As a WAMP user, you are familiar with phpMyAdmin. Like any application bundled with WAMP, phpMyAdmin upgrades will be released. How do you know when a new upgrade is released? Simple, phpMyAdmin will tell you in the right sidebar, along with a message across the bottom after you login.

Screenshot of phpMyAdmin with arrow pointing to the upgrade notification message
phpMyAdmin Upgrade Notification

Without further adieu, here’s how to upgrade…

  1. Download the most recent stable version of phpMyAdmin.

  2. Extract the contents of the download to the apps directory inside your WAMP root, typically c:/wamp/apps.

    Screenshot of the most recent stable version of phpMyAdmin being extracted to the apps directory in WAMP
    Extract Upgrade
    • Inside the apps directory is a directory named after the version of phpMyAdmin that is currently running. Leave this directory present in case you need to roll back.
    • After the extraction is finished, I like to rename the extracted directory with the same naming convention that WAMP uses — phpMyAdmin-4.3.6-all-languages becomes phpmyadmin4.3.6.

  3. Copy the config.inc.php configuration file from the current version of phpMyAdmin to the new version.

    Screenshot of the configuration file from the current version of phpMyAdmin being copied to the new version
    Copy phpMyAdmin Configuration

  4. Update the phpmyadmin.conf configuration file located in the alias directory, typically c:/wamp/alias. Point the Alias and <Directory> paths to your new phpMyAdmin directory.

    Screenshot of updated directory paths in the phpmyadmin.conf configuration file
    phpMyAdmin Configuration

  5. Update the wampmanager.conf configuration file located in the WAMP root directory.

    • Toward the bottom of the file, under the [apps] block, change the current phpmyadminVersion setting to your new version number.

      Screenshot of the phpmyadminVersion setting in the wampmanager.conf configuration file
      phpMyAdmin Version

    • Toward the top of the file, under the [main] block, verify that the navigator setting points to the correct location of your computer’s web browser. If this is wrong, you will see the following [perplexing] error message when you try to launch apps from the WAMP menu tray:

      Could not execute menu item (internal error) [Exception] Could not execute run action: The system cannot find the file specified

      Screenshot of the Aestan Tray Menu Error message in WAMP
      WAMP Aestan Tray Menu Error

  6. Last but not least, Restart All Services in WAMP (assuming WAMP is running), and login to your upgraded phpMyAdmin.

    Screenshot of the WAMP menu option to restart all services
    Restart All Services

    Screenshot of phpMyAdmin just after an upgrade was completed
    phpMyAdmin Upgrade Complete
Posted by: John Dugan

Comments

  • niknetniko

    Thanks for the guide!

    For me, the phpmyadmin.conf file was located in the alias directory.

  • Glad to help! …And yes, it is in the alias directory. I’ve updated the post – thx for catching the error 🙂

  • Denes Papp

    thanks, helpful summary!

  • faris rayhan

    thanks for the help

  • Tejas

    Thanks, Helpful summary

  • Thanks for this helpful post…..
    Updated my phpMyAdmin succesfully…. 🙂

  • srinivasreddy

    very very thanks for the help

  • Braday

    After I follow your instruction to update PHPMyadmin, i got this msg “Apache/2.4.9 (Win64) PHP/5.5.12 Server at localhost Port 80” How do give permission to use this port?? Thank you.

  • Viral Champanery

    not working for me . i have follow each and every step but update version is not show in my phpmyadmin and show older version
    please anybody can help me out with this .
    i want to update phpmyadmin from 4.1.14 to 4.5.0.2

  • M.TAYYAB MEHMOOD

    thanks it worked for me.

  • M.TAYYAB MEHMOOD

    Version information: 4.5.0.2 (up to date)

    successfully update

  • Phil Neal

    I had the same problem, but found that if I edit the first line in the c:wampaliasphpmyadmin.conf to match the new version number as well as the directory line as noted above and then Restart All Services it worked

  • Both lines were noted in step 4, and underlined in the corresponding screenshot.

  • Phil Neal

    Thanks, I can see that now. My bad:)

  • PHPmSqL

    Thank you!

  • PHPmSqL

    btw do you know how to add bookmark to phpmyadmin ?

  • Arturo Guillén

    Thanks, man!

  • Nikola Tesla

    updated!_ thanks….

  • After following the steps, restarting the WAMP service and launching PMA I received the dreaded 403 error, access forbidden. It dawned on me that the newly downloaded folder name was phpMyAdmin-4.5.1 is using upper, lower and special characters. If I had read your instructions to the letter I would have used all lower case letters with no spaces or special characters. Once I made the correction in the phpmyadmin.conf directory it all worked PERFECTLY! thanks

  • Happy to help Michael 🙂

  • Marco Yandun

    Hello John. I followed all the steps but the icon remains on orange color. How to know where the problem is and how to fix it? I have WAMP 2.2 installed on a windows 7 x32 machine. Thank you very much…

  • Hi Marco,

    The orange WAMP icon typically indicates issues with Apache. The best way to troubleshoot the issue is to first take a look at your Apache logs. Those can be found in your wamp/log folder, or through the gui. Although, if all you are trying to do is update phpmyadmin, you should retrace the steps above and ensure that you completed each one as noted

  • مدريدي أصيل

    Thanks for your help, it’s very useful

  • CCXVI

    You should then say that it’s actually needed to use the same name format since otherwise it can cause issues! Because you said that you like to rename the folder in a certain way we think that’s nothing but a personal feeling!
    Thanks for the article anyway!

  • thx

  • Great post, quick and easy. I made the same mistake and did not change both sections in “phpmyadmin.config,” a quick glance at the comments and immediately realized what I didn’t do.

    Thanks!

  • Jordi

    Thank you so much John!!

  • Gabi GiuluÈ™an

    Thanks a lot! Worked like a charm [Version information: 4.5.4.1 (up to date)]

  • Stephen Wilson

    Perfect! THANKS for this contribution.

  • Graham Moran

    So I followed all the directions to get this updated and after reading the thread I got it all working. Strangely when I log in to myphpadmin i get the following page. Which give me a a parentdirectory link as well as the newest 4.5.5.1 admin link. Any suggestions on how to not have to go through multiple steps to log in would be greatly appreciated

  • Mohanish

    Worked perfectly !!! Updated WAMP.. Thank you John 🙂

  • Norman Berger

    Thanks – worked perfectly.

  • Chris

    Thank you for your time and hard work putting this article together

  • fallenagus

    Thanks a lot man, I was having db export issues with the phpmyadmin4.5.5.1 version wich comes with WampServer Version 3.0.4 64bit, and used your tut to upgrade to phpMyAdmin4.6.1 and everything is smooth now.

  • luis

    i did everything but when i open on my browser show this message

    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING or ‘(‘ in C:wampappsphpmyadmin4.6.0index.php on line 8

  • Mihai_V

    In my wampmanager.conf file, the path to Mozilla Firefox on Windows 7 is written using backslashes, NOT slashes. My latest phpMyAdmin version works OK, but is this how it should be ?

  • Windows uses backslashes. Backslashes are, for the most part, escape characters outside of the Windows world. So, you need to escape the escape character, hence \.

  • Mihai_V

    Thanks ! And, thanks for your VERY HELPFUL tutorial, of course.

  • Thanks for the step-by-step! **Screenshots are always helpful** Easy Peasy.

  • AnnGepp

    Awesome tutorial. Thanks!!

  • James Summers

    Great Instructions, worked perfectly.

  • Pingback: How To Config Phpmyadmin On Wamp | Goods News()

  • Sam

    Thanks, this works just perfectly for me. You re the best

  • You are quite welcome. I’m glad it helped 🙂

  • Malahini

    thanks