Mysql: phpMyAdmin mbstring error

Whenever I try to enter my phpMyAdmin, it gives me this error:

The mbstring extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.

I've looked all over the Internet for a fix, but all I've found is errors similar to mine, but not the same, or the exact same but there was no fix given.

I am also using Windows.

 Answers

In Centos I have installed a php extension. I did this with:

yum install php-mbstring

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check your php.ini file in the root directory of your php installation. In the extensions part of the configuration you should find:

;extension=php_mbstring.dll

remove the leading ';' to uncomment and enable the extension so it looks like this:

extension=php_mbstring.dll

restart your apache and it should work.

Edit: I just read that you are already using a webhost. Does your webhost have a interface where you can set php variables etc? Or a .ini file you can edit?

If not you may are forced to talk to the webhost and ask them to enable that particular extension.

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In Ubuntu Server I have installed a php extension. I did this with:

sudo apt-get install php-mbstring

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Ubuntu 15.10

1) sudo nano /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini

uncommited extension=php_mbstring.dll

2) sudo apt-get install php7.0-mbstring

3) restart apache2

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I had this problem in the past with MAMP on a Windows machine.

Open MAMP start page and go to your current configuration of PHP (phpinfo). Check the Configuration File (php.ini) PATH.

Mine was set to C:\Windows, where of course I had no PHP.ini file.

Either change the php.ini path to C:\MAMP\conf\php5.6.8 (or your php version conf path) or just copy php.ini to c:\windows.

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I've solved my problem by this way: Edit the php.ini file:

1. change extension_dir = "ext" into extension_dir = "D:\php\ext" （please write ur own full path for the extension directory）
2. change ;extension=php_mbstring.dll into extension=php_mbstring.dll （delete the ";"）
3. Then just save your php.ini file and copy it to ur Windows directory。(“C:\Windows“)
4. restart the apache server。

The above is my solution,Hope it will work for u.

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I just installed WAMP 3 on Windows 10 and had this issue.

I had to go to C:\wamp64\bin\php\php7.0.0\ and copy the php.ini file to C:\wamp64\bin\apache\apache2.4.17\bin\

Then I restarted WAMP, and was finally able to access my phpMyAdmin file.

Note: this is probably not the correct way to do this because now there are 2 php.ini files. There is probably a setting in an Apache file that points to the php.ini file, but I haven't seen that yet. I will update this if I find it.

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Strangely, I noticed that the php.ini file that WAMP was using wasn't the one in the php directory, but rather was referencing a php.ini file in the bin directory... I copied my php.ini file to wamp\bin\apache\apache2.4.17\bin directory, restarted the wamp services and PHPMyadmin was off and running...

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In php's directory try change extension of configuration file (php.ini-development - default value of this file). I changed it to php.ini and phpmyadmin has worked.

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To solve this problem on Linux, you need to recompile your PHP with the --enable-mbstring flag.

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Please uncomment the following lines at php.ini

;extension=php_mbstring.dll ;extension=php_exif.dll ; Must be after mbstring as it depends on it ;extension=php_mysql.dll ;extension=php_mysqli.dll

This will help to solve.

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I recently updated from PHP 5.4.44 to PHP 5.6.12 on my Windows 8.1 OS and got this phpMyAdmin missing mbstring error message.

After trying the above suggestions, none of which worked for me, I discovered version 5.4.44 placed the DLL extensions in the PHP root directory whereas version 5.6.12 placed them in the PHP\ext subdirectory.
All very fine except unfortunately someone forgot to change the php.ini accordingly. So two possible solutions:

1. Copy the DLL extensions from the ext sub-directory into the PHP root directory, or
2. Edit the php.ini file to call all the DLL extensions from the ext sub-directory.

I chose the easier first and phpMyAdmin now works fine.

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I check phpinfo() and look for this line:

Configuration File (php.ini) Path          C:\Windows

And I copy php.ini from C:\xampp\php to the folder and it works for me.

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my solution : Copy a shortcut from your php.ini from your php-directory to the apache-dir. This way you refere too 1 file on the correct place. This solved (at least in my case) the problem.

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My solution:

I had wamp x32 installed before, needed to remove and then installed the x64, receiving the same message "The mbstring extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.".

On php.ini, all references to wamp, such as extension_dir = were pointing to "C:/Program Files/Wamp/...". Check all paths, the correct for me is "C:/Wamp64/". Restart services and it's all right now.