What OS are you using?
Double click on
xampp\xampp-portcheck.exe and see if all the ports XAMPP requires exclusively are
Free.
In Vista right click on the file and select run as Administrator to keep the console window open.
Then if you still have trouble starting Apache then double click on the
xampp\apache_start.bat file and it may tell what is wrong by sending back an informative error message.
Same here right click on the file and select to run it as Administrator.
Did you run Apache as a service?
Try and stop the service if you did.
xampp\apache\apache_uninstallservice_2.2.bat
Or the other uninstall bat file if that one does not work.
You could try this even in Vista:
Close/Exit the control panel.
Open a command prompt
Click
start
Click on
Run...
Type:
cmd.exe
Remove old or sticking Apache service.
Type:
sc delete apache2.2
Click
OK
Close the command console
Start the control panel and try install your services again or use the bat files provided in the various component's directories.
BTW -
sc is an acceptable abbreviation for
sc.exe Windows
Service
Controller and will delete any stray services that won't shut down by any normal means, among other services commands.
Microsoft explains the Service Controller Commands
here.
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