Windows

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up the SilkPanel SaaS application on your local development environment.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed on your system:

• Git
• Composer
• Node.js (v18 or higher recommended)
• PHP 8.3

WARNING

SilkPanel requires exactly PHP 8.3. Other versions are not supported.

Step 1: Install Laragon

Laragon is a portable, isolated, fast & powerful universal development environment for PHP, Node.js, Python, Java, Go, Ruby, etc.

1. Download Laragon from the official website: https://laragon.org/download
2. Run the installer and follow the installation wizard
3. Launch Laragon after installation

Step 2: Configure PHP

1. In Laragon, right-click on the tray icon and navigate to PHP > Version
2. Select PHP 8.3
3. Enable the required PHP extensions:
   • Go to PHP > Extensions
   • Enable zip extension

Step 2.5: Install Microsoft ODBC Driver and PHP SQL Server Extensions

SilkPanel requires SQL Server connectivity for the Silkroad MSSQL databases. On Windows with Laragon, you need to install the Microsoft ODBC Driver and enable the sqlsrv and pdo_sqlsrv PHP extensions.

2.5.1 Install Microsoft ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server

1. Download the ODBC Driver 18 from Microsoft:
   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/odbc/download-odbc-driver-for-sql-server
2. Run the installer (msodbcsql.msi or msodbcsql_X64.msi).
3. Follow the setup wizard. Accept the license terms and complete the installation.

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After installation, you can verify it by opening a command prompt and running:
odbcinst -q -d
You should see ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server in the list.

2.5.2 Download the PHP 8.4 SQL Server Extensions

Laragon uses PHP 8.3 by default, but you can also use PHP 8.4. The SQL Server extensions are not bundled, so you need to download them manually.

1. Go to the official Microsoft PHP SQL Server extensions release page:
   https://github.com/microsoft/msphpsql/releases

2. Download the latest version that matches:

   • PHP version: 8.4 (or 8.3 if you stay with Laragon's default)
   • Architecture: x64 (most common) or x86
   • Thread safety: Thread Safe (TS) – Laragon uses TS by default

   Example file name: php_sqlsrv_84_ts_x64.zip and php_pdo_sqlsrv_84_ts_x64.zip

3. Extract the ZIP files. Inside you will find:

   • php_sqlsrv.dll
   • php_pdo_sqlsrv.dll

2.5.3 Copy the Extensions to Laragon's PHP Directory

1. Locate your Laragon PHP extensions folder. Typically: C:\laragon\bin\php\php-8.4.x\ext

(Replace 8.4.x with your actual PHP version.) 2. Copy both .dll files from step 2.5.2 into this ext folder.

2.5.4 Enable the Extensions in php.ini

1. In Laragon, right-click the tray icon and go to PHP > php.ini.
2. Find the section for dynamic extensions (search for extension=).
3. Add the following two lines at the end:

extension=php_sqlsrv.dll
extension=php_pdo_sqlsrv.dll

4. Save the file and close it.

2.5.5 Restart Laragon

Right-click the Laragon tray icon and select Restart All.

2.5.6 Verify the Installation

Open a terminal in Laragon (click Terminal from the tray menu) and run:

php -m | findstr sqlsrv

You should see both:

pdo_sqlsrv
sqlsrv

Also run:

php -v

to confirm you are using the correct PHP version (8.4 or 8.3).

WARNING If the extensions are not loaded, double-check: The .dll files are in the correct ext folder. The php.ini entries are correct and not commented out. You restarted Laragon completely.

Now your Laragon environment is ready to connect to SQL Server databases using SilkPanel's installation wizard.

Optional: Switch PHP Version in Laragon

If you want to use PHP 8.4 instead of 8.3, Laragon makes it easy:

1. Download PHP 8.4 from windows.php.net (Thread Safe, x64).
2. Extract the files to a new folder: C:\laragon\bin\php\php-8.4.x
3. In Laragon, right-click tray icon > PHP > Version > **php-8.4.x`
4. Then follow steps 2.5.2 – 2.5.6 for PHP 8.4.

Step 3: Download the Project

You have two options to download the project:

Option A: Clone via Git (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/Devsome/silkpanel-cms silkpanel-saas
cd silkpanel-saas

Option B: Download ZIP

1. Go to the GitHub repository
2. Click on Code > Download ZIP
3. Extract the ZIP file to your desired location
4. Navigate to the extracted folder

Step 4: Configure Laragon Document Root

To properly serve the application, you need to set Laragon's document root to the public folder:

1. Right-click on Laragon's tray icon
2. Go to Laragon > Menu > Document Root
3. Navigate to your project folder and select the public directory
4. Restart Laragon for changes to take effect

Step 5: Install Dependencies

Open your terminal in the project root directory and run the following commands:

Install PHP Dependencies

composer install

This will install all required PHP packages defined in composer.json.

Install Node.js Dependencies

npm install

This will install all frontend dependencies.

Build Frontend Assets

npm run build

This compiles and optimizes your frontend assets for production.

Step 6: Configure Environment

1. Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env

2. Generate an application key:

php artisan key:generate

This will set the APP_KEY value in your .env file.

Step 7: Run the Installation Wizard

1. Start your web server (Laragon should already be running)
2. Open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost/install

3. Follow the installation wizard to complete the setup:
   • Database configuration
   • API Key License
   • Application settings

Next Steps

Once installation is complete, you can:

• Access the admin panel
• Configure your application settings
• Set up your first server
• Explore the documentation

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(optional) Make sure to configure your database settings in the .env file before running the installation wizard.

WARNING

Never commit your .env file to version control as it contains sensitive information.