Admin Always Greyed Out XAMPP Version: 1.8.1 [solved]
Posted: 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
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