IIS 7.5 PHP failure "The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly" - php

Question

I've been attempting to get PHP working with IIS 7.5 and have hit a bit of a roadblock. Whenever I try to load the page I get the following error:
"HTTP Error 500.0 - Internal Server Error
C:\Program Files\PHP\php.exe - The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly"
Module FastCgiModule
Notification ExecuteRequestHandler
Handler PHP_via_FastCGI
Error Code 0x00000000
Requested URL *http://localhost:80/index.php
Physical Path C:\inetpub\wwwroot\index.php
Logon Method Anonymous
Logon User Anonymous
Failed Request Tracing Log Directory C:\inetpub\logs\FailedReqLogFiles
I've modified the PHP.ini file as required for use with IIS, and have also switched it to verbose mode. There isn't any log fiel in C:\inetpub\logs\FailedReqLogs, and none related to this error in the other log files generated.
I've tried the other fixes I've found here and elsewhere but nothing's been successful so far.
In some detail these were:
re-checking PHP.ini
Setting up fastCGI to work with PHP in IIS (configuring it to load the php.exe)
Trying WinCache as the execution method.

Answer 1

I had this problem when I upgraded PHP 5.4.14 to 5.5.3 (32-bit).
To fix it I had to install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 3
I found out that I needed this DLL by running php --version from the console when my web pages no longer loaded after the upgrade. Which then revealed that I needed the MSVCR110.dll, that comes with the 32-bit VS redistributable update from MS. Since I have optional updates turned off in Window Update, I did not get it automatically.
They also come in different flavors (32-bit, 64-bit, and ARM) 32-bit is what worked for me.

Answer 2

Install the 32 bit of Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 4
NOT the 64 bit

Answer 3

It seems that there are some dll extension in your php which are not work properly and force the CGI closed. Try to comment every extensions in php.ini file and see whether the error will exist or not.
[EDIT 1]
After some struggles I found out that the IIS is non thread safe web server and all the extension which you want to use in php for IIS should used nts lib for compiling. If the extension compile with thread safe library and add to IIS the IIS would not start. In this case your extension in thread safe(used in apache I guess) and should not add as an extension in IIS

Answer 4

Is this page you're trying to hit doing anything intensive?
I've had this problem before, and the error message was misleading.
You might want to try increasing your memory limit for that particular page. First find out the peak memory usage for that page:
echo memory_get_peak_usage(true);
Then set your memory limit appropriately:
ini_set("memory_limit","1024M");
Hope that helps!

Answer 5

I know its an old thread, but someone might save some headbashing.
In php.ini, changing
; Whether or not to enable the dl() function. The dl() function does NOT work
; properly in multithreaded servers, such as IIS or Zeus, and is automatically
; disabled on them.
; http://php.net/enable-dl
enable_dl = Off
to
; Whether or not to enable the dl() function. The dl() function does NOT work
; properly in multithreaded servers, such as IIS or Zeus, and is automatically
; disabled on them.
; http://php.net/enable-dl
;enable_dl = Off
Having enable_dl = Off doesn't work, commenting out the entire line does.

Answer 6

I had this problem when I was configuring PHP 5.4.17(32-bit).
To fix it I had to install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 4 and it worked fine after installing this update.

Answer 7

As mentioned correctly in above answers it's related to "Visual C++ Redistributable" that's not installed or not installed correctly.
Depending on my expertise on this issue.
1- First take care, each PHP version depends on specific Visual C++ Redistributable version (11,12,14,..)
so first is to check back your PHP version with the notes on the left side of php site:
PHP Download page
search for "Which version do I choose?" then see what version of VC++ is required to you.
2- YOU HAVE TO Download VC 32 and 64 BOTH. and check if your PC has it already so Unistall both of them (for the same version only).
and then install 32 first and 64 after. (no need for any restarts unless it asks).
3- Complete the php installation other steps for iis, apache or ....
I hope it helps you.

Answer 8

if you have two application like (your app, phpmyadmin) just disable APC extension
Hope that fix the issue
it's worked with me
if not just install Microsoft visual C ++ 86 and 64

Answer 9

I have the same problem, which I fixed by installing the 32 bit of Visual C++, redistributable for Visual Studio 2012. 64 bit doesn't work for me.

Answer 10

This may be because required libraries are not available. Run the php-cgi.exe from a command prompt and see if it executes successfully. It should output some HTML if it is working. I was getting a general 0xFFFFFFFF error code - which is not very helpful.
If it instead returns an error, resolve this before continuing.
I had installed the Visual C++ runtimes as indicated, but the minor version was older than the one used to compile the executable and it failed on starting.
After applying a later version of the same runtime, the program ran normally.
Many of the other suggestions talk about this, but fail to provide a simple test. See The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly for a similar question.