How To Instal XAMPP for Windows

Method A: Installation with the Installer

Using the installer version is the easiest way to install XAMPP.















 
 After the installation is complete, you will find XAMPP under Start | Programs | XAMPP. You can use the XAMPP Control Panel to start/stop all server and also install/uninstall services.

The XAMPP control panel for start/stop Apache, MySQL, FilaZilla & Mercury or install these server as services.

Method B: "Installation" without the Installer

Unzip the zip archives into the folder of your choice. XAMPP is extracting to the subdirectory "[Ziel]\xampp" below the selected target directory. Now start the file "setup_xampp.bat", to adjust the XAMPP configuration to your system.
If you choose a root directory "C:\" as target, you must not start "setup_xampp.bat".

Like with the installer version, you can now use the "XAMPP Control Panel" for additional tasks.

I want to start XAMPP without setup

If you extract XAMPP in a top level folder like "C:\" or "D:\", you can start most servers like Apache or MySQL directly without execution of the file "setup_xampp.bat".
Not using the setup script, or selecting relative paths in the setup script, is preferred if you are installing XAMPP on a usb drive. Because on each pc such a drive can have an other drive letter. You can switch from absolute to relative paths at any time with the setup script.


Source: http://www.apachefriends.org