LARAGON – Add phpMyAdmin

1. Introduction

In a fresh Laragon installation, the default database administration tool is HeidiSQL.

But you can easily add phpMyAdmin to your Laragon installation.

There are 2 possible ways to add phpMyAdmin to your installation :

  • you could use Laragons build in menu Tools → Quick Add → *phpMyAdmin
  • you could install it manually

We’ll explain both ways below.

2. Laragon - Add phpMyAdmin using Quick add

Before we install phpMyAdmin by using Laragons built-in Quick add procedure, we have to make sure it uses the latest version of phpMyAdmin :

  • In the menu, select ToolsQuick addConfiguration.
  • Replace the line *phpmyadmin= by the (more generic) link to phpMyAdmin latest version : phpmyadmin=https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.zip
  • Then save the file and exit the editor.

Now we can install the latest phpMyAdmin version.

  • In the menu, select ToolsQuick addphpMyAdmin.
  • After installing phpMyAdmin, http://localhost/phpmyadmin will be opened in a new browser tab or window.
  • In a fresh Laragon installation, the default user is root  and the password is not set.
  • Select your preferred language.
  • Log in to phpMyAdmin by clicking the Go button.

3. Laragon - Add or update phpMyAdmin manually

  • Download the latest phpMyAdmin version as a ZIP archive from phpmyadmin.net into your \Downloads\ folder.
  • The compressed file is named for instance phpMyAdmin-5.2.1-all-languages.zip.
  • Unpack the downloaded ZIP archive in a folder with the same name phpMyAdmin-5.2.1-all-languages.
  • Rename the folder to phpMyAdmin.
  • Delete any existing  \etc\apps\phpMyAdmin\ folder of your Laragon installation.
  • Move the complete \phpMyAdmin\ folder from your \Downloads\ folder to the \etc\apps\ folder of your Laragon installation.

In Laragons horizontal Button Menu, you can now click the Database button to open phpMyAdmin.

4. Configure phpMyAdmin

In case you installed phpMyAdmin for the first time, it will complain about the secret passphrase not being set in the configuration file :
  • Open \etc\apps\phpMyAdmin\config.inc.php and look for following code (around line 16) :
  • $cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'blablabla...'; /* YOU MUST FILL IN THIS FOR COOKIE AUTH! */
  • Replace the secret with a random string that is at least 32 characters long :
  • $cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'P5DS+radU0TOqI7HX$cH!eb3zwnDDoDr';
  • Save the file and exit de text editor.
  • Log off and log back on again to phpMyAdmin. The warning should be gone now.

In case you installed phpMyAdmin for the first time, it may also complain about the phpMyAdmin configuration storage not being completely configured :

  • Inside the warning, click on the link Find out why.
  • Inside de next notice, click on the link Create.
  • phpMyAdmin will now create and configure a database named phpmyadmin.
  • Click on the Home button. The warning should be gone now.

14 Comments

  1. Hi,
    Hope you see my comment. There’s an error when I press Quick Add and then phpmyadmin.
    It just says “no file: …/2022120…phpmyadmin.phpmyadmin-5…”
    I tried to do what you had written, but it didn’t work. Please help me.
    Thank you so much.

    • Please read the post carefully. You forgot this part :

      In the menu, select Tools → Quick add → Configuration.
      Replace the line *phpmyadmin= by the (more generic) link to phpMyAdmin latest version : phpmyadmin=https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.zip
      Then save the file and exit the editor.

  2. Hi,

    Installed the latest 5.2 of phpMyAdmin manually. When trying to open, get the following error

    Fatal error: Unparenthesized `a ? b : c ? d : e` is not supported. Use either `(a ? b : c) ? d : e` or `a ? b : (c ? d : e)` in C:\Users\Amruth\Downloads\Laragon\etc\apps\phpMyAdmin\libraries\classes\DatabaseInterface.php on line 615

    • Hi HosaH,

      You are not using PhpMyAdmin version 5.2 but an older version.
      Try updating your LARAGON PhpMyAdmin according to the guide above.

      Kind regards,

      Kreaweb

  3. This was very helpful. Of all the content I came across on this topic, yours was the only one that mentioned the issue of cookie and editing that config file. That actually solved my problem.

    Thanks

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