Disabling User Access Control in Windows Vista

[Bruce Mand]

Newbie reborn here - last dabbled with PHP 8 yrs ago.
Have managed to get things running using Portable Version of XAMPP.
And can access localhost with no problem.

The question is regarding the disabling of UAC ;
is it necessary to switch it off everytime i use XAMPP (to start Apache & MySQL) ?

I have since switched it back ON and then tried raising privileges by "Run as Adminstrator" on the xampp-control.exe but still get this Error Log;

Code: Select all

11:11:21 PM  [main]    Initializing Control Panel
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Windows Version: Windows Vista Business  32-bit
11:11:21 PM  [main]    XAMPP Version: 5.6.28
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Control Panel Version: 3.2.2  [ Compiled: Nov 12th 2015 ]
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Running with Administrator rights - good!
11:11:21 PM  [main]    XAMPP Installation Directory: "f:\xampp\"
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Checking for prerequisites
11:11:21 PM  [main]    All prerequisites found
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Initializing Modules
11:11:21 PM  [main]    The FileZilla module is disabled
11:11:21 PM  [main]    The Mercury module is disabled
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Starting Check-Timer
11:11:21 PM  [main]    Control Panel Ready
11:11:26 PM  [Apache]    Attempting to start Apache app...
11:11:27 PM  [Apache]    Status change detected: running
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    Status change detected: stopped
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    Error: Apache shutdown unexpectedly.
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    This may be due to a blocked port, missing dependencies,
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    improper privileges, a crash, or a shutdown by another method.
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    Press the Logs button to view error logs and check
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    the Windows Event Viewer for more clues
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    If you need more help, copy and post this
11:11:28 PM  [Apache]    entire log window on the forums

Is the above really because the UAC is on, or is there something else also happening ?

If there is no alternative to disabling the UAC, what sort of security precautions should i be taking - eg. not connecting to the internet everytime i'm working on my 'localhost' ?

Thanks.

[Nobbie]

Is the above really because the UAC is on

I dont think so, mostly its due to a blocked port. It might be an UAC issue if and only if you installed Xampp into c:/program files or to a network drive, which both requires some special user rights. If you installed Xampp to c:/xampp as recommended, there should not be any problem with UAC. The base problem with UAC is due to the fact, that Apache etc. are installed with your private UserID, but on runtime you may decide to run it as a service and a Windows Service usually is executed NOT by your UserID but from "SYSTEM" User instead, what can lead to insuffient rights for Apache when reading files and folders.