How to Install Composer for Ubuntu and Windows Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to building powerful and scalable web applications using Laravel, the first step is setting up Composer — a PHP dependency manager that installs and manages all the libraries Laravel needs.

Without Composer, you cannot install Laravel or manage its ecosystem efficiently. That’s why understanding how to install and configure Composer properly is essential for every PHP developer.

In this complete guide, you will learn how to install Composer on both Windows and Ubuntu, step by step, so you can start your Laravel projects smoothly.

Why Composer is Important

Composer is a dependency management tool for PHP. It allows you to declare the libraries your project requires and then manages (installs and updates) them automatically.

For Laravel, Composer handles:

• Installing Laravel and its dependencies

• Managing packages and plugins

• Keeping your PHP environment consistent

Think of Composer as the “npm for PHP” — it makes managing PHP projects simple and efficient.

Composer Use in Popular PHP Frameworks

Composer is used in almost every modern PHP framework, including:

• Symfony

• Laravel

• CodeIgniter 4

• CakePHP

• Yii2

• Slim Framework

• FuelPHP

• OctoberCMS, Drupal, Magento, WordPress

System Requirements

To install Composer, make sure your system meets these requirements:

• PHP version: 8.3 or above (older versions may also work)

• Local server: Latest version of XAMPP or WAMP (for Windows users)

Installing Composer on Windows

Follow these steps to install Composer on Windows for Laravel development.

Step 1: Check PHP Installation

Composer requires PHP to run. Open your Command Prompt and type:

php -v

If PHP is installed, you will see a version number similar to this:

Step 2: Download Composer Installer

Go to the official Composer website:
https://getcomposer.org/download/

Click on “Composer-Setup.exe” (Windows Installer) to download.

Step 3: Run the Composer Installer

• Run the downloaded .exe file

• The installer will automatically detect your PHP installation and configure everything

• Proceed with the default installation settings

• Once installation is complete, click Finish

Step 4: Verify Installation

Open Command Prompt again and type:

composer

If you see the Composer version and usage details, installation was successful.

Step 5: Check Composer Version

Test your installation by typing:

composer -v

You should see output like:

picture

Installing Composer on Ubuntu (Linux) 

Follow these steps to install Composer on Ubuntu.

(If you want to install laravel on ubuntu.)

Step 1: Update Your System

First, update your system packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install PHP and Required Extensions

Composer requires PHP and some extensions. Install them using:

sudo apt install php php-cli unzip curl -y

Verify PHP installation:

php -v

If you see the php version and usage details, installation was successful.

Step 3: Download Composer Installer

Run the following commands:

cd ~
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o composer-setup.php

Verify Installer Signature (Recommended)

HASH_EXPECTED="$(curl -sS https://composer.github.io/installer.sig)"
php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === trim('$HASH_EXPECTED')) { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"

If you see Installer verified, you can continue.
If you see Installer corrupt, delete the file and re-download.

Step 4: Install Composer Globally

sudo php composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Remove the installer (temporary file):

rm composer-setup.php

Why remove it?
The composer-setup.php file is only a temporary installer script. Once Composer is installed, it is no longer needed.

Step 5: Verify Installation

Check Composer version to confirm installation:

composer -V

You should see something like:

   ______
  / ____/___  ____ ___  ____  ____  ________  _____
 / /   / __ \/ __ `__ \/ __ \/ __ \/ ___/ _ \/ ___/
/ /___/ /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ (__  )  __/ /
\____/\____/_/ /_/ /_/ .___/\____/____/\___/_/
                     /_/

Composer version 2.8.11 2025-08-21 11:29:39