Moodle in English: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

Moodlers may already be aware of the "Moodle for Windows" discussion (which grew out of the Moodle on a USB stick memory discussion) going on on the developers forum.

With mention of things like XAMP and easyPHP (which does not sound easy at all) I thought that it was too arcane but the truth is, thanks to Floyd Collins and Daryl Hawes..

Moodle now installs on your home Windows computer with a few clicks.

Please download a Moodle for Windows installation package now!

The advantages are mainly in time saving. Lets say you want to make a course, populating it with resources and quizes. If you are using a remote server then each click probably takes a few seconds. If you have moodle inside your computer then everything is pretty much instantaneous.

Your Moodle for Windows also provides a great test ground for your moodle hacks, and the latests version of Moodle before you upload package to your server.

Moodle for Windows also provides the possibility of off line work, for students without an internet connection. Or even for students with an Internet connection, that just want everything to work that much faster.

If you are thinking of selling courseware, you could easily package a backup of your course with a Moodle for Windows.

Thank you Floyd Collins and Daryl Hawes.

I cannot recommend Moodle for Windows strongly enough.

Tim

Ps. the only modification to the instructions is that when you get to the database password page, enter "root" as the user and change nothing else, as mentioned by Floyd on the original thread.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by N Hansen - Sunday, 3 October 2004, 1:28 PM

Tim-I had never noticed this before, looks very useful! Not only does it look like a useful tool for increasing speed, but also useful when one want to create Moodle content while one is somewhere without access to the Internet (such as in a library where one wants to take notes for a Moodle course but can't get online to add them).

Some questions on how to use it though:

1. What is the difference between the versions with EasyPHP and XAMPP?

2. If one already has a Moodle site, and wants to download its content to their Windows machine to run there, how does one proceed?

3. If one wants to create a course offline with this tool, and then upload it to one's site, how does one proceed?

4. If one has a course already in operation, and wants to use this tool to create extra content for it offline (e.g. creating specific instances of activities), what is the best way to then get that content online into one's course?

5. Any suggestions on how to keep track of versioning when one is using this tool to create content for a live site would be nice.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Sunday, 3 October 2004, 2:47 PM

Dear N. Hansen,

1. What is the difference between the versions with EasyPHP and XAMPP?

I am not really sure. Somewhere on the mega-thread where it is offered Martin says that he likes XAMPP but Floyd Collins recommended EasyPHP to me. The latter is smaller and seems to work fine. I think that XAMPP may have been preffered in the earlier stages. Perhaps XAMPP comes with more, I am not sure what else, but other things that may not be relevent to moodle. The installation process seems to be easier for EasyPHP so I would go with that.

2. If one already has a Moodle site, and wants to download its content to their Windows machine to run there, how does one proceed?

One problem would be that one may find it difficult to get a zip file of the site. If you have command line access you could zip your site. If not then you just have to download the files. The place where they should go is in EasyPHPfolder called www. There is no "moodle" directory in the EasyPHP Moodle for Windows. All of the contents of the www folder of the EasyPHP "www" folder correspond to the things that we normally have in our site folder called moodle. So one would download the contents of ones moodle folder to the easyphp folder on the C drive of your computer. All that is except config.php since you want to keep the config php in the Moodle for Windows installation. That takes care of the first of the following --

2.1) The files themselves.
2.2) The data files.
That is pretty easy too. Just download the data files from your server into the folder EasyPHP/moodledata
2.3) The database.
This is more difficult. I know how to get a database backup from my server. I am not sure of the steps for restoring that backup on my home machine.

So if it were me, I would

1) Install EasyPHP
2) Get rid of the contents of the EasyPHP www folder except for config.php and replace with with the latest download of moodle.
3) Update your site to the same latest download of moodle.
4) Backup courses on your site and then resore them on your home machine.

3. If one wants to create a course offline with this tool, and then upload it to one's site, how does one proceed?

Just back it up, upload the backup zip to your site files, and then go to site files and press "restore". Easy as pie.

4. If one has a course already in operation, and wants to use this tool to create extra content for it offline (e.g. creating specific instances of activities), what is the best way to then get that content online into one's course?

Create an empty prototype course by creating a blank course on your windows manchine with the same start date and number of weeks/topics.

Add content to that empty course on your windows machine. Back it up. Upload it to your site. Restore it using the "add content to an existing course" function.

Note that the functionality for merging backups is rudimentary. You cannot edit the course on your server by overlaying it with restored content, only add new content to it. You can overlay a course, but I think that you loose all user data. I am not sure.

5. Any suggestions on how to keep track of versioning when one is using this tool to create content for a live site would be nice.

Sorry, I have no idea.

Tim

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Regarding Poin 5

by James Phillips - Sunday, 3 October 2004, 3:32 PM

Regarding point 5) raised by Timothy, when a back-up file is generated for a course, moodle includes a date and number in the name of the back-up file. You can simply refer to this number to keep track of versioning. I have used this "offline" approach quite extensively and have found it very efficient. EasyPHP works very well and is very straightforward.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Simon Reynolds - Sunday, 3 October 2004, 8:21 PM

After spending 16 hours in the same day, trying many different packages ofphp/mysql/apache on my windows machine I eventually found XAMPP.The installation was so easy.

I now have six different php programs working on it including osCommerce and three different versions of Moodle.

The big advantage that XAMPP has over the others is that the latest version fully supports gzip and zlib which are needed for backing up moodle courses and restoring from online versions. I had endless problems with easyphp due to it being quite an old compilation. I can now create a course locally, upload it to my remote server allow others to make modifications or create courses and then download onto my local machine for demos. This obviously has advantages when working with several course writers (providing you keep accurate course versioning control). You can also upload as a new course, and Moodle simply renames the new course with a 'yourcourse_1' extension. I now have what I think is the ideal scenario.

Two copies of moodle on the remote server, one for testing and one for 'live' courses
Two copies of Moodle on my desktop machine for writing and developing courses and playing with themes
Two copies of Moodle on my laptop for the same reasons and for off site training.

A couple of points that ought to be highlighted:

I have had problems logging in until I changed the cookie name for each installation as I sometimes found my self in the wrong installation after logging in. I accidentally deleted one course because I wasn't paying attention!
I also create separate folders for my Moodle installations on my local machine. This is worth doing, even if you may only intend having one installation on your computer - times change and it gives you flexibility for the future. I simply create a Moodle1 folder with a Moodledata1 folder and then Moodle2 etc. In XAMPP these go in the htdocs folder as in the illustration:
http://www.webwhiz.co.uk/graphics/htdocs.gif

htdocs tree

I hope this is useful for someone!

Simon

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Ray Lawrence - Sunday, 3 October 2004, 10:37 PM

Other quick tips:

Use different themes for development, sandbox and "final" installations.
Give each installation a distinctive name.

This helps prevent those silly mistakes when you mind wanders....

Ray

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Floyd Collins - Sunday, 3 October 2004, 11:05 PM

Thanks for using the package, I never know who all is using it. I have teachers using it at my school and they simply love the idea that they can have their own site at home. On my website I have uploaded my moodle for Windows install guide. I hope I have made it simple to follow and understand. If you know someone who wants to give Moodle a try but are not sure how to get started be sure to point them my way http://www.goohio.com/moodle
Thanks
Floyd

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) - Tuesday, 5 October 2004, 1:10 AM

Great packages!!

As a curiosity, I've to tell you that I was doing my own package with XAMPP last weekend! Obviously, I've stopped it

Now downloading 1.4 to test it...

Thanks and ciao

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by r robbie - Monday, 11 October 2004, 8:03 AM

Floyd,

Hi, is it easy to upgrade to the newest moodle once I have moodles for windows? is there anything specal to look out for? I've done it with linux in the past.

Thanks

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Floyd Collins - Monday, 11 October 2004, 9:19 AM

The upgrade process is the same as stated in the documentation on this site. If you want a back up of your files just copy the EasyPHP folder to a different location and rename it to something like EasyPHPBackup. This way if you mess something up all you have to do is copy it back and over write the one you messed up.

I am working on a upgrade app that will help with upgrading moodle for windows.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by r robbie - Wednesday, 13 October 2004, 10:09 AM

sorry for this silly question but... I installed it it was working great. The problem is how do start it up. I know where the xampp start is, but how do I start moodle? Once I find out I'll craet a shortcut.

Thanks again blush

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by r robbie - Wednesday, 13 October 2004, 10:40 AM

I figured it out.

thanks

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by James Depow - Tuesday, 12 October 2004, 7:55 PM

Hi Floyd,

I upgrade whenever a new stable version is released. The following are the steps I follow (I use PHPEasy):

I change my Theme to one of the standard ones (since I use one created for our site. if you use a non-standard theme, after upgrading the site doesn't display well)
In the PHPEasy/WWW folder, rename the moodle directory to something else.
Unzip the new version to the www directory of PHPEasy.
Unzip any of the modules (non-standard add-ons, such as Dialogue) that you use to the Mod directory.
Copy your config.sys file from the previous version to the new version.
Copy the theme file from the previous version to the Theme folder in the new version.
Access my Moodle site and click on Administration (which will trigger the update).
Change my theme

It all works quite well and takes me about 10 minutes.

Jim

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Floyd Collins - Tuesday, 12 October 2004, 8:38 PM

Jim,

Thanks for the info. The next time you upgrade would you be willing to do some screen shoots and create a step by step how too. I would love to add it to my site if you create one. One thing you may wish to add is to make a copy of the MySQL folder. Never know if you have to go back a ver and if you do your MySQL database will not work once you upgrade it.

Let me know.
Floyd

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by James Depow - Wednesday, 13 October 2004, 12:21 AM

Floyd, will do.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Juvenal Sahiri - Thursday, 21 December 2006, 2:04 AM

James,
What happens to all the modules that one might have installed in the previous version and which are not part of the moodle build he is not upgrading to. To be specific, assume that I have installed gallery2, portfolio and nwiki. If I decide to upgrade and take, say moodle 1.7, these plugins/blocks are not part of the download. If I follow your logic, I woul have to reinstall the plugin/blocks.

I am referring specifically to moodle in a box for windows packaged by NCSA.
Juvenal

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Barbara Joseph - Friday, 13 May 2005, 6:07 AM

Hello from Trinidad and Tobago:

*I read these entries to learn about Moodle for Windows. And I have resolved a few problems by reading them. I am glad for the package and to see it sitting on my desktop...the possibilities of this Campus is a gift. Thanks again for it and there is now an Internet address for my Literacy (MFW) site: (still underconstruction)...wish me /us luck!

http://www.stmalit.myip.org

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Elmar Zamora - Thursday, 18 November 2004, 2:45 PM

Problem with Moodle packaged for windows:

I downloaded the package and was working fine last night. I tried to access it this morning and was brought to the log in screen. I logged in using my name and the password but won't let me in.

I am using the Moodle in my PC.

Please help.

Elmar

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Thursday, 18 November 2004, 6:18 PM

Dear Elmar Zamora

Forgive me but it sounds to me like you have forgotten your password.

You can copy the guests password (guest) using the same procedure that you would use online as explained here
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=4552&parent=38070

Tim
takemoto

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Bob Boufford - Monday, 18 October 2004, 8:41 PM

Hi,

What is the difference between the versions with EasyPHP and XAMPP?

XAMPP installs and runs totally inside one folder with no entries in the Windows registry that makes it ideal for USB keys and other removable media. XAMPP is also being continually updated.

EasyPHP has entires in the Windows registry but it's very easy to install, lightweight (XAMPP comes with lots of additional servers and utilities) and has a nice little control panel that makes it a nice workstation based system.

Cheers,

Bob

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Martin Dougiamas - Sunday, 31 October 2004, 7:53 PM

Can I just kill this phrase a bit, Tim ... There is no "Moodle for Windows", as such, since Moodle is designed in a cross platform way and has always run on Windows servers.

What you are referring to is a Moodle distribution, or a Moodle package for Windows, which includes all the required software (PHP, MySQL, Apache) that turns a standard Windows computer into a server platform able to run Moodle.

On a related note, a cool new XAMPP-based Windows package is coming soon, thanks to Eloy's recent work on the installation process, announced at the Spanish Moodle Conference on Friday.

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Re: Moodle Desktop is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Sunday, 31 October 2004, 11:07 PM

Dear Martin,

Yes of course. Sorry. Please feel free to kill the phrase "Moodle for Windows" globally from all posts to all forums, replacing it with something less misleading.

I don't know what to call it but it is very handy and impressive. Of course Moodle is all that anyway, but to those of us that are not typing into a server, that have a plain old MS box at their fingertips, and even more to those MS-boxers that have struggled through a LAMP setup once or twice, to find something that installs like your average bit of downloadable windows software with a few clicks is, was for me anyway, a marvel. My guess is that there are a lot of people that still do not know how easy it is to have their own whateveritiscalled.

As you say, the important thing about whateveritiscalled is that it is not Moodle (which installs on a server easily anyway) but it is a complete AMP setup for windows with Moodle bundled in.

How about "Desktop Moodle (is a must)" aka Google Desktop, another recommended piece of software. Whatever it is called, everyone should have one. Or, everyone whose computer is not a server (this means you dear readers) should have one. My guess is that 80% or 90% of Moodle users are not server owners. Or, among the moodle using public if there are more that 10% or 20% server owners, that is because the average Jo public (teacher) does not realise that they can try out Moodle with a few clicks.

From a Moodle point of view, Moodle Desktop is just packaging. But great packaging.

Oh and another thing, relatedly, while we have Floyd and friends to thank for this, and I am deeply grateful to Floyd and friends, I think that the main download page for "Moodle Desktop" should be on Moodle.org.

Tim

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Re: Moodle Desktop is a must - very highly recommended

by julio rodriguez - Thursday, 4 November 2004, 3:53 PM

Of course i have installed moodle with windows xp professional and its works very fine.

Its easy to set up.

Set up moodle for windows is very easy.

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Re: Moodle Desktop is a must - very highly recommended

by Don Quixote - Sunday, 21 November 2004, 9:42 AM

I totally agree.

My first moodle in 2003 was on easyPHP/mysql/apache/windows and it was very easy to setup (easyPHP as well as moodle) and it is working fine since then.

I regularly upgrade moodle on this platform, too, no problems at all. (However I do not say anything concerning performance, since I am using it as the "first line tweaking and development" installation only.)

So... Moodle for windows isn't a must, it is an actual state ... at least since 2003

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) - Wednesday, 3 November 2004, 7:33 AM

Well,

names apart (I've called it "Moodle4Windows"

), you can try it from:

http://cent.uji.es/moodlemoot/files/Moodle4Windows.zip
(hosted by courtesy of the "Jaume I University" at Spain)

It weights 28MB. Some important notes are:

Features:
Easy and quick installer (have your Moodle's server running in 5 minutes).Everything is packaged in one folder (Apache, MySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin & Moodle).Woks under Windows 2000 and XP systems.All the tedious and required Apache & PHP settings are automatically configured.
Dinamically create the MySQL database and change "root" password.
Easy to backup, upgrade and uninstall.

Moodle 1.4.2 nearly (2004083122) - 28MB	Download
Important notes: Requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Destination host cannot have other http, https or mysqld servers running. Only suitable for new installations. Installation guide: Download and unzip to your desired location. Execute "setup_xampp". To start the server, execute "xampp_start" (under the main directory). Goto http://localhost. Follow installation steps. Enjoy! To stop the server, execute "xampp_stop" (under the main directory).

Moodle
1.4.2 nearly (2004083122) - 28MB

Download

Important notes:

Requires
Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
Destination host cannot have other http,
https or mysqld servers running.
Only suitable for new installations.

Installation guide:

Download and unzip to your desired location.
Execute "setup_xampp".
To start the server, execute "xampp_start" (under
the main directory).
Goto http://localhost.
Follow installation steps.
Enjoy!
To stop the server, execute "xampp_stop" (under
the main directory).

It includes a special "1.4.2 nearly" release with some "small surprises" built-in. How this package is going to be mantained and/or distributed in the future is something to decide...

Ciao

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by julio rodriguez - Thursday, 4 November 2004, 4:05 PM

I recommend download moodle for windows with easyphp its more easy to configure than xammp .

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) - Sunday, 21 November 2004, 8:54 AM

Configure? What?

Ciao

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by John Gone - Saturday, 25 December 2004, 1:32 AM

Hey Eloy, I've just installed using your 1.4.2 nearly and want to say Thanks! This is a very slick setup you've given us here. Super easy, super fast and so easy even I can do it.

This is definitely worth a look for anyone wanting to try Moodle on their own. When it's all done, but before using it, it is around 59MB so this is ideal for USB thumbdrive install. You don't have to do anything, this does it all for you, try it.

After you've extracted the contents it gives you a local Moodle site in under 5 minutes, this is slick! There is nothing to configure. If there's a bad point it is that you won't learn anything about how to configure a server because you won't get to see anything happening, it just works.

Thanks again Eloy

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Sunday, 26 December 2004, 9:17 PM

I am certainly going to give this a shot. On January 8, I will be doing a session about our Moodle experiences at our state edtech conference and I want to have this in case i cannot get online (which happened last year at this conference).

Thanks!

-- Art

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by John Gone - Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 1:55 AM

How'd you make out with this Art? Done yet or haven't tried yet?

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by Reeny George - Monday, 10 January 2005, 5:23 AM

I tried a slightly different approach using 'Uniform Server 3.2' on a USB Flash Drive. With 'moodle 1.5 dev' (removed files for langauges other than English), the whole setup takes less than 40MB and can be accessed from intranet or internet with the following config file

<?php /// Moodle Configuration File
unset($CFG);
$CFG->dbtype    = 'mysql';
$CFG->dbhost    = 'localhost';
$CFG->dbname    = 'moodle';
$CFG->dbuser    = 'moodler';
$CFG->dbpass    = 'zzzzzzz';
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
$CFG->prefix    = 'mdl_';
$CFG->wwwroot   = "http://".$_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]."/moodle";
$CFG->dirroot   = 'W:\\www\\moodle';
$CFG->dataroot = 'W:/moodledata';
$CFG->admin     = 'admin';
$CFG->directorypermissions = 02777;
require_once("$CFG->dirroot/lib/setup.php");
// MAKE SURE WHEN YOU EDIT THIS FILE THAT THERE ARE NO SPACES, BLANK LINES,
// RETURNS, OR ANYTHING ELSE AFTER THE TWO CHARACTERS ON THE NEXT LINE.
?>

Already Moodle helped our parish priest in his recent 'Tsunami Aid Appeal'. May be Floodle can help the aid agencies working in the region
to turn some of the existing Computers (with USB ports and Windows 9x, Me, 2k or XP) to powerful learning tools by pushing in a 'Floodle Drive' to the USB port- all with out modifying anything on the computer. There is even more potential by attaching a wireless link...

Reeny

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by John Hobson - Friday, 21 January 2005, 8:57 PM

Sounds great so I tried it, but I am getting an error message when I try to connect.

I am connecting to http://localhost/moodle/ and getting an error message saying

"Error: Database connection failed.

It is possible that the database is overloaded or otherwise not running properly.

The site administrator should also check that the database details have been correctly specified in config.php"

I deleted all the language files except "en" before connecting - I don't think that should hav any effect should it?

I have tried it with "Root" and "" replacing your passwords (this is what I had set on my hard drive version, but it seems to make no difference.

I can see the server running at http://localhost/a/ butif I try to log on to the "run mysql server page" I get

Security alert!
Possible attack HTTP_REFERER is not localhost. but ''.
(to disable this warning go: /home/admin/CGI/Secure.pm)

Any ideas? It would be great to get this woring for demos.

Regards

John

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by Reeny George - Saturday, 22 January 2005, 7:18 AM

1. run the batch file 'start.bat' (located under UniServer3_2 directory)
2. Goto http://localhost/a/ press Run MySQL Server
3. Goto http://localhost/moodle/ to view the 'Main Menu' page.
When I got the same error, ("Error: Database connection failed. It is possible that the database is overloaded ...." ), http://localhost/a/phpMyAdmin-2.6.0-beta2/ enabled me to make sure that mysql server was running and that user 'moodler' and password were all set properly for the database 'moodle'. Floodle 'phpMyAdmin UserOverview' is attached . Yes, keeping /not keeping all the languages is not the cause of that error. Why not recheck using phpMyAdmin?

The 'floodle' is working perfectly for me and it was copied to few harddisks - all working. However, such a setup on a harddisk is no more a 'floodle' !

Reeny

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by John Hobson - Saturday, 22 January 2005, 6:36 PM

Hi Reeny

I have a floodle!

In the end I had to comment out the security check in /home/admin/CGI/Secure.pm and then, when I had SQL running OK, I re-installed Moodle.

I have deleted the lang files except english and copied it all to a 64 Mb USB drive where it seesm to be quite happy, if not as fast as it was on my hard disk.

Thanks

John

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by Reeny George - Sunday, 23 January 2005, 5:19 AM

Hi John

Happy to know that floodle is now fully functional. The beauty of the setup,as you might have noticed already, is that one can access it from any of the network linked computers.
Floodle on 64MB is going to encourage a lot more people to keep a ' moodle on flash disk' handy.

Thanks

Reeny

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by John Hobson - Monday, 24 January 2005, 10:59 PM

Hmmm

My laptop only has USB 1 and the transfer from my oldish 64Mb USB drive is so slow that Moodle times out. Restoring a course exceeded the allowed 300 seconds. And viewing it once I had restored on my hard disk and re-copied also timed out

I just about get away with it on my newer 128Mb drive, but it is still VERRRY slow compared to HDD or Broadband access.

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB -- 'Floodle'

by John Gone - Tuesday, 25 January 2005, 10:21 AM

I have a USB Moodle too and use a slow USB 1 connection on one PC but it's never that slow. Something else wrong maybe?

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Saturday, 2 April 2005, 11:24 PM

I have installed Floodle(?) and it looks great when I access it via http://www.localhost/. But I do not know how to get to it from the Web. blush

(When I try to go to my IP address, I get a message that indicates the "connection was refused," so I guess that is not how to do it.)

I will try to figure it out, but any tips from more experienced Moodlers would be appreciated, of course.

-- Art

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Saturday, 2 April 2005, 11:35 PM

Hmmm... Maybe I am just not seeing something...

Directions for Connecting to Moodle in a Box

o Step 1: Find your Moodle server's address If you are using Windows 95/98/ME, go to the start menu. Click on run and type "winipcfg" without the quotes. A program should appear with the IP address of your computer.

o If you are using Windows 2000/XP+, go to the start menu. Click on run and type "cmd /K ipconfig" without the quotes. Your IP address should appear on the screen. Type exit when you are finished viewing this.

Step 2: Connect to Moodle

o If the Moodle in a Box is installed on the machine that you are connecting from open a web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, etc.) and type the address: http://localhost

o If the Moodle in a Box is installed on another machine, open a web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, etc.) and type http:// followed by the IP address that you saw in Step 1. Remember, step 1 should be completed on the machine that you installed Moodle in a Box on.

If all goes well, you should have a fully functional Moodle server for your classes. If this is not the case, it may be time to contact the schools technical support staff for additional help.

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by koen roggemans - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 1:49 AM

A firewall blocking port 80?

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 2:04 AM

Maybe so... I will keep trying to figure it out.

-- Art

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by John Gone - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 1:20 AM

Hi Art, what router are you using? Have you poked a hole in it for net access?

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 1:35 AM

I am using a Linksys router and have been trying to access the router via its web-based interface and cannot seem to get it to come up. I eitrher get a message saying the page cannot be displayed or that the browser timed out while trying to open the web page. Weird...

-- Art

--

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 2:14 AM

Hmmm... I think that my router conatins a server, too. It has an IP address of http://192.168.1.1. This might be leading to some sort of conflict. Maybe I should ininstall Floodle and see if I can then access my router's configuration page. If so, maybe I could change settings to permit WWW access and reinstall.

Other folks are getting this to work, so my lack of experience is surely the root cause of this problem.

I guess unistalling Floodle just means deleting the easyphp folder and everything under it. Or not?

-- Art

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by John Gone - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 2:54 AM

I don't know about the server on your router but if you're not using it, disable it.
So you're unable to access your router interface?
Have you been able to in the past?
You'll have to get that straightened out first, of course.
After you do you'll have to configure your router to open a port. I recommend using a port number other than port 80. This allows you to by-pass an ISP block on port 80. If they don't now they will probably in the future. Then just open this port in your router.

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 3:12 AM

Until today, I have never had a problem opening the router's config page. I will have to figure that out before I can do anything else.

The router is used to provide wireless Net access to a couple of laptops here at home. I guess that means that I am, indeed, using the server.

Oh, well, I will keep working on it.

-- Art

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Ray Lawrence - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 3:20 AM

This may be completely un-related but possible worth a look.

A couple of nights ago I attempted to run a new install of XAMPP on my PC. Apache would not run. After much fiddling around (and muttering) I discovered that Skype was the cuplrit.

If you have Skype installed, uncheck the box in "Connections" which sets port 80 as an alternative for incoming connections. I did this and everything was as it should be.

Ray

p.s was " http://www.localhost/ " in the post above a typo? It should be http://localhost.

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by Art Lader - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 5:45 AM

Don't have Skype and yes, http://www.localhost/, was, of course, a typo. Thanks for pointing it out.

I connect to the Net via a Linksys router (model BEFW11S4) and I am thinking that is the cuplrit. Still fiddling...

Thanks,
Art

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by koen roggemans - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 7:07 AM

Art, you say you have a few laptops at home. Can they reach your moodle by typing the lan ip-adress of your server? (it wil not work, since the path in your config.php should mention the ip adress of your router rather then the ip adres of your server)

If that works (an errormessage from moolde is enough), your router is to blame. On your router you should be able to map/direct an incoming request (eg on port 80 or if it's blocked 8080) to your servers ip adres on port 80

Your router being inaccessible could be caused by your browsers settings. Use IE and in the connection tab, advanced, uncheck all checkboxes (autodetect, proxyserver, ...) and try again.

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by John Gone - Sunday, 3 April 2005, 6:52 AM

No server on the BEFW11S4. So all the computers on that network have access in & out and everything's as normal except none of the computers on the network can access the router?

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Re: Install Moodle on a USB drive in less than 5 minutes!

by John Gone - Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 9:31 AM

Does anyone know why XAMPP on XP can't serve a jpeg without displaying it properly. It's like the browser displays it before it's got all the data.

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Re: XAMPP on AMD500- image display problem

by John Gone - Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 9:15 PM

Just re-read my previous post and it sounds like I think this is a XAMPP problem, not so.
I know this is due to my setup but don't know what's causing this.
I'm using an AMD500 with 320 megs of ram, XP and XAMPP with cable internet. Is it a hardware problem, software problem or lack of knowledge problem? Maybe a combination of all of these? Guesses are welcome as I'd like to know if it's possible to run a webserver with old, free and readily available parts.

The problem appears to be the way the software processes the image before it sends it. The process appears to fail to re-assemble the image properly. The file size is correct so it appears to be getting all of the necessary data, it just doesn't put it together right most of the time. Sometimes it works perfectly.

I've included a screenshot here, maybe someone will recognize this problem.

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Re: XAMPP on AMD500- image display problem

by John Gone - Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 11:55 PM

Maybe a better approach to this problem would be to request information about doing this project with Linux instead of Windows. This has the obvious advantage of eliminating many security issues and much of the cost.

Ideally an admin would need very little information/training and wouldn't really need to be a geek. The idea is to find a way to make Moodle available to as many people as possible without needing a techie to run the server and a banker to bankroll the project.

There is so much free computer hardware available that is capable of running Moodle that I'd like to see what's possible. Much of this hardware was being used very recently by the people reading this, some people are still using this same hardware every day. I know the system wouldn't be fast, it definitely wouldn't be sexy, it won't win any awards but it could deliver a lot of information, lessons, knowledge and hope. I know I'm a bit of a contrarian and I know that there must be a few others out there.

I think this is a real possibility, now more than ever, as many areas in North America have adopted "green" policies regarding used electronic components. I think many people would find it acceptable to donate good hardware rather than pay to have it re-cycled. Re-using is better than re-cycling from an environmental point of view.

There is now so much excess bandwidth available that a small school or classroom could "piggyback" on un-used bandwidth located almost anywhere.

Any ideas or suggestions? All comments welcome... pro or con.

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Re: XAMPP on AMD500- image display problem

by David Wilkinson - Friday, 3 June 2005, 2:49 PM

John,

Since there was no response, and it was over a month old, I suspect that you fixed this problem. However, just in case, this looks to me like you have a video driver or video card memory problem.

Regards,
David

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Re: XAMPP on AMD500- image display problem

by John Gone - Friday, 3 June 2005, 8:46 PM

Thanks David. Nope, never did solve this problem. I'll try to fix using your suggestion.
Any computer displaying the images from that server sees them damaged. The server causes most, but not all, images to display as above. Your idea would be an easy solution, will let you know if this works.

Thanks
John

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Re: XAMPP on AMD500- image display problem

by John Gone - Monday, 6 June 2005, 1:58 AM

Thanks for the suggestion David. I've changed video cards and have the same issue.

Diagnostic note: If I access the server using localhost everything works perfectly. When I try to access over the net images and some php menus are not displayed. Does anyone know if the menu problem points to a related problem?

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Joseph Rézeau - Tuesday, 1 February 2005, 6:42 AM

Hello Eloy!
Thanks for making your Moodle4Windows package available. It saved my day when I recently started to experience serious problems with my "normal" Moodle 1.4 package installation (on my home computer, for testing purposes).
After completely deleting Apache, php, Moodle from my Windows XP machine & instaling Moodle4Windows instead, everything worked fine again!

I have, however, one remark and 2 questions re your package:

The readme_en.txt readme file which accompanies your package is confusing, because the installation process described is different from the one you describe in your Moodle post dated 3 Nov 2004. I however managed to overcome that.
In that same readme_en.txt you refer to an \xampplite directory, and to PHPMyAdmin 2.5.7 but neither that directory nor that application seem to be present in Moodle4Windows. Why is that?
I would like to test Moodle4Windows on an usb stick. I have copied the whole Moodle4Windows directory to a 64Meg stick (removing unwanted language modules). I have started xampp_start.exe from that key (g: on my machine)... but it seems that http://127.0.0.1/moodle/ still refers to my moodle installation on my hard disk C: ..... how can I make it "go" to the usb key on G: ?

Thanks again,

Joseph_R

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) - Tuesday, 1 February 2005, 7:52 AM

Hi Joseph,

1.-I cannot remember such post at all (was I drunk?

). Anyway the installation process is so simple: Unzip, execute the setup_xampp file (only the first time) and then xampp_start and xampp_stop each time you want to start/stop it.

2.- About those readme files, I'm pretty sure that they are part of the original XAMPP package and I haven't written them. Simply ignore them! Follow the simpler instructions above.

3.- To move one xampp installation from one place to other you must execute again the setup_xampp (only once) in its new location. Then you must reconfigure config.php to your new location and it should be working again using xampp_start to start it of course.

Hope it helps...ciao

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by John Gone - Tuesday, 1 February 2005, 7:52 AM

try: http://localhost/yourmoodle

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by John Hobson - Tuesday, 1 February 2005, 5:08 PM

Also you may need to change your wwwroot and dataroot settings in config.php

J

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Tuesday, 15 March 2005, 6:40 PM

I always find myself recommending "desktop moodle" to people, who want to try out moodle, or who are creating a lot of course content, and need a moodle installation with fast reaction times.

There seem to be at least three places to download various flavours of "desktop moodle"

Eloy's zip
http://cent.uji.es/moodlemoot/files/Moodle4Windows.zip
Floyd's site
http://goohio.com/moodle/
with instructions at
http://tinyurl.com/6hcw7
And "moodle in a box" from Revitalise (who may I ask is this?)
http://revitalise.ncsa.uiuc.edu/resources/moodleinabox/

Sadly however, I do not know how to creat these myself, so that I might package 1.5 with perhaps an add on or two, and distribute it to interested parties.

If it were simple I could undertake to do this and put it on myserver.
Ideally, this package should be linked from the moodle homepage.

I would like to repeat how super duper these installer packages are (for Moodle beginners especially) and to thank Floyd, Eloy and the kind people at Revitalise for providing them.

I have long wondered about a anti-moodle-desktop vibe. I wonder that perhaps by making Moodle TOO portable it means that there is less likelihood that folks sign up with Moodle partners?　Or that its availability elsewhere detracks from the main moodle site?

If that were the case then no matter how useful it may be, I hope that the "Moodle desktop" be doombed to software oblivion but, if not then I hope that this MD (nice initials) distribution gains more support. I am always finding the apparent necessity for a server to be the biggest stubling block for moodle trial-uptake. There are so many people who can install windows applications but baulk and switch off at the word "server" or "php." Once people have tried "Moodle Desktop" then it does very little for them until they install it on a server. I this light moodle-desktop is the ultimate in lost-leader, or shareware-trial-version; it gets people hooked.

Timothy

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Sean S - Tuesday, 15 March 2005, 7:53 PM

I always find myself recommending "desktop moodle" to people, who want to try out moodle, or who are creating a lot of course content, and need a moodle installation with fast reaction times.

I never considered this aspect of moodle for windows. I only thought ti would be for people running a server using windows software. I will probably set up my second box as a place to develop new course content. Which I find takes a real long time via the browser interface.

Thanks for a great idea. And yes, I agree that this package(s) should be linked from the main site and easily found.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Martin Dougiamas - Tuesday, 15 March 2005, 8:31 PM

I have been planning for ages to provide a 1.5 version of the XAMPP package with Moodle. I started with Eloy's and got bogged down with the install.php script and as you know have much else to do.

If someone can commit to building a Moodle.org-branded XAMPP+Moodle minumum-install (unzip and double-click) package for me on regular basis I'd be absolutely ecstatic to host it on the main download page.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by elearning edu - Saturday, 19 March 2005, 12:33 AM

Hi Martin,
My suggestion is
1)use the floyd's windows installer - xampp + moodle 1.4
2)Install the same in the C drive for default installation
3)create MySQL config localhost with user name root use moodle DB
4)Complete the installation of moodle
5)go to htdocs Select all the files and store it under a folder Moodle1.4
6)Unzip moodle1.5 and copy all the files to htdocs
7)copy the config.php file from moodle1.4 and paste the same in htdocs
8) go to localhost/admin and follow the upgrading from moodle 1.4 to 1.5
9)Zip the entire xampp and post it for downloads
Anyone can download the zipfile (approx 69 MB) and unzip it to cdrive and type localhost
Moodle will be ready for work
Nagarajan

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Saturday, 19 March 2005, 10:21 AM

What is the difference between a zip file and an installer? Is it size? 69MB seems very larger. The other thing is that it would be nice to have moodle appear (like any other program) as an icon in the start menu of programs.

To this end, I would like to recommend the Easy PHP version because it is not necessary to start the server software seperately. At least one of the XAMPP versions (I can not remember which) required that one click on "start XAMPP" and "STOPXAMPP" icons in the XAMPP directory before and after use.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Genner Cerna - Saturday, 19 March 2005, 11:23 AM

I would also go for XAMPP!

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by elearning edu - Saturday, 19 March 2005, 1:19 PM

This is the same xampp you are mentioning. Installer is the one requires installing fisrt xampp and then installing moodle database and moodle 1.5.
Since the file size is heavy for download, I have enumerated the steps to create xampp + Moodle 1.5
I have given both versions 1.4.3 (stable) and version 1.5 (dev) If 1.4.3 is removed brfore zipping xampp the file size will be lesser.
Nagarajan

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Vincent Short - Friday, 25 March 2005, 8:18 PM

Hello

I am to present Moodle to a group of engineering/business schools in a couple of weeks

which is a blank screen blank screen as there is nothing there

and

file:///D:/Xampp/install/install.php

gave me this

i am doing this working on a Windows XPpro pc with Firefox

the flash disk is very nearly full with less than 5mo left

thanks in advance

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by John Gone - Friday, 25 March 2005, 10:45 PM

Hi Vinnie,
Which installer did you use? If you want a fast, hands-off and trouble free installation try this one:

http://cent.uji.es/moodlemoot/files/Moodle4Windows.zip

This is the Eloy version from above. It really is idiot-proof, that's why I use it. It works EVERY time and takes only a few minutes.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Vincent Short - Friday, 25 March 2005, 11:25 PM

Hi John

even though i have the flu i should be able to do this !!!

first off i used (because of the xampp)

Moodle for Windows packaged by Floyd Collins and config.php install script by Daryl Hawes Moodle 1.4+ with Xampp

http://www.goohio.com/moodle/Moodle1.4+andXampp.exe

and got as far as what you saw in my post

then i used the "moodle in a box" from Revitalise
http://revitalise.ncsa.uiuc.edu/resources/moodleinabox/

and got nowhere (now i can't even insert screen shots here!)

so hey as you know no need to be more catholic than the pope so lets go for one even i can get to work !

but strange things are happening : Easyphp is running but a right click on the icon and then click on administration i get an Easyphp popup telling that
it can't launch the browser blush

take care
vin

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by r robbie - Thursday, 26 May 2005, 7:06 PM

What's the differnce between Eloy's and floyd's Moodle for Desk top?

Thanks,

Robbie

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Re: Desktop Moodle is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Friday, 3 June 2005, 7:32 AM

Eloy's uses XAMPP and Floyd provides both I believe.
Eloy is a core moodle developer, I don't think that Floyd is.
People seem to recommend XAMPP for servers and by the technologically knowledgable.
I use Floyd's easyphp for offline, desktop, course content creation and it works well for me.
I hope they are update updated sometime soon.
the image processing library, GD, would be nice.
Is GD in the XAMPP version?
Timothy

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Re: Desktop Moodle is a must - very highly recommended

by Mark Stevens - Friday, 3 June 2005, 3:02 PM

Yes, GD is in XAMPP.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Lael ... - Wednesday, 8 June 2005, 9:54 AM

Hi there - tried using the XAMMP version recommended, having issues with ports... screen shot attached. I am not sure what this means /how to fix it..

any help appreciated! (running xp pro, zonealarm, no servers that i know of thoughtful ..)

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Bob Boufford - Wednesday, 8 June 2005, 10:27 PM

Hi,

It's likely ZoneAlarm. Shut it down completely and see if everything starts up. Also, Windows XP Pro SP 2 firewall could also be doing some blocking depending on the security level.

Cheers,

Bob

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by A. T. Wyatt - Thursday, 9 June 2005, 11:56 AM

I will agree that this is a great tool! I must express my appreciation to the Moodle team and Eloy LaFuente for building a package that I could install myself (poor programmer but great direction follower!) I was just delighted that I could manage the install and the upgrade without help (only two or three false starts). I am looking forward to developing without all the endless small waits imposed by my variable Internet connection. Next, I may even try the thumbdrive version! approve

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Scott Karren - Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 6:58 AM

So, I am trying to get this working with Xampp. I am having a small problem with the drive letter designations. I installed this on my USB flash drive E: The install went fine but, when I try to start Xampp it gives me erros about not being able to find files on C: How do I resolve this?

Scott Karren

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Timothy Takemoto - Friday, 3 June 2005, 7:38 AM

I just walked my student through an installation of of Easyphp Moodle and he changed the installation location from C: to C:/program files. Oh woe. We had to change so many things in the set up that we gave up and reinstalled using the C default. One day there may be an installer that updates all the config files automatically to conform with the installation path.

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Jeff Wood - Sunday, 25 December 2005, 4:55 AM

Just installed it locally and WOW surprise

TOO COOL

The only thing I had to tinker with were the instruction. I apache and mysql must be left running to make it work.

Thanks to all involved!

Jeff

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by Pravinkumar Israel - Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 1:34 PM

I have down loaded the windows installer "MoodleWindowsInstaller-latest-16". I hve installed it on my machine running Windows XP professional. This is my first experience with Moodle. The installation is a breeze. I am able to hit the opening window as the localhost. But now one problem. How do I access moodle from this in other networked computers? This must be a very simple procedure! Please pardon my ignorance. Could somebody help?

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Re: Moodle for Windows is a must - very highly recommended

by frank weissman - Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 1:36 AM

The way to do that is rather simple

When your computer is a network computer, there will be at least 2 ip adresses. After you have made moodle working it will be a server also.

1: 127.0.0.1 (internal ip adress)

2: your external IP adress ( in a home network mostly 10.x.x.x, or 168.x.x.x) ( you can find it by using the following lines)

start
open dos(command) window
type "ipconfig" at prompt

So from other computers in your network you can use the adress your computer uses (make sure your firewall allows contacting you computer) Just type 10.x.x.x.

3. your external IP adress ( when you are directly linked to the outside world from your computer) something like 184.123.123.123. Then they have to type this ip adress.

4. your external IP adress, using a router/switch/adsl modem. You have to "tell" your router that every one connecting to you from the outside world has to be routed to 10.x.x.x. for port 80. Mostly cofigured in the virtual server of your router. (see image).If you want people from outside your network to be able to connect to moodle, you need to make sure those outside computers will connect to 10.x.x.x en redirect port 80 (internet) to 10.0.0.5., otherwise they will get stuck in your router (see your router manual)

router

Frank Weissman

Weissman Onderwijs advies

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