How to change version of php in Xampp

Take this example that makes PHP version from 5.3 to 5.2 in Xampp

1. Download and install latest xampp to G:\xampp. As of 2010/03/12, this is 1.7.3.
2. Download the zip of xampp-win32-1.7.0.zip, which is the latest xampp distro without php 5.3. Extract somewhere, e.g. G:\xampp-win32-1.7.0\
3. Remove directory G:\xampp\php
4. Remove G:\xampp\apache\modules\php5apache2_2.dll and php5apache2_2_filter.dll
5. Copy G:\xampp-win32-1.7.0\xampp\php to G:\xampp\php.
6. Copy G:\xampp-win32-1.7.0\xampp\apache\bin\php* to G:\xampp\apache\bin
7. Edit G:\xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-xampp.conf.
   
   • Immediately after the line, <IfModule alias_module> add the lines

(snip)

<IfModule mime_module>
  LoadModule php5_module "/xampp/apache/bin/php5apache2_2.dll"
  AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
  AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php5 .php4 .php3 .phtml .phpt
    <Directory "/xampp/htdocs/xampp">
      <IfModule php5_module>
        <Files "status.php">
            php_admin_flag safe_mode off
        </Files>
      </IfModule>
    </Directory>
</IfModule>

(Note that this is taken from the same file in the 1.7.0 xampp distribution. If you run into trouble, check that conf file and make the new one match it.)

You should then be able to start the apache server with PHP 5.2.8. You can tail the G:\xampp\apache\logs\error.log file to see whether there are any errors on startup. If not, you should be able to see the XAMPP splash screen when you navigate to localhost.