Magento2 Installation: Composer PHP version errors on Windows

Question

I tried to install Magento2 on Windows which runs PHP 5.5.19 and MySQL 5.6.X versions (from xampp package) through Composer, but I received the following errors after running composer install (please check here). UPDATE 1

https://github.com/magento/magento2/issues/813

UPDATE 2 - Issue Raw

Loading composer repositories with package information
Installing dependencies (including require-dev)
Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.

  Problem 1
    - The requested package php could not be found in any version, there may be
a typo in the package name.
  Problem 2
    - The requested package php could not be found in any version, there may be
a typo in the package name.
  Problem 3
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-stdlib 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by
 zendframework/zend-stdlib[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-stdlib 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching packa
ge found.
  Problem 4
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-code 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-code[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-code 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 5
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-server 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by
 zendframework/zend-server[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-server 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching packa
ge found.
  Problem 6
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-soap 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-soap[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-soap 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 7
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-uri 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by ze
ndframework/zend-uri[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-uri 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
found.
  Problem 8
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-validator 2.3.1 -> satisfiable
 by zendframework/zend-validator[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-validator 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching pa
ckage found.
  Problem 9
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-console 2.3.1 -> satisfiable b
y zendframework/zend-console[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-console 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching pack
age found.
  Problem 10
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-modulemanager 2.3.1 -> satisfi
able by zendframework/zend-modulemanager[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-modulemanager 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matchin
g package found.
  Problem 11
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-mvc 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by ze
ndframework/zend-mvc[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-mvc 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
found.
  Problem 12
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-text 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-text[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-text 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 13
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-eventmanager 2.3.1 -> satisfia
ble by zendframework/zend-eventmanager[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-eventmanager 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching
 package found.
  Problem 14
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-view 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-view[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-view 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 15
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-servicemanager 2.3.1 -> satisf
iable by zendframework/zend-servicemanager[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-servicemanager 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matchi
ng package found.
  Problem 16
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-json 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-json[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-json 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 17
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-config 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by
 zendframework/zend-config[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-config 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching packa
ge found.
  Problem 18
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-form 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-form[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-form 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 19
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-di 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by zen
dframework/zend-di[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-di 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package f
ound.
  Problem 20
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-serializer 2.3.1 -> satisfiabl
e by zendframework/zend-serializer[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-serializer 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching p
ackage found.
  Problem 21
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-log 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by ze
ndframework/zend-log[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-log 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
found.
  Problem 22
    - Installation request for zendframework/zend-http 2.3.1 -> satisfiable by z
endframework/zend-http[2.3.1].
    - zendframework/zend-http 2.3.1 requires php >=5.3.23 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 23
    - Installation request for magento/zendframework1 1.12.9 -> satisfiable by m
agento/zendframework1[1.12.9].
    - magento/zendframework1 1.12.9 requires php >=5.2.11 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 24
    - Installation request for composer/composer 1.0.0-alpha8 -> satisfiable by
composer/composer[1.0.0-alpha8].
    - composer/composer 1.0.0-alpha8 requires php >=5.3.2 -> no matching package
 found.
  Problem 25
    - Installation request for phpunit/phpunit 4.1.0 -> satisfiable by phpunit/p
hpunit[4.1.0].
    - phpunit/phpunit 4.1.0 requires php >=5.3.3 -> no matching package found.
  Problem 26
    - Installation request for squizlabs/php_codesniffer 1.5.3 -> satisfiable by
 squizlabs/php_codesniffer[1.5.3].
    - squizlabs/php_codesniffer 1.5.3 requires php >=5.1.2 -> no matching packag
e found.
  Problem 27
    - phpmd/phpmd 2.1.3 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 2.1.2 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 2.1.1 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 2.0.0 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 1.5.1 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 1.5.0 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 1.4.1 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - phpmd/phpmd 1.4.0 requires php >=5.3.0 -> no matching package found.
    - Installation request for phpmd/phpmd @stable -> satisfiable by phpmd/phpmd
[1.4.0, 1.4.1, 1.5.0, 1.5.1, 2.0.0, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3].

Potential causes:
 - A typo in the package name
 - The package is not available in a stable-enough version according to your min
imum-stability setting
   see <https://groups.google.com/d/topic/composer-dev/_g3ASeIFlrc/discussion> f
or more details.

Read <http://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/troubleshooting.md> for further common
 problems.

Answer 1

Either of the approaches given below solve the issue, its up to you to pick one

Recommended

Edit the composer.json file as shown below:

"php": "~5.4.11|~5.5.0|~5.6.0", 

Not much recommended - but its certainly let the magento pre-installation (downloading required vendor packages) begin

composer install --ignore-platform-reqs 

PS: Credits to Vlad Veselov and nyov

Answer 2

Make sure you have latest version of XAMPP installed in windows which has PHP version 5.6.3
If you are using Magento2 version 0.42.0-beta2 or later one you need to make following changes in composer.json file on line number 11.

"php": "~5.4.11|~5.5.0|~5.6.0",

In case if you are updating Magento2 from any old release then this changes is also required.