Removing index.php in Codeigniter using XAMPP on Windows

Using the method below, you can access your site http://localhost/Mysite/index.php/welcome without the index.php like this: http://localhost/Mysite/welcome

I did this in Code Igniter 2.0.3 using XAMPP 1.7.1 on Windows 7.

Create .htaccess file in the root folder of code igniter. I got the code below from http://codeigniter.com/wiki/mod_rewrite/. Make sure you use your site folder name in Rewrite Base below:

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /Mysite/

    #Removes access to the system folder by users.
    #Additionally this will allow you to create a System.php controller,
    #previously this would not have been possible.
    #'system' can be replaced if you have renamed your system folder.
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^system.*
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L]
    
    #When your application folder isn't in the system folder
    #This snippet prevents user access to the application folder
    #Submitted by: Fabdrol
    #Rename 'application' to your applications folder name.
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^application.*
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L]

    #Checks to see if the user is attempting to access a valid file,
    #such as an image or css document, if this isn't true it sends the
    #request to index.php
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]


    # If we don't have mod_rewrite installed, all 404's
    # can be sent to index.php, and everything works as normal.
    # Submitted by: ElliotHaughin

    ErrorDocument 404 /index.php  

In config.php within the application folder, set index_page as blank:

$config['index_page']    = '';

In the same file, make sure uri_protocol is set to this:

$config['uri_protocol']    = 'AUTO';

If the above does not work, you may try this:

$config['uri_protocol']    = 'REQUEST_URI';