Rebuilt my hard drive WindowsXP and here is my struggle:
1. Installed XAMPP not as service to C:\xampp
2. Installed Patch2
3. Copied saved data files folder from CD backup to C:\xampp\mysql\data
4. Copied saved php.ini file to c:\xampp\apache\bin
5. Copied saved my file to c:\xampp\mysql\bin
6. Used \apache and \mysql batch files to start services.
7. Entered http://localhost in browser and "Apache for Windows" started.
8. Clicked on status and Mysql database says "Deactivated".
9. When I run XAMPP Control Panel and click Mysql start, the "Running" sign pops up and disappears, and the window says Mysql Service Started.
10. After I reboot, and enter http://localhost in browser, my localhost software starts and reports missing files errors.
What have I missed? Thank you...