Oh, so you have to have paid web hosting just to test a php script now? ... sorry but that's lame!

I would ditch that little open_basedir elgg boo-boo.

If money is an issue, why not just create a local Linux installation of your own and use that for testing? It's free and you can configure it to work any way you like.

I use local environment for development and a *proper* host for production. I would never use free hosting for either.

Seconded - if it's just for testing use XAMPP or equivalent.  It's faster and you don't have to be ftp-ing your files everywhere

I am not having problems downloading it. Can you post the full error that you're getting?

In Chrome it just says "Failed-network error", in Firefox it downloads an empty zip file that won't open. Maybe it is my firewall or something blocking the elgg site? Can you download and email me the file https://elgg.org/getelgg.php?forward=elgg-1.11.2.zip so that I can try and download it from Gmail?  I will PM you my email address Evan   Thanks

@Jeff I had this issue a few days ago. It turned out to be a problem with my router and a strange issue with Windows 8 and the Atheros driver.

Try unplug your router and plug it back in, or disable the ethernet/wifi, restart the computer and enable the device again