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1.8. Installing HelpSpot 5 On Windows Step by Step

Download HelpSpot

1. Download the latest zip package of HelpSpot from https://store.helpspot.com
2. Download your HelpSpot license file from https://store.helpspot.com

Install IIS

1. You can follow Microsoft's provided documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/install/installing-iis-85/installing-iis-85-on-windows-server-2012-r2
2. Make sure to enable the CGI Role under Web Server > Web Server > Application Development

Install PHP

1. Go to https://windows.php.net/download and download the latest NTS (Non thread safe) build of PHP 8.3 for x64
2. Extract the downloaded zip to a temporary location
3. Create a new PHP directory at C:\PHP
4. Paste the the contents of your downloaded php package into C:\PHP

Configure PHP

1. Rename C:\PHP\php.ini-production to C:\PHP\php.ini
2. Edit the php.ini file and add upload_tmp_dir=c:\PHP\tmp to the bottom of the file.
3. Find the "Dynamic Extensions" area of your php.ini file and enable these extensions: curl, fileinfo, gd, imap, ldap, mbstring, and openssl
4. Create a directory at c:\PHP\tmp

Install Certificate Store for PHP

1. Go to https://curl.se/docs/caextract.html and download the latest certificate bundle to C:\PHP\
2. Edit the php.ini file in C:\PHP\ and add these two lines to the bottom of the file:
   curl.cainfo="C:/php/cacert.pem"
openssl.cafile="C:/php/cacert.pem"

SQL Server Drivers For PHP

1. Download the SQL Server drivers for PHP 8.3 from https://github.com/microsoft/msphpsql/releases/latest/ (scroll down on the page to find Windows-8.3.zip)
2. Extract the Zip to a temporary location
3. Open the x64 folder in the extracted folder.
4. Copy php_sqlsrv_83_nts.dll and php_pdo_sqlsrv_83_nts.dll to C:\PHP\ext\
5. Open the php.ini file in C:\PHP\php.ini in a editor of your choice
6. Search for Dynamic Extensions
7. You will find a list of extensions in this section. Add the two new extensions needed:
   

   extension=php_pdo_sqlsrv_83_nts
   extension=php_sqlsrv_83_nts
   

Add PHP as an IIS FastCGI Module

1. Open the IIS Manager
2. Click on your server in the tree view and then select Handler Mappings
3. Choose add Module Mapping
   Request path: *.php
   Module: FastCgiModule
   Executable: C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe
   Name: PHPFastCGI
4. Click Ok to save the new mapping
5. Select "Yes" to add a entry to FastCGI Collection

Add IIS Default Document

1. Click on your server in the tree view
2. Click Add... in the Actions panel to add a new default document.
3. Enter index.php as a new default document and click ok.

Set Default Directory to Public

1. In IIS manager expand Sites in the tree view
2. Click on the Default Website
3. In the Actions panel under the Edit Site section, click Basic Settings
4. Change the physical path to %SystemDrive%\inetpub\wwwroot\public

Setup IIS URL Rewrite Extension

1. Download the extension from https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite
2. Install the extension.

Create Your HelpSpot Database and User

1. Open the SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your SQL Server
2. Right click on Security and choose New > Login
3. Enter the desired login name e.g. "helpspot_user"
4. Choose SQL Server authentication and set a password
5. Create the user.
6. Right click on Databases and choose New Database
7. Enter the desired database name e.g. "helpspot_db"
8. Set the owner to your previously created user

Setup HelpSpot Files

1. Copy the contents of your extracted helpspot zip package to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\
2. Your wwwroot directory should contain an app\ folder, bootstrap\ folder, config\ folder etc.
3. Edit the properties of the storage directory
4. In the Security tab give the IIS_IUSRS full control

Environment Configuration

HelpSpot requires a file named .env with configuration details.

HelpSpot includes a .env.example file. You can copy this file to create a file named .env and change the parameters as needed:

APP_DEBUG=false 
APP_URL=http://localhost 
APP_KEY= 
DB_CONNECTION=sqlsrv 
DB_HOST=localhost 
DB_PORT=1433 
DB_DATABASE=helpspot_db
DB_USERNAME=helpspot_user 
DB_PASSWORD=test 
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

Here are some details on the configuration:

• APP_DEBUG - Setting this to true will show full error stack traces in the web browser if errors occur. Errors will always appear in the log file at storage/logs/helpspot.log whether this is set to true or false.
• APP_URL - The URL used to access HelpSpot from the web browser. This is important to set correctly so HelpSpot generates links correctly. This should include the "https://" portion and any trailing file paths, such as "https://example.org/helpspot".
• APP_KEY - This will be set during installation should be present but left blank (exactly as APP_KEY=).
• DB_CONNECTION - one of mysql or sqlsrv. On most windows installs you will be using sqlsrv
• DB_* - the connection details for the database
• QUEUE_CONNECTION - This should stay as database, but it's possible to use other queue connections, such as redis.

Install HelpSpot

1. Open the command line and cd to cd C:\inetpub\wwwroot
2. Run the HelpSpot Installer: c:\PHP\php.exe hs install
3. Enter the requested information in the install wizard

Setup Your Queue

1. Navigate to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\helpers\windows
2. The setup.bat file is preconfigured to use the default paths that are used in these docs. If your php or website are installed at different paths, modify the first two lines to reflect your paths.
3. Run setup.bat. This will create your supervisor.conf file and install your queue services