Admin Always Greyed Out XAMPP Version: 1.8.1 [solved]

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

Admin Always Greyed Out XAMPP Version: 1.8.1 [solved]

Postby mpt55 » 31. October 2012 16:56

Background: A newbie! I am struggling to keep my consultancy business afloat and want to create a website and learn a little by 'doing'. I am close to deciding between Wordpress and Joomla. I know I should be able to design and build the site using 'localhost' and I want to keep all the website files etc on a separate networked hard drive. To operate either Wordpress or Joomla I am told I need Apache and mySQL. I downloaded XAMPP 1.8.1 yesterday to the networked drive where Y: is \\Lacie2Tb\Openshare\Webtools\ and installed within the XAMPP folder. Everything ran fast and appeared to install correctly.
On clicking the Control Panel icon I had to accept my Open File Security Warning and allow the unknown publisher program xampp-control.exe to run:
11:51:55 [main] Initializing Control Panel
11:51:55 [main] Windows Version: Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
11:51:55 [main] XAMPP Version: 1.8.1
11:51:55 [main] Control Panel Version: 3.1.0 3.1.0 [ Compiled: September 20th 2012 ]
11:51:55 [main] You are not running with administrator rights! This will work for
11:51:55 [main] most application stuff but whenever you do something with services
11:51:55 [main] there will be a security dialogue or things will break! So think
11:51:55 [main] about running this application with administrator rights!
11:51:55 [main] XAMPP Installation Directory: "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\"
11:51:55 [main] Checking for prerequisites
11:52:11 [main] All prerequisites found
11:52:11 [main] Initializing Modules

Then for each service: (Apache, MSQL, Filezilla, Tomcat) a similar message as below:

11:52:11 [Apache] Initializing module...
11:52:11 [Apache] Checking for module existence...
11:52:11 [Apache] Checking for required tools...
11:52:11 [Apache] Checking for service (name="Apache2.4"): Service not installed
11:52:11 [Apache] Service Path: Service Not Installed
11:52:11 [Apache] Checking default ports...

Mercury did not have anything about checking for service or Service Path - i considered that irrelevant for what i wanted to achieve.

The result was red x's against each service except Mercury and the Admin buttons greyed out for all of them. I could see I needed to be in admin mode so I closed the Control Panel using Quit.

I found out that by right clicking the Control Panel Icon from my desktop I could run as administrator. I did this and this time I got a different warning, from my UAC: Do you want the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to your computer? Clicking Yes gave me:

13:38:01 [main] Initializing Control Panel
13:38:01 [main] Windows Version: Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
13:38:01 [main] XAMPP Version: 1.8.1
13:38:01 [main] Control Panel Version: 3.1.0 3.1.0 [ Compiled: September 20th 2012 ]
13:38:01 [main] Running with Administrator rights - good!
13:38:01 [main] XAMPP Installation Directory: "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\"
13:38:01 [main] Checking for prerequisites
13:38:01 [main] All prerequisites found
13:38:01 [main] Initializing Modules

and the same set of notifications for each service as before:

13:38:01 [Apache] Initializing module...
13:38:01 [Apache] Checking for module existence...
13:38:01 [Apache] Checking for required tools...
13:38:01 [Apache] Checking for service (name="Apache2.4"): Service not installed
13:38:01 [Apache] Service Path: Service Not Installed
13:38:01 [Apache] Checking default ports...

finishing with:

13:38:01 [main] Starting Check-Timer
13:38:01 [main] Control Panel Ready

I then clicked the red Apache X button, and after clicking Yes to did I want to install the Apache service, I had to accept my Open File Security Warning and allow the unknown publisher program httpd.exe, which i did and I got this:

13:42:13 [Apache] Installing service...
13:42:13 [Apache] Executing "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe -k install -n "Apache2.4""
13:42:37 [Apache] Return code: 0
13:42:37 [Apache] Checking for service (name="Apache2.4"): Service installed
13:42:37 [Apache] Service Path: "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe" -k runservice
13:42:37 [Apache] Successful!

Later I tried this with MySQL and got:

13:45:50 [mysql] Installing service...
13:45:50 [mysql] Executing "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe" --install "mysql" --defaults-file="\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\mysql\bin\my.ini"
13:46:59 [mysql] Return code: 0
13:46:59 [mysql] Checking for service (name="mysql"): Service installed
13:46:59 [mysql] Service Path: \\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe --defaults-file=\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\mysql\bin\my.ini mysql
13:46:59 [mysql] Successful!

After that I try to press Start for Apache and the system immediately hangs and is unresponsive so I close it using Task Manager. I have tried relentlessly to find anything that can give me a clue about what is going on but all Apache and MySql error logs are empty or do not exist (respectively) and I am in knots about how to progress...

All the while, all the Admin buttons remain greyed out. Nothing changes there. I have spent (wasted?) hours now on trying to discover what is going on / wrong. I have tried to get back to the essence of what I want to do: Ensure I can run Apache and run MySQL to enable Joomla / Wordpress to overlay them but I am obsessing about Admin being greyed out. I think it might be because I have UAC levels too high but reset them to lowest possible, reboot and do not get any difference. I have gone as far as running GPEDIT.MSC and changing the Inclusion List for moderate risk file types to include .exe under User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Attachment Manager in a (successful) attempt to prevent the Open File Security Warning from occuring but nothing changes these Admin Buttons they are resolutely grey.

I don't even know if having them show as active is relevant - it just seems like they should be! I have read in another post that I do not need to run Apache or MySql as a service I just need to start them... but thats my issue I can't start them - they just hang. Here is my best state so far:

15:19:55 [main] Initializing Control Panel
15:19:55 [main] Windows Version: Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
15:19:55 [main] XAMPP Version: 1.8.1
15:19:55 [main] Control Panel Version: 3.1.0 3.1.0 [ Compiled: September 20th 2012 ]
15:19:55 [main] Running with Administrator rights - good!
15:19:55 [main] XAMPP Installation Directory: "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\"
15:19:55 [main] Checking for prerequisites
15:19:55 [main] All prerequisites found
15:19:55 [main] Initializing Modules
15:19:55 [Apache] Initializing module...
15:19:55 [Apache] Checking for module existence...
15:19:55 [Apache] Checking for required tools...
15:19:55 [Apache] Checking for service (name="Apache2.4"): Service installed
15:19:55 [Apache] Service Path: "\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe" -k runservice
15:19:55 [Apache] Checking default ports...
15:19:55 [mysql] Initializing module...
15:19:55 [mysql] Checking for module existence...
15:19:55 [mysql] Checking for required tools...
15:19:55 [mysql] Checking for service (name="mysql"): Service installed
15:19:55 [mysql] Service Path: \\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe --defaults-file=\\lacie2tb\openshare\webtools\xampp\mysql\bin\my.ini mysql
15:19:55 [mysql] Checking default ports...
15:19:55 [filezilla] Initializing module...
15:19:55 [filezilla] Checking for module existence...
15:19:55 [filezilla] Checking for required tools...
15:19:55 [filezilla] Checking for service (name="FileZillaServer"): Service not installed
15:19:55 [filezilla] Service Path: Service Not Installed
15:19:55 [filezilla] Checking default ports...
15:19:55 [mercury] Initializing module...
15:19:55 [mercury] Checking for module existence...
15:19:55 [mercury] Checking for required tools...
15:19:55 [mercury] Checking default ports...
15:19:55 [Tomcat] Initializing module...
15:19:55 [Tomcat] Checking for module existence...
15:19:55 [Tomcat] Checking for required tools...
15:19:55 [Tomcat] Checking for service (name="Tomcat7"): Service not installed
15:19:55 [Tomcat] Service Path: Service Not Installed
15:19:55 [Tomcat] Checking default ports...
15:19:55 [main] Starting Check-Timer
15:19:55 [main] Control Panel Ready
15:22:58 [mysql] Attempting to start MySQL service...
15:22:58 [mysql] Executing "net start "mysql""
15:23:06 [mysql] Return code: 0
15:24:10 [Apache] Attempting to start Apache service...
15:24:10 [service] Searching for service Apache2.4
15:24:11 [service] Found service, attempting to start

So can any of you clever people please help me out? I'm beginning to think that installing on a local disk was not such a great idea, but is that the issue? Or is it my HP Notebook/Windows/Microsoft/NoD AV playing with my security and permissions? Parts of Control Panel are working, but not others? The only logging I have in operation is control panel itself which carries no additional information. FYI Skype uses port 52903. I can see no other conflicts.

It is pretty frustrating but I am sure you will help me find the answer! Many thanks for reading this - I hope it made sense :D
mpt55
 
Posts: 2
Joined: 31. October 2012 11:20
Operating System: HP 8560p i7 64 bit Win7 Pro

Re: Admin Always Greyed Out XAMPP Version: 1.8.1

Postby Altrea » 31. October 2012 17:32

Hi mpt55,

First of all: Thank you very much for the very detailed reporting of your issue.
Providing help is so much easier with that bunch of information :D

mpt55 wrote:I'm beginning to think that installing on a local disk was not such a great idea, but is that the issue?

Yes and no. You can install the XAMPP components on network drives, BUT if you want to start them as Windows Service, the Service Paths need to have a drive letter.
That is not the case in your installation.

It should be possible to remove the Windows Services by clicking the green check icons again to get back to the red crosses and simply click in the Start Buttons then.
The other possibility would be to reinstall XAMPP with your Y: Driveletter again (maybe it would work also to execute the setup_xampp.bat file while you find it in your Y: drive letter, to relocate the XAMPP installation) and remove and reregister the Services with that driveletter again.

best wishes,
Altrea
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Altrea
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XAMPP version: several
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Re: Admin Always Greyed Out XAMPP Version: 1.8.1

Postby mpt55 » 02. November 2012 09:43

Many thanks for your reply. My issues are completely resolved now. My problems were really with understanding what the XAMPP control panel does and what its ADMIN buttons are for.

For example I did not realise that Admin buttons are always greyed out until the services have been started correctly. I was trying to fix the fact that they were greyed out when the Control Panel starts up and only come alive when the Services were started correctly.

This was because I was having UAC's pop-up and because I first tried to run Control Panel without Administrator rights and because I was getting error messages in the screen and the Control Panel Admin buttons were greyed out and nothing worked. I concluded that your Control Panel Admin buttons were associated with Windows Administrator rights - and in fact I spent a lot of time finding out how to reduce my UAC control levels and changed GPEDIT.MSC to get rid of Open File Security checks - and yet still the Admin boxes were greyed out!

After getting your reply I decided to do a little more reserach and found this excellent You Tube clip that showed how to install XAMPP and then Joomla on top of it - the whole prices completed in under 17 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ycdHd2XTPA

That is when I noticed the ADmin boxes only come live after a successful start of services. I had wasted my time trying to fix imaginary windows access problems!

Finally I should not have ignored original advice to install XAMPP to the C:\. I was having issues resolving my long pathname to a networked drive folder to a Letter drive. So the lesson learned is follow the advice and instructions to the letter for a problem free install.

Everything works fine now. My problem - not yours!
mpt55
 
Posts: 2
Joined: 31. October 2012 11:20
Operating System: HP 8560p i7 64 bit Win7 Pro

Re: Admin Always Greyed Out XAMPP Version: 1.8.1

Postby Altrea » 02. November 2012 09:55

I'm glad your problems could all be solved :D
I wish you all the best and much fun with XAMPP and all that stuff 8)
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


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