Installation

Step-by-step guide to installing Simple Invoice on Windows, Linux, and other platforms

Prerequisites

Before installing Simple Invoice, ensure you have:

• PHP 5.3.7 or higher
• MySQL 5.6 or higher
• Web server (Apache, Nginx, or IIS with PHP support)
• phpMyAdmin (recommended for database management)

Installation Methods

Choose the installation method that best fits your environment:

Windows (XAMPP)

Recommended for local development on Windows

Linux (Apache)

For production deployment on Linux servers

Docker

Containerized deployment (advanced users)

Windows Installation (XAMPP)

The easiest way to run Simple Invoice on Windows is using XAMPP.

1. Download Source Files

   Download the Simple Invoice source files from the repository and extract them.

2. Copy to XAMPP Directory

   Copy and extract the files to C:\xampp\htdocs\. You should have a folder called simple_invoice.

   C:\xampp\htdocs\simple_invoice\
   

   The application will be accessible at: http://localhost/simple_invoice/

3. Start XAMPP Services

   Open XAMPP Control Panel and start:

   • Apache (web server)
   • MySQL (database server)

   Ensure both services show green “Running” status before proceeding.

4. Create Database

   Access phpMyAdmin at http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ and create a new database:

   1. Click on “New” in the left sidebar
   2. Enter database name: simple_invoice
   3. Select collation: utf8_general_ci
   4. Click “Create”
5. Import Database Tables

   Import the database schema:

   1. Select the simple_invoice database
   2. Click on the “Import” tab
   3. Click “Choose File” and select simple_invoice.sql from the root directory
   4. Click “Go” to import

   The SQL file is located at: simple_invoice/simple_invoice.sql

6. Configure Database Connection

   Edit the database configuration file at simple_invoice/config/db.php:

   <?php
   /*Datos de conexion a la base de datos*/
   define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');  // Usually "127.0.0.1" or "localhost"
   define('DB_USER', 'root');       // Your database username
   define('DB_PASS', '');           // Your database password
   define('DB_NAME', 'simple_invoice'); // Database name
   ?>
   

   For XAMPP default installation, the settings above should work without changes.

7. Access the Application

   Open your web browser and navigate to:

   http://localhost/simple_invoice/
   

   You should see the login page.

Linux Installation (Apache)

For production deployment on Linux servers with Apache.

1. Install Required Packages

   Install Apache, PHP, and MySQL:

   # Ubuntu/Debian
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install apache2 php php-mysql mysql-server
   sudo apt install php-mbstring php-xml php-gd
   
   # CentOS/RHEL
   sudo yum install httpd php php-mysql mariadb-server
   sudo yum install php-mbstring php-xml php-gd
   
2. Copy Application Files

   Copy Simple Invoice to your web root:

   sudo cp -r simple_invoice /var/www/html/
   sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/simple_invoice
   sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/simple_invoice
   
3. Create MySQL Database

   Log into MySQL and create the database:

   sudo mysql -u root -p
   

   CREATE DATABASE simple_invoice CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
   CREATE USER 'invoiceuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON simple_invoice.* TO 'invoiceuser'@'localhost';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   EXIT;
   
4. Import Database Schema

   Import the SQL file:

   mysql -u invoiceuser -p simple_invoice < /var/www/html/simple_invoice/simple_invoice.sql
   
5. Configure Database Connection

   Edit /var/www/html/simple_invoice/config/db.php:

   <?php
   define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
   define('DB_USER', 'invoiceuser');
   define('DB_PASS', 'your_password');
   define('DB_NAME', 'simple_invoice');
   ?>
   
6. Configure Apache

   Create a virtual host (optional but recommended):

   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerName invoice.yourdomain.com
       DocumentRoot /var/www/html/simple_invoice
       
       <Directory /var/www/html/simple_invoice>
           Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
           AllowOverride All
           Require all granted
       </Directory>
       
       ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/invoice-error.log
       CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/invoice-access.log combined
   </VirtualHost>
   

   Enable the site and restart Apache:

   sudo a2ensite invoice.conf
   sudo systemctl restart apache2
   

Database Schema

The simple_invoice.sql file creates the following tables:

Core Tables

Users Table

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `users` (
  `user_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `firstname` varchar(20) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `lastname` varchar(20) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `user_name` varchar(64) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `user_password_hash` varchar(255) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `user_email` varchar(64) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `date_added` datetime NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`user_id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `user_name` (`user_name`),
  UNIQUE KEY `user_email` (`user_email`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;

Default Data

The SQL import creates a default admin user:

INSERT INTO `users` VALUES
(1, 'Obed', 'Alvarado', 'admin', 
 '$2y$10$MPVHzZ2ZPOWmtUUGCq3RXu31OTB.jo7M9LZ7PmPQYmgETSNn19ejO', 
'[e-mail]', '2016-05-21 15:06:00');

Security Notice: The default admin password is admin. Change this immediately after first login.

Post-Installation

Verify Installation

After installation, verify everything is working:

1. Navigate to your Simple Invoice URL
2. You should see the login page
3. Log in with default credentials (username: admin, password: admin)
4. Check that all menu items are accessible:
   • Facturas (Invoices)
   • Clientes (Clients)
   • Productos (Products)
   • Usuarios (Users)

File Permissions

Ensure proper file permissions (Linux/Unix):

# Set ownership
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/simple_invoice

# Set directory permissions
sudo find /var/www/html/simple_invoice -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

# Set file permissions
sudo find /var/www/html/simple_invoice -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

# Make upload directories writable
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/simple_invoice/img

Configuration Options

Key configuration files:

• config/db.php - Database connection settings
• config/conexion.php - Database connection function
• config/tcpdf_config.php - PDF generation settings

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Cannot connect to database

Error: mysqli_connect(): (HY000/1045): Access denied

Solution: Verify credentials in config/db.php match your MySQL user and password.

define('DB_USER', 'root');  // Check this
define('DB_PASS', '');      // And this

White screen after login

Error: Blank page or 500 error

Solution: Enable PHP error reporting to see the actual error:

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

Add this to the top of index.php temporarily.

Database tables not created

Error: Table doesn’t exist errors

Solution: Ensure you imported simple_invoice.sql correctly:

mysql -u root -p simple_invoice < simple_invoice.sql

Verify tables exist:

USE simple_invoice;
SHOW TABLES;

PHP version too old

Error: Simple PHP Login does not run on a PHP version smaller than 5.3.7

Solution: Upgrade PHP to at least version 5.3.7, preferably 7.x or 8.x for better performance.

# Check current version
php -v

# Ubuntu/Debian upgrade
sudo apt install php7.4

Next Steps

Now that Simple Invoice is installed, proceed to the Quick Start guide to create your first invoice.