Magento – PHP Version Check Magento 2

I am trying to update my Magento 2 to the latest version, my system fails the readiness check with the below message:

PHP Version Check Your PHP version is . The required PHP version is .
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I understand this error might be linked to the SSL. Magento 2 by default uses ssl. I don't use ssl on my localhost and this error arises. I have to edit the config section of composer.json file in the root of magento. My composer.json must exist in this folder:

C:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\vendor\composer

It is not there. I have installed a composer file but I cannot change the .phar to .json to do the needful. Whenever I save this in .txt then in .json I get strange characters in the file like Τ�Yb �c�߶

How can I get the right composer.json file to change "disable-tls":true as per the below illustration?

Method 1: Disable-tls parameter:

"config": {
  "use-include-path": true 
  "disable-tls":false
},

Method 2: Without disable-tls parameter (delete the line):

"config": {
    "use-include-path": true,
},