Situation
I am unable to install openEMR. I followed the installation guide steps on the official OpenEMR website and pointed the browser to the localhost directory, but everytime I click on the openemr folder in the xampp directory, this error message appears “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘?’ in C:\xampp\htdocs\openemr\openemr\index.php on line 12”.
OpenEMR Version
I have tried this with the latest openEMR version (7.0.2) as well as an older one (7.0.0), but the same error message appears every single time.
Browser:
The latest XAMPP version is incompatible with my system, so I have installed an earlier version (xampp-win32-1.8.2-6-VC9), and I used Google Chrome to point to localhost.
Operating System
I’m using: Windows 10 (Home) 32-bit system
Search
Yes, but I am unable to find a similar problem/solution.
Logs
I am not a developer and I don’t know coding. I don’t know how to make any modifications in the PHP settings on php.ini file.
Can somebody explain what the problem is to me and provide me with some instructions on how to fix this?
Desperately needing advice.
As mentioned in the other thread, that 32-bit XAMPP package is from 2014, and is not going to have a current version of PHP8 that will support OpenEMR V7. Someone with more XAMPP experience will probably give a better answer, but looking through their available downloads, it looks like they dropped 32-bit support for XAMPP packages back around 2016. Given that Windows 10 is EOL later this year, it might be a good time to look at starting fresh with a 64-bit version of Windows 11. (or better yet, build a Linux based host). There isn’t anything you can change in the PHP settings that will compensate for it being 11 years old and far out of date. Think of it this way, if you took a Windows PC from 2014 running Windows XP, and tried to install the latest version of MS Office, it would be impossible, and fail. Same situation, current software can’t run on an obsolete operating system, in this case, XAMPP is providing the components that OpenEMR requires, but it’s more than 10 years behind.
@Penguin8R As per the other thread, thank you so much for your response, CG. I rather suspected the same issue myself. I am trying to set all this up for my sister, who is running a homecare nursing service for the underprivileged, so funds are limited, therefore all the outdated comp OS because they are donated machines. I love all your recommendations, but I think she might find upgrading to 64-bit / Windows 11 / Linux a bit beyond her current means. However, thanks for all your suggestions, and clarifications, they are super helpful & very much appreciated. Equipped with this extra understanding, I will try to see how to continue helping her.
