diff --git a/include/download-instructions/windows.ps1 b/include/download-instructions/windows.ps1
index d6ac1bad52..a81aa16939 100644
--- a/include/download-instructions/windows.ps1
+++ b/include/download-instructions/windows.ps1
@@ -3,19 +3,27 @@
 Downloads and sets up a specified PHP version on Windows.
 
 .PARAMETER Version
-Major.minor or full version (e.g., 7.4 or 7.4.30).
-
-.PARAMETER Path
-Destination directory (defaults to C:\php<Version>).
+Major.minor or full version (e.g., 8.4 or 8.4.15).
 
 .PARAMETER Arch
-Architecture: x64 or x86 (default: x64).
+x64 or x86 (default: x64).
 
 .PARAMETER ThreadSafe
-ThreadSafe: download Thread Safe build (default: $False).
+Download Thread Safe build (default: $False).
 
 .PARAMETER Timezone
 date.timezone string for php.ini (default: 'UTC').
+
+.PARAMETER Scope
+Auto (default), CurrentUser, AllUsers, or Custom.
+- Auto: AllUsers if elevated, otherwise CurrentUser.
+- AllUsers: Requires elevation, installs under Program Files (or Program Files (x86) for x86 arch).
+- CurrentUser: Installs under $env:LOCALAPPDATA.
+- Custom: Installs under -CustomPath (or prompts), adds to User PATH.
+
+.PARAMETER CustomPath
+Directory for Scope=Custom. Versions are installed under this directory and a "current" link is created here.
+
 #>
 
 [CmdletBinding()]
@@ -23,15 +31,23 @@ param(
     [Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position=0)]
     [ValidatePattern('^\d+(\.\d+)?(\.\d+)?((alpha|beta|RC)\d*)?$')]
     [string]$Version,
+
     [Parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position=1)]
-    [string]$Path = "C:\php$Version",
-    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position=2)]
     [ValidateSet("x64", "x86")]
     [string]$Arch = "x64",
-    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position=3)]
+
+    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position=2)]
     [bool]$ThreadSafe = $False,
-    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position=4)]
-    [string]$Timezone = 'UTC'
+
+    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position=3)]
+    [string]$Timezone = 'UTC',
+
+    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
+    [ValidateSet('Auto', 'CurrentUser', 'AllUsers', 'Custom')]
+    [string]$Scope = 'Auto',
+
+    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
+    [string]$CustomPath
 )
 
 Function Get-File {
@@ -52,19 +68,20 @@ Function Get-File {
     for ($i = 0; $i -lt $Retries; $i++) {
         try {
             if($OutFile -ne '') {
-                Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $Url -OutFile $OutFile -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec
+                Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $Url -OutFile $OutFile -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec -UseBasicParsing -ErrorAction Stop
+                return
             } else {
-                Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $Url -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec
+                return Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $Url -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec -UseBasicParsing -ErrorAction Stop
             }
-            break;
         } catch {
             if ($i -eq ($Retries - 1)) {
                 if($FallbackUrl) {
                     try {
                         if($OutFile -ne '') {
-                            Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FallbackUrl -OutFile $OutFile -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec
+                            Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FallbackUrl -OutFile $OutFile -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec -UseBasicParsing -ErrorAction Stop
+                            return
                         } else {
-                            Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FallbackUrl -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec
+                            return Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FallbackUrl -TimeoutSec $TimeoutSec -UseBasicParsing -ErrorAction Stop
                         }
                     } catch {
                         throw "Failed to download the file from $Url and $FallbackUrl"
@@ -77,6 +94,87 @@ Function Get-File {
     }
 }
 
+Function Test-IsAdmin {
+    $p = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent())
+    return $p.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator)
+}
+
+Function ConvertTo-BoolOrDefault {
+    param([string]$UserInput, [bool]$Default)
+    if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($UserInput)) { return $Default }
+    switch -Regex ($UserInput.Trim().ToLowerInvariant()) {
+        '^(1|true|t|y|yes)$' { return $true }
+        '^(0|false|f|n|no)$' { return $false }
+        default { return $Default }
+    }
+}
+
+Function Edit-PathForCompare([string]$p) {
+    if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($p)) { return '' }
+    return ($p.Trim().Trim('"').TrimEnd('\')).ToLowerInvariant()
+}
+
+Function Set-PathEntryFirst {
+    param(
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][ValidateSet('User','Machine')] [string]$Target,
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Entry
+    )
+
+    $entryNorm = Edit-PathForCompare $Entry
+
+    $existing = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path', $Target)
+    if ($null -eq $existing) { $existing = '' }
+
+    $parts = @()
+    foreach ($p in ($existing -split ';')) {
+        if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($p)) {
+            if ((Edit-PathForCompare $p) -ne $entryNorm) { $parts += $p }
+        }
+    }
+    $newParts = @($Entry) + $parts
+    [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', ($newParts -join ';'), $Target)
+
+    $procParts = @()
+    foreach ($p in ($env:Path -split ';')) {
+        if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($p)) {
+            if ((Edit-PathForCompare $p) -ne $entryNorm) { $procParts += $p }
+        }
+    }
+    $env:Path = ((@($Entry) + $procParts) -join ';')
+}
+
+function Send-EnvironmentChangeBroadcast {
+    try {
+        $sig = @'
+using System;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+public static class NativeMethods {
+  [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
+  public static extern IntPtr SendMessageTimeout(
+    IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, UIntPtr wParam, string lParam,
+    uint fuFlags, uint uTimeout, out UIntPtr lpdwResult);
+}
+'@
+        Add-Type -TypeDefinition $sig -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Out-Null
+        $HWND_BROADCAST = [IntPtr]0xffff
+        $WM_SETTINGCHANGE = 0x001A
+        $SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG = 0x0002
+        [UIntPtr]$result = [UIntPtr]::Zero
+        [NativeMethods]::SendMessageTimeout($HWND_BROADCAST, $WM_SETTINGCHANGE, [UIntPtr]::Zero, "Environment", $SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 5000, [ref]$result) | Out-Null
+    } catch { }
+}
+
+Function Test-EmptyDir([string]$Dir) {
+    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Dir)) {
+        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $Dir -Force | Out-Null
+        return
+    }
+    $items = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $Dir -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    if ($items -and $items.Count -gt 0) {
+        throw "The directory '$Dir' is not empty. Please choose another location."
+    }
+}
+
 Function Get-Semver {
     [CmdletBinding()]
     param(
@@ -85,19 +183,22 @@ Function Get-Semver {
         [ValidatePattern('^\d+\.\d+$')]
         [string]$Version
     )
-    $releases = Get-File -Url "https://downloads.php.net/~windows/releases/releases.json" | ConvertFrom-Json
+
+    $jsonUrl = "https://downloads.php.net/~windows/releases/releases.json"
+    $releases = ((Get-File -Url $jsonUrl).Content | ConvertFrom-Json)
+
     $semver = $releases.$Version.version
-    if($null -eq $semver) {
-        $semver = (Get-File -Url "https://downloads.php.net/~windows/releases/archives").Links |
-                Where-Object { $_.href -match "php-($Version.[0-9]+).*" } |
-                ForEach-Object { $matches[1] } |
-                Sort-Object { [System.Version]$_ } -Descending |
-                Select-Object -First 1
-    }
-    if($null -eq $semver) {
-        throw "Unsupported PHP version: $Version"
-    }
-    return $semver
+    if ($null -ne $semver) { return [string]$semver }
+
+    $html = (Get-File -Url "https://downloads.php.net/~windows/releases/archives/").Content
+    $rx = [regex]"php-($([regex]::Escape($Version))\.[0-9]+)"
+    $found = $rx.Matches($html) | ForEach-Object { $_.Groups[1].Value } |
+        Sort-Object { [version]$_ } -Descending |
+        Select-Object -First 1
+
+    if ($null -ne $found) { return [string]$found }
+
+    throw "Unsupported PHP version series: $Version"
 }
 
 Function Get-VSVersion {
@@ -160,7 +261,7 @@ Function Get-PhpFromUrl {
     $vs = Get-VSVersion $Version
     $ts = if ($ThreadSafe) { "ts" } else { "nts" }
     $zipName = if ($ThreadSafe) { "php-$Semver-Win32-$vs-$Arch.zip" } else { "php-$Semver-$ts-Win32-$vs-$Arch.zip" }
-    $type = Get-ReleaseType $Version
+    $type = Get-ReleaseType $Semver
 
     $base = "https://downloads.php.net/~windows/$type"
     try {
@@ -175,49 +276,147 @@ Function Get-PhpFromUrl {
 }
 
 $tempFile = [IO.Path]::ChangeExtension([IO.Path]::GetTempFileName(), '.zip')
+
 try {
+    $isAdmin = Test-IsAdmin
+
+    if (-not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Arch')) {
+        Write-Host ""
+        Write-Host "What architecture would you like to install?"
+        Write-Host "Enter x64 for 64-bit"
+        Write-Host "Enter x86 for 32-bit"
+        Write-Host "Press Enter to use default ($Arch)"
+        $archSel = Read-Host "Please enter [x64/x86]"
+        if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($archSel) -and @('x64','x86') -contains $archSel.Trim()) {
+            $Arch = $archSel.Trim()
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (-not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('ThreadSafe')) {
+        Write-Host ""
+        Write-Host "What ThreadSafe option would you like to use?"
+        Write-Host "Enter true for ThreadSafe"
+        Write-Host "Enter false for Non-ThreadSafe"
+        Write-Host "Press Enter to use default ($ThreadSafe)"
+        $tsSel = Read-Host "Please enter [true/false]"
+        $ThreadSafe = ConvertTo-BoolOrDefault -UserInput $tsSel -Default $ThreadSafe
+    }
+
+    if (-not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Timezone')) {
+        Write-Host ""
+        Write-Host "What timezone would you like to set in php.ini?"
+        Write-Host "Press Enter to use default ($Timezone)"
+        $tzSel = Read-Host "Please enter timezone"
+        if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($tzSel)) {
+            $Timezone = $tzSel.Trim()
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (-not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Scope')) {
+        Write-Host ""
+        Write-Host "Would you like to install PHP for:"
+        Write-Host "Enter 1 for Current user"
+        Write-Host "Enter 2 for All users (requires admin elevation)"
+        Write-Host "Enter 3 to install PHP at a custom path"
+        Write-Host "Press Enter to choose automatically"
+        $sel = Read-Host "Please enter [1-3]"
+        switch ($sel) {
+            '1' { $Scope = 'CurrentUser' }
+            '2' { $Scope = 'AllUsers' }
+            '3' { $Scope = 'Custom' }
+            default { $Scope = 'Auto' }
+        }
+    }
+
+    if ($Scope -eq 'Custom' -and -not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('CustomPath')) {
+        $defaultCustom = if ($CustomPath) { $CustomPath } else { (Join-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA 'Programs\PHP') }
+        Write-Host ""
+        Write-Host "Please enter the custom installation path."
+        Write-Host "Press Enter to use default ($defaultCustom)"
+        $cr = Read-Host "Please enter"
+        $CustomPath = if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($cr)) { $defaultCustom } else { $cr.Trim() }
+    }
+
     if ($Version -match "^\d+\.\d+$") {
         $Semver = Get-Semver $Version
+        $MajorMinor = $Version
     } else {
         $Semver = $Version
-        $Semver -match '^(\d+\.\d+)' | Out-Null
-        $Version = $Matches[1]
+        if ($Semver -notmatch '^(\d+\.\d+)') { throw "Could not derive major.minor from Version '$Version'." }
+        $MajorMinor = $Matches[1]
     }
 
-    if (-not (Test-Path $Path)) {
-        try {
-            New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $Path -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
-        } catch {
-            throw "Failed to create directory $Path. $_"
+    if ([version]$MajorMinor -lt [version]'5.5' -and $Arch -eq 'x64') {
+        $Arch = 'x86'
+        Write-Host "PHP series $MajorMinor does not support x64 on Windows. Using x86."
+    }
+
+    $EffectiveScope = $Scope
+    if ($Scope -eq 'Auto') {
+        $EffectiveScope = if ($isAdmin) { 'AllUsers' } else { 'CurrentUser' }
+    }
+
+    if ($EffectiveScope -eq 'AllUsers' -and -not $isAdmin) {
+        throw "AllUsers install selected but this session is not elevated. Re-run as Administrator or choose CurrentUser/Custom."
+    }
+
+    $installRootDirectory = switch ($EffectiveScope) {
+        'CurrentUser' { Join-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA 'Programs\PHP' }
+        'AllUsers' {
+            $pf = $env:ProgramFiles
+            if ($Arch -eq 'x86' -and ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}) { $pf = ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)} }
+            Join-Path $pf 'PHP'
         }
-    } else {
-        $files = Get-ChildItem -Path $Path
-        if ($files.Count -gt 0) {
-            throw "The directory $Path is not empty. Please provide an empty directory."
+        'Custom' {
+            if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($CustomPath)) { throw "Scope=Custom requires -CustomPath (or interactive input)." }
+            [Environment]::ExpandEnvironmentVariables($CustomPath)
         }
+        default { throw "Unexpected scope: $EffectiveScope" }
     }
 
-    if($Version -lt '5.5' -and $Arch -eq 'x64') {
-        $Arch = 'x86'
-        Write-Host "PHP version $Version does not support x64 architecture on Windows. Using x86 instead."
+    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $installRootDirectory)) {
+        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $installRootDirectory | Out-Null
     }
 
-    Write-Host "Downloading PHP $Semver to $Path"
-    Get-PhpFromUrl $Version $Semver $Arch $ThreadSafe $tempFile
-    Expand-Archive -Path $tempFile -DestinationPath $Path -Force -ErrorAction Stop
+    $tsTag = if ($ThreadSafe) { 'ts' } else { 'nts' }
+    $installDirectory = Join-Path (Join-Path (Join-Path $installRootDirectory $Semver) $tsTag) $Arch
+    $currentLink = Join-Path $installRootDirectory 'current'
+
+    Test-EmptyDir $installDirectory
+
+    Write-Host "Downloading PHP $Semver ($Arch, $tsTag) -> $installDirectory"
+    Get-PhpFromUrl $MajorMinor $Semver $Arch $ThreadSafe $tempFile
+
+    Expand-Archive -Path $tempFile -DestinationPath $installDirectory -Force -ErrorAction Stop
 
-    $phpIniProd = Join-Path $Path "php.ini-production"
+    $phpIniProd = Join-Path $installDirectory "php.ini-production"
     if(-not(Test-Path $phpIniProd)) {
-        $phpIniProd = Join-Path $Path "php.ini-recommended"
+        $phpIniProd = Join-Path $installDirectory "php.ini-recommended"
     }
-    $phpIni = Join-Path $Path "php.ini"
-    Copy-Item $phpIniProd $phpIni -Force
-    $extensionDir = Join-Path $Path "ext"
-    (Get-Content $phpIni) -replace '^extension_dir = "./"', "extension_dir = `"$extensionDir`"" | Set-Content $phpIni
-    (Get-Content $phpIni) -replace ';\s?extension_dir = "ext"', "extension_dir = `"$extensionDir`"" | Set-Content $phpIni
-    (Get-Content $phpIni) -replace ';\s?date.timezone =', "date.timezone = `"$Timezone`"" | Set-Content $phpIni
+    $phpIni = Join-Path $installDirectory "php.ini"
+    if (Test-Path $phpIniProd) {
+        Copy-Item $phpIniProd $phpIni -Force
+
+        $extensionDir = Join-Path $installDirectory "ext"
+        (Get-Content $phpIni) -replace '^extension_dir = "./"', "extension_dir = `"$extensionDir`"" | Set-Content $phpIni
+        (Get-Content $phpIni) -replace ';\s?extension_dir = "ext"', "extension_dir = `"$extensionDir`"" | Set-Content $phpIni
+        (Get-Content $phpIni) -replace ';\s?date.timezone =', "date.timezone = `"$Timezone`"" | Set-Content $phpIni
+    }
+
+    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $currentLink) {
+        Remove-Item -LiteralPath $currentLink -Force -Recurse
+    }
+    New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path $currentLink -Target $installDirectory | Out-Null
+
+    $pathTarget = if ($EffectiveScope -eq 'AllUsers') { 'Machine' } else { 'User' }
+    Set-PathEntryFirst -Target $pathTarget -Entry $currentLink
+    Send-EnvironmentChangeBroadcast
 
-    Write-Host "PHP $Semver downloaded to $Path"
+    Write-Host ""
+    Write-Host "Installed PHP ${Semver}: $installDirectory"
+    Write-Host "It has been linked to $currentLink and added to PATH."
+    Write-Host "Please restart any open Command Prompt/PowerShell windows or IDEs to pick up the new PATH."
+    Write-Host "You can run 'php -v' to verify the installation in the new window."
 } catch {
     Write-Error $_
     Exit 1