PDO Driver cannot connect to sql - using xampp - php

Question

I have been looking for a solution for this for hours now and I found a lot of solutions, but unfortunately none of them worked.
The error I am getting is :
Fatal error: Uncaught PDOException: could not find driver in
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\sqlsrv\database.inc:124 Stack
trace: #0
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\sqlsrv\database.inc(124):
PDO->__construct('sqlsrv:Server=l...', 'sa', 'PWHERE...', Array) #1
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\database.inc(1689):
DatabaseConnection_sqlsrv->__construct(Array) #2
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\database.inc(1479):
Database::openConnection('xilenacc', 'default') #3
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\database.inc(2350):
Database::getConnection('default') #4
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\lock.inc(167): db_query('SELECT expire,
...', Array) #5 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\lock.inc(146):
lock_may_be_available('schema:runtime:...') #6
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\bootstrap.inc(433):
lock_acquire('schema:runtime:...') #7
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\bootstrap.inc(455):
DrupalCacheArray->set(Array) #8 [internal function]:
DrupalCacheArray->__destruct() #9 {main} thrown in
C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\sqlsrv\database.inc on line
124`
This is line 124 at database.inc:
PDO::__construct($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);`
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Information on what I am using:
PHP Version: 7.0.25
Mssql express 2016
Windows Server 2012
If I can provide further information, please let me know.
What I tried:
Downloading SQLSRV30 from microsoft website and putting the extensions in php -> Result: After putting the dll names in php.ini, I restarted apache and checked phpinfo(), I didn't find sqlsrv.
I double checked the information I have in settings.php - they are correct,
I even tried changing my sql pw because I thought it might be causing this,
but it didn't work.

Answer 1

Finally after hours of googling, I found a solution that actually worked even though it doesn't look so important.
The solution that worked with me is to install Microsoft Redistributable 2012. Kinda weird but worked!