Gave it a try with 5.6.15 except for having a hard time finding the correct php_ldap.dll got everything working fine on WinXP SP3. Moved the whole thing to WIn2008 R2 and get the same error! phpMyAdmin works so MySQL is running and some part is connecting with PHP? Hmmmm mysql_connect('localhost','user','pw'); Does not work but mysql_connect('192.168.1.111','user','pw'); Does! Even made sure 127.0.0.1 localhost was in hosts? Some Win2008 security thing on localhost? Another place to change IP's if needed but it is working!!