So we have XAMMP installed on E:\xammp and we want to eventually get a site setup on http://loacalhost/drupal for our Drupal installation. Let's look at some basic configurations then. So the docs in your XAMMP install seem to be accessable from here: http://localhost/xampp. Also note that there is documentation that exists on XAMMP's website because frankly, this is still not a Drupal concern yet, we're still working on the infrastructure we need to use Drupal.

So, where do we install Drupal? I recall that Apache keeps it's configuration in a file called httpd.conf so a search for that turns up E:\xammp\apache\httpd.conf. Opening it up shows a ServerRoot "E:/xammp/apache". So we shall create a directory called drupal-47 in E:/xammp/apache/htdoc/drupal-47.

Let's download Drupal. The current version is 4.7.4. So download Drupal from here and extract it into the Drupal directory.

Open the install.txt and read it.

So, we need a database. Go back to http://localhost/xampp/ and look on the left... Click on the phpMyAdmin in tools. In the create new database box, enter drupal-47 and click the create button. This brings you to a new window. Click the import tab. Click the browse botton and browse to drupal-47/database directory. Select the database.mysql file and OK, then GO. On the left the Database should now be drupal-47(57) and there should be a bunch of database tables listed.

Click the little house above the database. Now click the button labeled Privileges. Click 'Add a new User'. In user name enter testuser. In host switch the Host to Local and it should say localhost now. In password enter 'passme'. Retype the password. In Data, check all the boxes. In Structure check every box except CREATE. In Adminisrtation click lock tables. Scroll down and click GO