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the current input statement.
MariaDB [(none)]>

The server was successfully installed if you see a similar screen.

PHP and Related Modules

PHP is a programming language needed for many web applications, including phpMyAdmin, and you can install it on your WSL setup. To install PHP along with the necessary modules for Apache and MariaDB, open your Linux terminal and run the command ‘sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-common php-mysql php-gmp php-curl php-intl php7.4-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-gd php-xml php-cli php-zip’.

To install PHP and recommended modules, run the commands below.

sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-common php-mysql php-gmp php-curl php-intl php7.4-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-gd php-xml php-cli php-zip

That should get PHP installed with recommended PHP modules that you can run with many PHP-based applications.

To validate that PHP is installed, run the commands below:

php -v

You should see an output like the one below:

PHP 7.4.3 (cli) (built: Oct  6 2020 15:47:56) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.3, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

You can also test with a test PHP script and display the installed version and related modules that are enabled or disabled.

To do that, run the commands below to create a PHP test file called phpinfo.php

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Then type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file.

Open your browser and browse to your server hostname followed by phpinfo.php

Restart Apache, then type the address and browse the file.

http://example.com/phpinfo.php

You should see the PHP default test page.

Install phpMyAdmin

With Apache, MariaDB, and PHP ready on your WSL system, you can now install phpMyAdmin to manage your databases easily. Open your Linux terminal and type the command ‘sudo apt install phpmyadmin’. During the installation, you’ll be asked to choose your web server; make sure to select ‘apache2’ when prompted.

sudo apt install phpmyadmin

During the installation, you’ll be prompted to select the webserver to run with phpMyAdmin.

+------------------------+ Configuring phpmyadmin +-------------------------+
 | Please choose the web server that should be automatically configured to   |
 | run phpMyAdmin.                                                           |  
 | Web server to reconfigure automatically:                                  |
 |                                                                           |
 |    [*] apache2                                                            |
 |    [ ] lighttpd                                                           |                                                     |
 |                                 <Ok>                                                                            |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Select Yes when prompted again to allow web config-common to install a database and configure.

 +------------------------+ Configuring phpmyadmin +-------------------------+
 |                                                                           |
 | The phpmyadmin package must have a database installed and configured      |
 | before it can be used.  This can be optionally handled with               |
 | dbconfig-common.                                                          |
 |                                                                           |
 | If you are an advanced database administrator and know that you want to   |
 | perform this configuration manually, or if your database has already      |
 | been installed and configured, you should refuse this option.  Details    |
 | on what needs to be done should most likely be provided in                |
 | /usr/share/doc/phpmyadmin.                                                |
 |                                                                           |
 | Otherwise, you should probably choose this option.                        |
 |                                                                           |
 | Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common?                   |
 |                                                                           |
 |                  <Yes>                  <No>                              |
 |                                                                           |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Enter a password and confirm for phpMyAdmin to register with the database, then select OK and complete the installation.

MySQL and MariaDB have a feature that provides root authentication via an auth_socket plugin.

This plugin authenticates users who connect from the local host via a socket file without prompting or using a password. You won’t be allowed if you attempt to log on to phpMyAdmin with the MariaDB root account.

If you wish to use the root account to log on to phpMyAdmin, use the steps below. You’ll need to change the default authentication mechanism from auth_socket to mysql_native_password to fix that.

Login back into the MariaDB console.

sudo mysql

Then run the commands below to change to turn off mysql_native_password module.

USE mysql;
UPDATE user SET plugin='' WHERE user ='root';

Save your changes and exit:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Restart Apache and browse to phpMyAdmin web portal using the URL:

http://localhost/phpmyadmin

That will bring up the login page, where you should be able to do so with the root account.

Begin managing your database server from the phpMyAdmin portal.

Conclusion:

Setting up phpMyAdmin on Windows 11 using WSL provides a powerful and efficient environment for managing MySQL databases. Here are the key takeaways:

• Accessible Interface: phpMyAdmin offers a user-friendly web interface for database management.
• Integration with WSL: Running phpMyAdmin within WSL eliminates the need for additional software installations or virtual machines.
• Powerful Features: It supports database tasks such as executing SQL queries, managing user accounts, and importing/exporting data.
• Enhanced Performance with WSL2: WSL2’s improved performance and compatibility make it an excellent choice for developers.
• Step-by-Step Installation: The installation process is straightforward, with step-by-step guidance available for each component (WSL, Apache, MariaDB, PHP).
• Security Considerations: Proper configuration of database access and user authentication enhances security.
• Easily Manage Databases: With phpMyAdmin, you can efficiently manage and monitor your database instances from any web browser.

phpMyAdmin offers valuable benefits for students and developers managing databases on Windows 11. This database management tool simplifies tasks such as creating tables, running SQL queries, and checking data. Its user-friendly interface makes database administration easier, even for those new to database work.