Installing and Launching
On this page:
- Downloading and installing PhpStorm
- Starting PhpStorm on the various platforms
- Importing PhpStorm usage preferences from a previous version
Downloading and installing PhpStorm
You can download the latest version of PhpStorm from the JetBrains website. (There are the versions for Windows, OS X and Linux.)
Depending on your operating system:
- Windows: Run the
.exe
file and follow the instructions of PhpStorm Setup wizard. - OS X: Open the
.dmg
package, and drag PhpStorm to the Applications folder. - Linux: Unpack the
.tar.gz
archive into any directory within your home directory.
Refer to the section Starting PhpStorm on the various platforms for details.
Starting PhpStorm on the various platforms
Since 2016.1 PhpStorm uses Java 1.8.
Starting PhpStorm on Windows
If during the installation you selected to create a shortcut on your desktop, double-click that shortcut.
Otherwise, go to the <PhpStorm>\bin
folder
(e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 2016.1\bin
) and
run idea.exe
or idea.bat
.
See also, Importing PhpStorm usage preferences from a previous version.
Starting PhpStorm on OS X
See Importing PhpStorm usage preferences from a previous version.
Also, if you wish to change JDK PhpStorm is running on, use the action Switch boot JDK. To invoke this action, use Searching Everywhere or Find Action.
Starting PhpStorm on Linux
To launch PhpStorm on Linux, follow these steps:
-
Download the
PhpStorm-*.tar.gz
file from the Download page. - Unpack the
PhpStorm-*.tar.gz
file to an empty directory using the following command:tar xfz PhpStorm-*.tar.gz
- Because running PhpStorm from wherever you downloaded the file to may be inconvenient, it
is recommended that you move the extracted or unpacked archive folder to the desired
location using the
mv
command in one of the following formats: -
Switch to the
bin
directory in the new location:For example,cd <new archive folder>/PhpStorm-*/bin
cd my/desired/location/PhpStorm-*/bin
-
Run
phpstorm.sh
from thebin
subdirectory.
Additional launchers
Additionally, you can create a desktop shortcut and use it to start PhpStorm:
See also, Importing PhpStorm usage preferences from a previous version.
Creating a desktop shortcut
To create a desktop shortcut for PhpStorm, use the Create Desktop Entry command. This command is available:
- In the Customize PhpStorm wizard - when you run PhpStorm for the first time.
- On the Welcome screen: .
- In the main menu: .
You can choose to create the shortcut:
-
For all of your computer users:
In this case, the
jetbrains-phpstorm.desktop
entry file is created in/usr/share/applications
. - Only for yourself:
the
jetbrains-phpstorm.desktop
entry file is created in~/.gnome/apps
and~/.local/share/applications
.
Importing PhpStorm usage preferences from a previous version
When you start PhpStorm for the first time, the Complete Installation dialog opens, and you have an option of importing PhpStorm usage preferences and license information from a previous version.
Select one of the following options and click OK.
- I want to import my settings from a previous version (<path>). If this option is present in the dialog, the directory that contains the PhpStorm settings and license information is found at its default location. (The corresponding path is shown within the option name in parentheses.) Most likely, this is the option that you want.
-
I want to import my settings from a custom location.
You may have the directory with the settings
and license information
available
but not at its default location.
If the option discussed above is missing, PhpStorm doesn't know where this directory is;
the path initially shown in the field is just a guess, and
there's no guarantee that the necessary folder is really there.
To import the settings in this case, you can specify the folder with the settings
(if you know where it is) , or an installation folder of the previous PhpStorm version.
To do that, click
and select the folder in the dialog that opens .
- I do not have a previous version of PhpStorm or I do not want to import my settings. If this is your case, select this option.
See also, Exporting and Importing Settings.