How to Setup Laravel on Windows with Laragon

1 Install Laragon

Download and install Laragon:

# Download Laragon from https://laragon.org/download/
# Run the installer and follow the installation wizard

During installation, make sure to:

• Select the "Full" installation option
• Choose your preferred installation directory
• Allow Laragon to add its bin directory to PATH

2 Configure PHP Version

Laragon allows you to switch between PHP versions:

# Right-click Laragon tray icon
# Go to PHP > Version
# Select PHP 8.1 or your preferred version

Verify PHP installation:

php -v

3 Create New Laravel Project

Create a new Laravel project using Composer:

cd C:\laragon\www
composer create-project laravel/laravel my-project

Or clone an existing project:

cd C:\laragon\www
git clone https://github.com/username/project.git

4 Configure Virtual Host

Laragon automatically creates virtual hosts. Access your site at:

http://my-project.test

Configure your .env file:

APP_NAME=MyProject
APP_ENV=local
APP_KEY=base64:your-key-here
APP_DEBUG=true
APP_URL=http://my-project.test

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=my_project
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

5 Install Dependencies

Install project dependencies:

cd my-project
composer install
npm install

Generate application key:

php artisan key:generate