Cannot start phpmyadmin, error 2002 and...

[Eyerson]

Windows 10. XAMPP Version: 8.1.5. Control Panel Version: 3.3.0

I know that I'm not the only one...Am in this forum because a lot of stuff in phpmyadmin discussion is German. Tried to google for solutions and spent hours hacking. I am not an XAMPP or sql expert. Please go easy on me.

Tried starting phpmyadmin. Got Acess Denied web page with five error messages shown below. What should I try? Remember, not an expert. Much thanks in advance for assistance or reference to the solution.

Cannot connect: invalid settings.

mysqli::real_connect(): (HY000/2002): No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it

Connection for controluser as defined in your configuration failed.

mysqli::real_connect(): (HY000/2002): No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it

phpMyAdmin tried to connect to the MySQL server, and the server rejected the connection. You should check the host, username and password in your configuration and make sure that they correspond to the information given by the administrator of the MySQL server.

[Altrea]

Please check in your xampp control panel if mysql is started

[Nobbie]

I had the same error when there was already another MySql installation running instead of Xampps MySql.

[Eyerson]

AFAIK there is no other version of mysql running. I tried phpmyadmin when mysql was running and when it is not running.