PDO Driver cannot connect to sql - using xampp

Question

I have been looking for a solution for this for hours now and I found a lot of solutions, but unfortunately none of them worked.
The error I am getting is :

Fatal error: Uncaught PDOException: could not find driver in C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\sqlsrv\database.inc:124 Stack trace: #0 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\sqlsrv\database.inc(124): PDO->__construct('sqlsrv:Server=l...', 'sa', 'PWHERE...', Array) #1 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\database.inc(1689): DatabaseConnection_sqlsrv->__construct(Array) #2 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\database.inc(1479): Database::openConnection('xilenacc', 'default') #3 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\database.inc(2350): Database::getConnection('default') #4 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\lock.inc(167): db_query('SELECT expire, ...', Array) #5 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\lock.inc(146): lock_may_be_available('schema:runtime:...') #6 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\bootstrap.inc(433): lock_acquire('schema:runtime:...') #7 C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\bootstrap.inc(455): DrupalCacheArray->set(Array) #8 [internal function]: DrupalCacheArray->__destruct() #9 {main} thrown in C:\xampp\htdocs\site\includes\database\sqlsrv\database.inc on line 124`

This is line 124 at database.inc:

 PDO::__construct($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);`
    <br>

Information on what I am using:

PHP Version: 7.0.25
Mssql express 2016
Windows Server 2012
If I can provide further information, please let me know.

What I tried:

Downloading SQLSRV30 from microsoft website and putting the extensions in php -> Result: After putting the dll names in php.ini, I restarted apache and checked phpinfo(), I didn't find sqlsrv.
I double checked the information I have in settings.php - they are correct, I even tried changing my sql pw because I thought it might be causing this, but it didn't work.

Are you using anything like msphpsql to help PHP talk to your server and SQL db? github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql — slothluvchunk
No, I'm not using PDO_DBLib either. I'm not using anything to let PHP talk to MSSQL.. — Youssef

Youssef Youssef · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16T23:59:04

Finally after hours of googling, I found a solution that actually worked even though it doesn't look so important.
The solution that worked with me is to install Microsoft Redistributable 2012. Kinda weird but worked!

PDO Driver cannot connect to sql - using xampp

1 Answers