Starting Apache

Problems with the Windows version of XAMPP, questions, comments, and anything related.

Starting Apache

Postby nevyoung » 06. May 2012 13:15

Hi
I have been having the same problems that I see being described so many times, but none of the proposed fixes have worked and in this thread, the problem is solved but we do not know why!

I have tried installing XAMPP/Apache on 2 XP machines in my home network with the same result - Apache won't start because (according to the event viewer) it cannot find the path specified. MySQL starts fine.

I have tried installing it on a VirtualBox and amazingly Apache started up, I saw the green 'Running' label and then within 2 seconds it switched off again and could not be switched on again! What could that mean? Something in my network?

I have done all the renumbering of ports and checking for another app using port 80 without any good result. The problem seems to be that Apache cannot find where to run from and where to write logs. So many responders to these questions tell us with the problem to look in the log file, but because the path cannot be found, the log file is never accessed and remains the same as what it was when installed.

Starting the Apache service from Windows Services interface, ends in "Windows could not start the Apache 2.2 on local computer".

I have seen that there appear to be issues with Comodo's antivirus, but people are seeing reports in their logfiles in these Comodo cases which means that the path seems to be OK. I have disabled the Comodo firewall and Anti-virus - problem still there. The Virtual XP machine does not have an ant-virus running, but perhaps the host's anti-virus detects something that the Virtual XP is doing and blocks it.

Any ideas?
nevyoung
 
Posts: 2
Joined: 06. May 2012 12:34
Operating System: XP

Re: Starting Apache

Postby JonB » 06. May 2012 22:36

any ideas?

Yes -

A. - post the contents of the Apache Error Log.

B. - Check the properties of the Apache service in Service manager. Have you previously had Apache installed on the machine?

Good Luck
8)
User avatar
JonB
AF Moderator
 
Posts: 3210
Joined: 12. April 2010 16:41
Location: Land of the Blazing Sun
Operating System: Windows XP/7 - Fedora 15 1.7.7

Re: Starting Apache

Postby nevyoung » 07. May 2012 10:49

Thanks JonB.
An error log has never been created. One of the Windows Events errors is that the path to the error logs cannot be found. If I try to START the installed Apache service, I always get the error that the specified cannot be found and the path is given as c:\\xamp\\apache\\ ......

..............Whoa ........... I think I have found the problem ------ in every installation I have tried (from ZIP) there has not been an empty \xampp\apache\logs directory. However, that empty folder does exist inside the zip. If I create an empty /logs directory, then Apache has no problem starting up!

I am using PKZIP through Ztree (anyone know Ztree - greatest file handler ever?). It appears that PKZIP set NOT to extract and create an empty folder. I will do a test using WinRAR to see if it also ignores empty folders.

This probably explains all the weird errors I have been seeing, and to understand how the absence of a \logs directory results in those errors would be an interesting exercise, but time does not allow.

The 1st question when querying an Apache startup problem is thus: Does an apache/logs directory exist? If not, then create one.

Could this be an answer to the hundreds and probably thousands of other queries about Apache not starting up?
nevyoung
 
Posts: 2
Joined: 06. May 2012 12:34
Operating System: XP

Re: Starting Apache

Postby Altrea » 07. May 2012 15:45

Hi nevyoung,

nevyoung wrote:Could this be an answer to the hundreds and probably thousands of other queries about Apache not starting up?

Yes and no. Just creating the log folder isn't the answer for all extractor issues, because most extractors which don't extract empty folders doesn't extract 0 Byte files too, and there are some very important 0 Byte files in the XAMPP zip Archive, especially for Database functionality.

The best hint would be to use an less "buggy" extractor like 7zip or to check the extractors configuration for action with empty folders and/or 0 Byte files.

best wishes,
Altrea
We don't provide any support via personal channels like PM, email, Skype, TeamViewer!

It's like porn for programmers 8)
User avatar
Altrea
AF Moderator
 
Posts: 11926
Joined: 17. August 2009 13:05
XAMPP version: several
Operating System: Windows 11 Pro x64


Return to XAMPP for Windows

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 96 guests