Pre Installation Actions - Windows XP

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

Pre Installation Actions - Windows XP

Postby terryl » 18. July 2008 08:35

I have installed Apache, PHP and MySQL individually on my standalone PC with Windows XP. MySQL works fine and I can create databases etc. I can't get Apache to start and therefore I can't get PHP working either.

XAMPP sounds like an ideal alternative for me - I'm a newbie to Apache/MySQL and PHP and have only normal everday working knowledge of computers. However, I'm concerned to ensure that my computer is "clean" before I try to install XAMPP.

I assume I should ideally unistall my existing copies of Apache, MySQL and PHP before trying to install XAMPP. However are there any other files (config, ini files etc) or adjustments I should make before trying the installation of XAMPP?

I'd really appreciate any advice which will make the XAMPP installation clean and easy. Thanks in anticipation.

Terry
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Postby Nobbie » 18. July 2008 10:13

> I can't get Apache to start and therefore I can't get PHP working either.

You should find out why you cannot start Apache, as that may be the same problem later on, if you try to start Apache from Xampp.

>I'd really appreciate any advice which will make the XAMPP installation clean and easy.

There is no "bullet proof" pre-installation action which makes sure that youre Xampp will run properly - beside one: setup a new Windows XP Home installation.

You must have some knowledge about TCPIP and ports, because very often the start of Apache fails due to blocked or already used Port 80 - and then you have to find out, which tool is responsible for that problem (mostly another webserver like IIS, or Skype tool, or a firewall etc.)
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Postby terryl » 18. July 2008 11:23

Nobbie, thanks for your response and help.

I'm not really sure how to find out what, if anything, is using Port 80 but I have looked in Services and checked the dependencies for those services which start automatically. I found 4 which show TCP/IP as their dependency but I don't know if they are using Port 80. Also I'm not sure what would happen if I stopped these services.
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Postby Wiedmann » 18. July 2008 11:50

I'm not really sure how to find out what, if anything, is using Port 80

e.g.: netstat, tcpview, xampp-portcheck,...
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Postby terryl » 18. July 2008 15:09

Yes, thank for the suggestion. I've tried all three port checkers and they all say that Port 80 is free. Do you know of anything else I can try please?
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Postby Wiedmann » 18. July 2008 15:27

I've tried all three port checkers and they all say that Port 80 is free.

Well, so there is no webserver running on your box.

Do you know of anything else I can try please?

Not really, because i don't now what's your problem.

- You have installed XAMPP?
-- which XAMPP version/package?

- You can start XAMPP?
-- how did you start XAMPP?
-- you have verified this with e.g. taskmanager?

- Any error message?
-- anything in the Windows event log / Apache error.log?

...
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Postby terryl » 18. July 2008 17:20

Please see my original post for the details but basically I wanted to make sure my existing setup was clean before attempting to install XAMPP. I've installed Apache, MySQL and PHP as separte packages and can't get them all to work together because Apache won't start. Nobbie suggested that I need to solve this before attempting to install XAMPP or else I would get the same problems.

So my problem is:-
    1) How do I get my existing Apache to work
    2) Having done that what do I need to do to clean my system (of Apache, MySQL and PHP) before installing XAMPP. Do I for example need to run uninstall and then delete and stray config or ini files that the unistall programme has not deleted.


Thanks for your helf so far and hope this helps on where I am at the moment. :D
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Postby Wiedmann » 18. July 2008 17:56

1) How do I get my existing Apache to work

2) Having done that what do I need to do to clean my system (of Apache, MySQL and PHP) before installing XAMPP. Do I for example need to run uninstall and then delete and stray config or ini files that the unistall programme has not deleted.

Just to understand this:
- 1st you want install a stand alone Apache/PHP/MySQL.
- And then you want deinstall the whole thing and want install XAMPP?
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Postby terryl » 19. July 2008 10:50

No, I already have Apache, MySQL and PHP as individual pachages on my standalone PC but cannot get them to work because of the problem with Apache not starting.

I think XAMPP might be a better solution for me but before installing XAMPP I want to make sure that the existing Apache, MYSQL and PHP will not be a problem when installing XAMPP. I could just uninstall the existing packages but I was concerned that the uninstall programme might still leave files which could cause a problem with the XAMPP installation. But, Nobbie said I should solve the Apache start problem before doing this.

So should I:-
    1) Just uninstall the existing Apache, MySQL and PHP. Not be concerned about any files left behind by the uninstall process and then install XAMPP
    2) Or should I leave the existing individual Apache, MySQL and PHP files and install XAMPP anyway
    3) or should I, with help, try to solve the Apache start problem first.

Which is the best option please?
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Postby onlyconnect » 19. July 2008 14:02

Personally I like the way you can install XAMPP with almost zero configuration. Download the self-extracting zip, put it in c:\xampp (top level).

If you intend to do this I *would* remove any existing Apache, MySQL etc installations. Just make sure you don't delete any files that are important to you.

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Postby terryl » 21. July 2008 09:10

Over the weekend I decided to go for broke and I uninstalled Apache, PHP and MySQL plus a couple of other programmes which use TCP/IP. I then downloaded the Windows installer version of XAMPP and low and behold it worked first time and Apache is now running. So thanks very much to all of those people who responded to my topic on this subject.

I do still have a problem in that I can't get a test php page to process but I'll have a look around the forum first and then if necessary raise a new topic.

Once again thanks for all your help which is very much appreciated.

Terry
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Postby admindell » 21. July 2008 22:41

terryl wrote:Over the weekend I decided to go for broke and I uninstalled Apache, PHP and MySQL plus a couple of other programmes which use TCP/IP. I then downloaded the Windows installer version of XAMPP and low and behold it worked first time and Apache is now running. So thanks very much to all of those people who responded to my topic on this subject.

I do still have a problem in that I can't get a test php page to process but I'll have a look around the forum first and then if necessary raise a new topic.

Once again thanks for all your help which is very much appreciated.

Terry


try installing the modperl

and have you completely removed everything from the htdocs folder? because it will redirect to /xampp/ if you dont.
I am creating a web admin panel for windoes xampp!

its called xDPanel.
the home page i have created can be found here. and please note that it is still under construction!
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