I wanted a test environment where I could practice PHP, so I downloaded XAMPP a few days ago and installed it to my portable flash drive. I ran it for a little while to get the hang of it, and it worked without any problems. I could start Apache, go to localhost, and do all I needed to do. Then, once I got home, I installed it again, on my external hard drive, so that I'd have much more space than my portable thumb drive would offer. When I ran it from the external drive, it also worked-- same deal. I could start Apache and do all I needed to do.
Today, I plugged my thumb drive in and tried to fire up Apache to do some more PHP practice. However, when I click the Apache "Start" button in the XAMPP control panel, the text box below prints the following:
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Busy...
Apache started [Port 80]
However, Apache does not start-- there is no "running" notice in the Control Panel, the "Start" button does not transform into a "Stop" button, and if I try to navigate to http://localhost, I get a 404. What was working just fine a few days ago doesn't work at all now, and the only software change I've made is the secondary installation of XAMPP on my external hard drive.
Other people have suggested an incompatibility with Skype and port 80. While I have Skype installed, I hardly ever use it, and I don't let it run in the system tray-- the application is closed. Nevertheless, I unchecked the relevant option in Skype, and I still have the problem with Apache.
When I run xampp-portcheck.exe, the terminal tells me that both "Apache <HTTP>" in Port 80, and "Apache <HTTPS>" in Port 443 are of status "SYSTEM".
One other thing of note: when I start the XAMPP control panel from my thumb drive, this is posted at the top of the text area:
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XAMPP Control Panel Version 2.5 (9. May, 2007)
Windows 6.0 Build 6001 Platform 2 Service Pack 1
Current Directory: K:\xampp
Install Directory: L:\xampp
*** WARNING: Directory mismatch ***
Status Check OK
What do I need to do to make Apache under XAMPP work again?
I'm running Windows Vista SP1.
Thank you!