php_curl.dll: The specified module could not be found

I use PHP on Windows with Apache as a web development server, and ran into a problem when writing a script which uses the cURL module. After enabling the module in php.ini, Apache restart produced the following message:

PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'C:\PHP\ext\php_curl.dll' - The specified module could not be found.

This error message can be misleading, as it can appear even if the php_curl.dll file is in the correct location. The cURL library requires two DLL files - libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll - both provided in the PHP distribution, to be placed in your Windows system directory (C:\WINDOWS\system32\).

These files can be found in your PHP distribution root directory (such as C:\PHP\). Copy them to the system directory and php_curl should then be functional.

CREATED/WRITTEN: 2010-08-03 21:35