Last updated 2026-02-09
This guide will help you install osTicket Awesome for the first time into a directory on your self-hosted Windows IIS server.
You have chosen to install osTicket Awesome into a subdomain. The subdomain can have any name of your choosing. Common names that people use are osticket, helpdesk or support.
For the purpose of these instructions we will assume that your website is www.your-domain.com and that your osTicket Awesome installation will be in www.support.your-domain.com
Make sure you have PHP installed on your system. osTicket 1.18 requires PHP 8.1 or 8.2 (the Non-Thread Safe version is recommended for IIS).
If PHP is not installed, download the appropriate Non-Thread Safe (NTS) .zip package from windows.php.net/download. You will also need the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015–2022 if it is not already installed.
Extract the PHP .zip to a directory such as C:\PHP. Then configure IIS to use PHP by adding a FastCGI handler mapping in IIS Manager. The easiest way to do this is with PHP Manager for IIS, which lets you register the PHP version and enable extensions through a graphical interface.
For a detailed walkthrough with screenshots, see Install PHP with IIS on Windows Server 2025 (RDR-IT) or Install IIS and PHP 8.x on Windows 11 and Server 2025 (4sysops).
Note: The Web Platform Installer (WPI) that was previously recommended for installing PHP on IIS was retired by Microsoft on December 31, 2022 and is no longer available.
Make sure you have MySQL installed on your system. osTicket requires MySQL 5.5 or higher (MySQL 8.0 is recommended for new installations).
If MySQL is not installed, download the MySQL Installer for Windows from dev.mysql.com. Run the installer, choose Server only (or Developer Default if you also want MySQL Workbench and other tools), and follow the prompts. During setup you will be asked to create a password for the root user. Create a strong password and make a note of it.
Download and extract the latest osTicket Awesome .zip. Put the contents of the upload folder in your web root directory.
Rename include\ost-sampleconfig.php to include\ost-config.php
Make the ost-config.php file writable
(Optional) Install additional PHP extensions to increase osTicket performance.
Make sure you have the PHP Manager installed on your system. If not, install it.
Open IIS Manager, go to Sites > your-domain.com > click on PHP Manager.
Under PHP Extensions click on Enable or disable and extension.
If any of the following are available, enable them.
php.imap.dll
php.intl.dll
php.opcache.dll
Locate your php.ini file (e.g. C:\PHP\php.ini).
Open php.ini as Administrator and add the following line to the very end of the file:
zend_extension=php_opcache.dll
Create a database using HeidiSQL or MySQL Command Prompt. Create a user for your database.
Go to www.support.your-domain.com and follow the prompts to complete the installation
Create your first osTicket administrator account and password
In most cases you will keep the default settings for Table Prefix and Hostname
Enter the Database name you create earlier
Enter the Username and Password you created earlier.
Click Install Now
Remove write access of ost-config.php
Now take a look at our post-installation tasks