php not processing? (Step 2 of php beginner tutorial)

I am on the very basic step of switching an html file to a php file.

I have installed Acquia Dev Desktop 2 and have done other tutorials successfully. The sites I have created still run properly. So the DAMP stack appears to be working properly.

However, for some reason when I try to render the step 2 php file, it outputs incorrectly. It wraps pre tags around everything and that obviously ignores the php. I've added html tags to the php file and this stops the browser from inserting pre tags but it does not fix my problem because the browser seems to comment out the php line.

I am on a windows machine and have tried multiple browsers.

What the heck is going on here? I can't believe I'm already running into issues, that I can't solve on my own, on step 2. My poor self esteem has just taken a major hit... :(