Your PHP.INI file is not required to be in the C:/WINDOWS folder in XP. The trick is to make sure that the PHP.INI can be found.If you fail to reboot after adding the PHP folder to the path and creating the PHPRC environment variable, the file will likely not be found.If you can't reboot, then try creating the registry entries as described in the following document:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.php
When you execute " phpinfo(); " pay special attention to the data returned in " Loaded Configuration File ". If it does not show a path and a the PHP.INI file name, the file is not being loaded . The path of C:/WINDOWS in the Configuration File Path section is the default location where PHP looks for the INI file and does not mean that the file must be located there; in fact, the following document suggest that you leave the configuration file in the C:/PHP folder:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.manual.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.php
When you execute " phpinfo(); " pay special attention to the data returned in " Loaded Configuration File ". If it does not show a path and a the PHP.INI file name, the file is not being loaded . The path of C:/WINDOWS in the Configuration File Path section is the default location where PHP looks for the INI file and does not mean that the file must be located there; in fact, the following document suggest that you leave the configuration file in the C:/PHP folder:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.manual.php
You can download the latest php.ini here