Installed programs starting instead of XAMPP's [SOLVED]

[dlesage]

Hello.

This question might very well have been asked before, but I can't find it.

On my home PC (Windows 7), I've installed xampp USB Lite 1.7.7 on a USB key. Everything there works fine.

Now, I'm trying to run xampp on my work PC (Windows XP SP3, but it's most likely unrelated to the problem). I have both Apache and MySQL installed on this PC, but both services are definitely stopped (I've verified this by trying to navigate to localhost, and by browsing MySQL databases with SQLYog; neither are connecting).

In the xampp control panel, when trying to Start either Apache or MySQL, the version that actually starts is the locally-installed version, not the USB version. I see the local htdocs in my browser, and the local databases in SQLYog.

My first thought was that unchecking the Svc checkbox in the xampp control panel might solve the issue, but I'm unable to do that; the checkboxes are disabled, so I can't uncheck them.

Any ideas?

Dan.

[dlesage]

A bit of extra info:

- I also have PHP already installed on the work PC.
- trying to run "portcheck.bat", I get "Checking necessary ports! Please wait ...", and nothing else (back to the command prompt).
- I don't know which version of the control panel I'm running; there doesn't seem to be an "about" box anywhere, and Windows Explorer shows no version information in the file's Properties.

[hackattack142]

There is only one version of the control panel for the Lite version (it is 2.5 and I think it displays that in the output window when you start it). Unfortunately I think you found a corner case with that control panel. Without inspecting the code, I suspect the developers just disabled GUI components without gutting the internal code with the assumption that no existing services would be installed. The problem is that the control panel detects services based on names and will try to control the service if it is detected.

As a workaround, you should be able to use the Control Panel Version 3 developed for the full XAMPP version viewtopic.php?f=16&t=48932
It will give you errors about Tomcat, Mercury, and FileZilla being missing but you can ignore those and not use those buttons on the control panel. You can then adjust the service names / port detection settings in the Config > Service and Port Settings window of the control panel. This will stop it from detecting other instances running on the same computer. You will also have to have your portable XAMPP Apache/MySQL listening on a different port if you want to run the existing and portable ones simultaneously.

I have planned to add Lite Version compatibility into that version 3 control panel so it can be a proper replacement but it is just not there yet.

[dlesage]

Oooh you're right, I missed that version number in the output window.

Thanks for the reply; using version 3, I was able to rename and "re-port" both apache and mysql, as you suggested, and it works just fine.

Problem solved!

Now if I can only understand why the Wiki I've installed on the thumb-drive can't load its stylesheet, I'll be in business.

Thanks again!

[Sharley]

Thanks for the feedback.

I will close this topic and mark it solved.

Please feel free to start a new topic if you have any more issues with XAMPP for Windows.

Best wishes.