Microsoft SQL PHP extensions won't load on Apache startup

I'm running Apache24 on a Windows Server 2016 64bit and PHP 7.4.1 I've been trying to get the Microsoft dlls to load on Apache startup, but have failed to find a solution. As I understand it, all that is required is to copy the .dlls to the PHP ext directory, and add the extensions to PHP.ini. I did read the similar posts on PHP extensions not loading. I have checked that the ext directory (e:\php74\ext) is correct in the PHP.ini file and that the files do exist in that directory, but I get these errors on starting Apache24: PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Failed to load e:\php74\ext\php_sqlsrv_74_ts_x64, The system cannot find the file specified.\r\n in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Failed to load e:\php74\ext\php_pdo_sqlsrv_74_ts_x64, The system cannot find the file specified.\r\n in Unknown on line 0 I don't understand where the double slashes are coming from, here is a snippet of the php.ini file: ; added extension for Microsoft SQL server extension=e:\php74\ext\php_sqlsrv_74_ts_x64 extension=e:\php74\ext\php_pdo_sqlsrv_74_ts_x64

I've been at this for days. Guidance on what I am missing would be greatly appreciated.

source https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67941851/microsoft-sql-php-extensions-wont-load-on-apache-startup