Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress

by on April 19, 2008 · 23 comments· last updated at April 25, 2008

Q. I'm installing WordPress blog system under Debian Linux and getting an error which read as follows:

Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress

How do I fix this problem under Debian Linux?

A.. First make sure MySQL server is running, type the following command at a shell prompt:
# /etc/init.d/mysql status
If MySQL is not running, enter:
# /etc/init.d/mysql start
If MySQL is not installed, type the following command to install MySQL server:
# apt-get install mysql-server
Make sure MySQL module for php5 is installed:
# dpkg --list | grep php5-mysql
To install php5-mysql module enter:
# apt-get install php5-mysql
Just restart Apache2 web server:
# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Now PHP support for MySQL should work without a problem. Also make sure you set localhost or 127.0.0.1 as MySQL hostname while performing wordpress installation.



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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Deb April 27, 2008 at 8:32 pm

I’m having the same problem trying to install on my localhost in Windows XP environment – any tips on how to fix that? I tried the above and that didn’t work. I’m running Apache 2 and PHP MyAdmin 5.2 (I believe). Everything else works fine and I can create and access MySQL databases in PHP MyAdmin without any issues.

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2 Callum August 3, 2008 at 11:09 am

The reason it didn’t work is because this is for a linux environment, not Windows.

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3 David October 14, 2008 at 8:13 am

Thanks, that did it for me.

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4 billythekid December 13, 2008 at 12:40 am

Thanks for this, I’ve been trying various “fixes” all night, this did the trick for me. Props!

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5 Matt December 30, 2008 at 4:40 am

This was super useful. Thanks for the post.

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6 Mariana April 6, 2009 at 11:43 am

I am trying to install wordpress under debian.
It is not my first installation, neither the second. It always gone ok.
Not I got the same error pointed out here (you can go to the website). I do have php-server installed and running, I do have php5 installed. I do have the module php5-mysql.

And it still gives me the same error.

Who can help me?

Thanks, Mariana

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7 Mariana April 6, 2009 at 11:45 am

Sorry I wrote “Not I got the same error ..”, I meant “Now I got the same error..”

And also “I do have php-server installed and running”, I meant “I do have mysql-server installed and running”

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8 Biju Subhash April 29, 2009 at 11:25 am

Thank you for sharing…
nice post..

Biju Subhash

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9 Nguyen Lan May 7, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Thanks for shared but I host on godaddy so How can I do with this problem. My host is shared hosting on Window. Can you show me.
Thanks

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10 John May 12, 2009 at 1:58 am

Thanks so much!

Followed your process, step by step. Worked like a charm first time!

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11 aldeol July 13, 2009 at 10:09 am

Thank you so much. I have solved my problem. Thank you again for this useful article…

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12 BentleyCoup August 15, 2009 at 7:25 am

Thanks i stumbled on the same problem. One would think that the mysql module would be included with PHP5 without asking for it.

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13 Jasper December 16, 2009 at 2:11 pm

Thanks. This was a life saver for my local installation on a Ubuntu Virtual Partition!

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14 lacops June 10, 2010 at 10:38 am

So simple and yet such a great help!

Thank you so much :-)

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15 blesbok June 11, 2010 at 11:12 pm

Thank you, this was very handy. Turned out all that was left to do was to restart Apache. Almost felt I could kick myself…

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16 Phoreys July 21, 2010 at 4:01 pm

Nice! That fixed my issues…

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17 John Connor September 27, 2010 at 7:24 pm

Thanks, that solved my problem.

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18 PB April 11, 2011 at 2:04 am

This fixed it for me. Gracias!

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19 Ghostetr January 4, 2012 at 12:55 am

THANKS THIS WAS A HUGE HELP :D
hehe i just reinstalled my ubunto and updated to version 11.10
i had install the mysql extension but forgot to start it
ty for your help :D

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20 Cindy November 17, 2012 at 12:33 pm

Morning….The blog has been working for YEARS, then all of a sudden this morning I am getting: Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress.. I’ve read the above but I don’t know what it means. I also can’t access my control panel inside of wordpress anymore. Can someone please give me step-by-step on how to fix this? I need this back up asap. Thank you!

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21 ITN John November 17, 2012 at 1:12 pm

First, these commands need to be typed using a ssh session. Can you access your server using SSH? Are you a server admin? Is your server is managed by a hosting company? Is it on a shared hosting account? If so contact tech support. These commands will only work if you know how to use ssh and login as root user.

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22 Tom January 15, 2013 at 8:35 pm

Old post I know, but I’m trying to run MySQL 5.1.58 on Ubuntu 12.04, It’s a task I was assigned. I’m also trying to run Apache and PHP5. I compiled MySQL 5.1.58 and apt-get both Apache and PHP5. Everything works great, but when I try to connect PHP and MySQL with php5-mysql, it breaks MySQL.

When I run ./bin/mysqld_safe –user=mysql &, I get an error about /var/lib/mysql for .err, not being there. I tried ln -s to the mysql install location, that fixes that error. When I check the .err file it says:

[ERROR] Can’t find messagefile ‘usr/share/english/errmsg.sys’
[Note] Plugin ‘FEDERATED’ is disabled.
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld: Uknown error 1146
[ERROR] Can’t open the mysql.plugin table. Please run mysql_upgrade to create it.
InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 8.0M
InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
InnoDB: Operating system error number 13 in file operation.
InnoDB: The error means mysqld does not have the access rights to
InnoDB: the directory.
InnoDB: File name ./ibdata1
InnoDB: File operation call: ‘create’.
InnoDB: Cannot continue operation.
mysqld_safe mysqld from pid fiel /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid ended

I don’t understand what ‘access rights’ mysqld needs, when I check them, mysql user has ownership of data file in /usr/local/mysql/. Is there something I’m missing/doing wrong? Appreciate any help.

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23 Shahreer March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Hi, I need this solution on Windows not Linux. Pls help me!!!

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