Fix "mbstring extension missing" Error from phpMyAdmin

Last night when I downloaded and ran the latest portable version of XAMPP (with PHP7), I encountered an error message that states, "The mbstring extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration".

After googling for few minutes, I was able to fix this issue and I am going share it how I did that.

Step 1: First thing first, find the "php.ini" file from "xampp\php" directory.

Step 2: Open up the php.ini file with your favorite HTML editor and search for the following line.

; extension_dir = "ext"

Simply remove the semicolon ";" from the very beginning of this line. Replace the word "ext" with your physical hard drive location for "ext" folder(it should be inside "php" folder). Since my "xampp" folder was on my "D:" drive. The URL was "D:\xampp\php\ext". So the full line on php.ini file should be like this:

extension_dir = "D:\xampp\php\ext"

Step 3: Now find the following line from the php.ini file.

;extension=php_mbstring.dll

Just like before simply remove the semicolon ";" from the very beginning of this line.

Step 4: Save the changes on php.ini file and restart your "XAMPP Control Panel".

Note: Following the steps mentioned above should resolve the issue and you should be able to see your "phpMyAdmin" window. However, in my case it didn't and it showed another error message that says:

The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration. See our documentation for more information.

In order to fix it, go back to your php.ini file and open it up with your HTML editor just like before. Find the following line:

;extension=php_mysqli.dll

Again remove the semicolon ";" and save the php.ini file. Restart the XAMPP Control panel. It finally resolved my issue and I was able to go see my phpMyAdmin window.

If you encounter any other issue, feel free to drop me a line from the comment section below. I will try to help you out if I may. I hope you find this post to be useful.