If you have been using different installers, you may well end up with more that one php.ini file on your hdd, which could affect your sanity after a while.
Search your hdd for 'php.ini' just in case there is more than one.
Another sanity-saving move is to remember to always restart your server (apache) after altering a value in php.ini.
as KingCrunch pointed out, using phpinfo you can see what config file is in action in the "Loaded Configuration File" row. in my case in was in C:\xampp\apache\bin note that there is a php.ini also in C:\xampp\php which seems to be redundant and irrelevant
If you have multiple php-versions (xampp etc) running, I find the easiest is to use:
php --ini
from the command line. In windows: either after you click Shell in xampp, or directly in the regular cmd to find the "global" version of php. With global I mean the version referenced to by your environment variables.
This is one of those "you were technically accurate, but you didn't answer my question" but it doesn't mean the above were wrong or misguided - they just didn't run into my issue.
So, I figure I'll give an answer.
As the others mentioned (spot on), I created a file:
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
So that worked great. However, it showed "(none)"
So where do you find (none)!?
In my case, on Windows, you just go to where php is installed; I had already had installed it in c:\php I believe it would be the same steps on other platforms.
Then, from a command line, powershell for ex, type: notepad c:\php\php.ini
Tell it yes, you do want to create it, then add whatever changes you needed in the first place. For me, for example: