Microsoft PHP SQL Server Drivers not working, cant load module

I am trying to install Drivers for PHP to be able to talk to my SQL Server. I am running PHP 5.5.15 on XAMPP, and SQL Server 2014. I downloaded a driver package from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20098 (SQLSRV30.EXE). I have copied them to my php extension folder (C:\xampp\php\ext), and, in php.ini, specified:

extension=php_pdo_sqlsrv_54_nts.dll to load the php_pdo_sqlsrv_54_nts.dll driver located now at C:\xampp\php\ext, however, when I now stop and restart the server, I get error messages as in this image (first the top box, then the bottom one).

The server runs fine if I don't try to load the driver, and also, I am not sure why it is complaining about not finding the module in the second box, as it is certainly in the place it is looking for it. I am not sure if this could have to do with the fact that this driver is for PHP 5.4, and I am running 5.5.15. Unfortunately, I was only able to find drivers for PHP 5.3 and 5.4, and thought I'd give it a shot with the 5.4 drivers.

Are you using PHP Non Thread Safe or Thread Safe. You can check this with your phpinfo.php file. If you are using PHP Non Thread Safe then dll name contains nts should be used and for Thread Safe use dll name contains ts. Refer below image for more details. You should also need SQL native client to be installed to access MSSQL server.