Hello all frustrated Win32 users:

I have been beating my head against a wall, like many of you, trying to get Image::Magick recognized on my Win32 box. First of all, here is my configuration:

XP Pro
Apache 2.0.50
ActiveState ActivePerl 5.8
MT 3.0
ImageMagick 6.0.3

Sorry, I don't know if the method I describe below will work for any other configurations.

A huge thank you must go to Beau E. Cox http://beaucox.com. Beau's PPM made all of this work.

Step 1
Install ImageMagick. Don't use the PPD that comes with the distribution. If you do, start PPM and use the command:

ppm> remove Image-Magick

Step 2
Install the IMagick Perl modules using Beau's PPD:

ppm> rep add beau http://ppm.beaucox.com

Adds beaucox.com to your repository.

ppm> i Image-Magick-Full

Installs the Beau Cox's full version of the IMagick Perl module. This is a 5.5MB d/l. This is the trick. The version that comes with the distribution of IMagick is a scaled down version, I believe.

Exit PPM.

Step 3
Since the modules get installed in the site-lib, you have to copy them to the lib that MT looks at.

Substitute 'c:\perl' with your ActivePerl install directory.

*Copy c:\perl\site\lib\auto\Image into c:\perl\lib\auto\Image

*Copy c:\perl\site\lib\Image into c:\perl\lib\Image

Step 4
Edit mt.cnf to point to IMagick.

Add line:
ImageDriver ImageMagick

Step 5
Restart Apache.

Once I did this and reloaded mt-check.cgi, Image::Magick FINALLY showed up. I hope this helps some of you that were as frustrated as me. Good luck!

I celebrated too soon!

mt-check.cgi finds Image::Magick with no problem. However, whe I try to upload an image and create a thumbnail, it gives a 500. The webserver error log reports:



Let me know if anyone figures out what I did wrong. Thanks!

I spent a while today trying to get ImageMagick installed and working with MT on my PC. This is the config of my machine when I started:

Windows XP Home
Apache 1.3.31 w/ mod_perl 1.29_01-dev
ActiveState ActivePerl 5.8.2 build 808
MT 3.0D
ImageMagick 6.0.3

I downloaded and installed ImageMagick 6.0.3 (the "Windows Executable" binary version), selecting the "Install PerlMagick for ActiveState Perl" option. The installation appeared to be successful, so I ran mt-check.cgi to make sure MT recognized ImageMagick (which it did).

I then uploaded a file and tried to create a thumbnail with it. When I clicked the button to create the thumbnail, my browser hung up and my disk drive started thrashing like crazy. Stopping the Apache server and logging out of Windows did not stop the disk thrashing - I ended up having to reboot my computer.

I decided to try dgrotto's suggestion, so I uninstalled ImageMagick, reinstalled it without PerlMagick, and installed the PPD from beaucox.com. When I ran mt-check.cgi, I noticed that the version number went down - ImageMagick (PerlMagick) was now showing as version 5-something (I don't remember now, but the download page for the PPD shows it as version 5.5.7).

I tried uploading some more files and creating thumbnails without success - MT would just bomb out at the point of actually creating the thumbnail. Since this wasn't working any better, I decided to put the original PerlMagick back.

I uninstalled ImageMagick again, and reinstalled it. At the point where you select what options you want installed, this time I noticed something that I didn't notice before - the "Install PerlMagick for ActiveState Perl" actually says "Install PerlMagick for ActiveState Perl v5.8.3 build 809". That's not the version of Perl I was running (see config above).

I cancelled the ImageMagick install and went back to the ImageMagick site to see if the previous version was available for download. As near as I could tell, it was not, so I grudgingly decided to upgrade my perl installation to the version ImageMagick was compiled against.

On the ActiveState ActivePerl site, version 5.8.3 build 809 is not the latest build available - the current version now is version 5.8.4 build 810. But they do have previous versions of ActivePerl archived, where I was able to download ActivePerl 5.8.3 build 809.

Following the ActivePerl upgrade instructions, I uninstalled the ActivePerl 5.8.2 build 808, then installed the ActivePerl 5.8.3 build 809.

I then reinstalled ImageMagick version 6.0.3. At the point where you select the options to be installed, I selected both the "Install PerlMagick for ActiveState Perl v5.8.3 build 809" and "Install ImageMagickObject OLE Control for VBscript, Visual Basic, and WSH" options. At the point where the ImageMagick installer opens up a command prompt window to install the PerlMagick PPD, it bombed for some reason, so I uninstalled and reinstalled ImageMagick again, and this time it worked (the PPD was installed).

I restarted the Apache server, then ran mt-check.cgi again (which recognized ImageMagick as version 6.0.3 again). I logged into MT, uploaded a graphic and tried to make a thumbnail again - and it worked flawlessly!

The lesson I walked away with from all of this: Version numbers are crucial details when it comes to ActivePerl, ImageMagick, and PerlMagick. You apparently cannot mix and match pieces built for different versions (or compiled against different versions) and expect it all to work.

I can't really recommend that anyone install the ImageMagick PPD from beaucox.com - it is "based on ImageMagick version 5.5.7", and intnded for "ActiveState Perl 5.8.0, build 804 or higher". I just don't see how a PerlMagick version 5.5.7 PPD could work with an ImageMagick 6.0.3 installation. And apparently even being one version of ActivePerl off was enough to keep things from working for me.

My final config ended up like this:

Windows XP Home
Apache 1.3.31 w/ mod_perl 1.29_01-dev
ActiveState ActivePerl 5.8.3 build 809
MT 3.0D
ImageMagick 6.0.3
w/ PerlMagick for ActiveState Perl v5.8.3 build 809


The modules get installed into c:\perl\site\lib because they are not native to ActivePerl (much as MT's extlib directory is for perl modules that are not native to MT).

As long as you have Perl's library include paths (@INC) in your Perl environment, Perl will see the modules. My ActivePerl searches both c:\perl\lib and c:\perl\site\lib automatically.

Since MT relies on Perl to locate installed Perl modules, MT will see any modules Perl sees. There is no need to copy the Perl modules from c:\perl\site\lib to c:\perl\lib, and you may end up confusing ActivePerl about which modules are native to ActivePerl and which ones aren't.


This step is not necessary - MT defaults to using ImageMagick.

I've read a lot of posts from users frustrated while trying to get ImageMagick installed and working with MT. I've read even more horror stories from people just trying to run MT on Windows. I don't know if there's anything here that will help anyone else, but at least here's one success story.

Hey TweezerMan, you totally rock.

I followed your advice and got IM working with no prob. I have only one reminder: be sure to reboot your machine after installing all components. Image::Magick doesn't say that it's needed, but my configuration would not recognize IM until I did.

Thanks a million, TweezerMan!