PHP executable not found. Install PHP 7 and add it to your PATH or set the php.executablePath setting

I'm running windows 10 fresh copy and I just installed visual studio code. I was trying to develop a PHP project using VS Code. But I'm having trouble in setting up the environment.

I saw a blog post and I downloaded the binary file of PHP 7 and place it in the "C" drive. Then I set path variable too.

But still, I'm getting this issue.

You installed PHP IntelliSense extension, and this error because of it.
So if you want to fix this problem go to this menu:
File -> Preferences -> Settings
Now you can see 2 window. In the right window add below codes:

{
    "php.validate.executablePath": "C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.0.4\\php.exe",
    "php.executablePath": "C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.0.4\\php.exe"
}

Just like below image.



NOTICE: This address C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.0.4\\php.exe is my php7.exe file address. Replace this address with own php7.exe.

For those who are using xampp:

File -> Preferences -> Settings

"php.validate.executablePath": "C:\\xampp\\php\\php.exe",
"php.executablePath": "C:\\xampp\\php\\php.exe"

This one also works

1. Remove the "php.executablePath" line from the VS code settings.

2. Then add the xampp php path to the System variables

After that restart the Visual Studio Code

After adding php directory in User Settings,

{
    "php.validate.executablePath": "C:/phpdirectory/php7.1.8/php.exe",
    "php.executablePath": "C:/phpdirectory/php7.1.8/php.exe"
}

If you still have this error, please verify you have installed :

• 64-bit or 32-bit version of php (x64 or x86), depending on your OS;

• some librairies like Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145;

To test if you PHP exe is ok, open cmd.exe :

c:/prog/php-7.1.8-Win32-VC14-x64/php.exe --version

If PHP fails, a message will be prompted with the error (missing dll for example).

Try this !!!. This will solve your problem for sure!

Method 1 -

Step 1 - Go to 'Environmental Variables'.

Step 2 - Find PATH variable and add the path to your PHP folder.

Step 3 - For 'XAMPP' users put 'C:\xampp\php' and 'WAMP' users put 'C:\wamp64\bin\php\php7.1.9' ) and save.

Method 2-

In VS Code

> File -> Preferences -> Settings.

Open 'settings.json' file and put the below codes.

If you are using WAMP put this code and Save.

  "php.validate.executablePath": "C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.1.9\\php.exe",
  "php.executablePath": "C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.1.9\\php.exe"

If you are using XAMPP put this code and Save.

  "php.validate.executablePath": "C:\\xampp\\php\\php.exe",
  "php.executablePath": "C:\\xampp\\php\\php.exe"

Note - Replace php7.1.9 with your PHP version.

On Ubuntu 20.04 the path to executable php is

List all available paths: $ whereis php

One of the paths is: /usr/bin/php

More details on where to add this path: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/php

If you are using macOS, you need to install php. You can install it via brew executing the following commands on the terminal:

brew tap homebrew/core

brew install php

After that, you can open VS Code and the error will disappear

For me it was important to delete the "php.executablePath" path from the VS code settings and leave only the path to PHP in the Path variable.

When I had the Path variable together with php.executablePath, an irritating error still occurred (despite the fact that the path to php was correct).

For me this setting was working.
In my windows 8.1 the path for php7 is

> C:\user\test\tools\php7\php.exe

settings.json

 {  
 "php.executablePath":"/user/test/tools/php7/php.exe",
 "php.validate.executablePath": "/user/test/tools/php7/php.exe"
 }

see also https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/533