Common Gateway Interface (CGI) 'deactivated'

[help me pls]

Hello,

I'm new to the whole apache/xampp web server thing and was wondering if someone could help me out with a little problem.

I have been tasked with creating a server to run noticeboard content from and have chosen to install the distribution package XAMPP which includes Apache server and MySQL into which I created a database and installed XIBO.

The problem I'm having at the moment is connecting to the server from a remote machine which is what CGI is meant to do.

I'm not 100% sure but I believe that CGI is basically the web interface that users connect to, to access the server front end remotely.

Here's what I see on the XAMPP front end from my local machine: http://imgur.com/ECxM2RD

I have no idea how to activate CGI because from what I have read online it looks like it should be activated automatically.

Heres what I got out of the apache (error.log) file regarding cgi:
[Mon Jan 19 15:13:09.899414 2015] [cgi:error] [pid 3656:tid 1708] (OS 2)The system cannot find the file specified. : [client 127.0.0.1:52041] couldn't create child process: 720002: cgi.cgi
[Mon Jan 19 15:13:09.900390 2015] [cgi:error] [pid 3656:tid 1708] (OS 2)The system cannot find the file specified. : [client 127.0.0.1:52041] AH01223: couldn't spawn child process: C:/xampp/cgi-bin/cgi.cgi

Please ask if anymore information needs to be provided.
Any help would be great!
Thanks

[JJ_Tagy]

Not sure exactly what definition you are using: Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard method used to generate dynamic content on Web pages and Web applications.

Looking at the error message, it can't find the file. You may need to specify absolute path. Did you change CGI settings in your config file?

[help me pls]

Thanks for the definition, I must have misread somewhere that it was to do with the web front end.

I haven't changed any settings in my config file as far as I know, could you tell me which config file/where the setting would be?

I'm still wondering why I still cannot to connect to XAMPP/XIBO from a remote machine, have you any suggestions?

Thanks for the quick response.

[Nobbie]

I'm still wondering why I still cannot to connect to XAMPP/XIBO from a remote machine, have you any suggestions?

How do you try to connect from a remote machine? Is the Xampp Server in the same LAN as the remote machine? Or somewhere else? Tell us about your environment and tell us what you enter into a browser to connect to Xampp.

[help me pls]

I have now fixed the issue with connecting from a remote machine, I had to edit the apache httpd-xampp.conf to allow all connections to the web server.

Any thoughts on why CGI still isn't working? I have checked the files and they are definitely not missing from file specified in the error.

[Nobbie]

You still did not answer the question, what you entered in the browser?

[JJ_Tagy]

My guess is you (or someone) deleted cgi.cgi out of the cgi-bin folder and that is why it shows disabled along with the missing file signifier.

[help me pls]

Nobbie - I enter "http://name of the computer/xibo" but I have fixed the problem with connection so why is this relevant?

JJ_Tagy - Nope it's definitely still there, that was also my first thought and the first thing I checked, which is why I mentioned in my last post that the files are definitely not missing from the folder specified in the error.

[Nobbie]

Nobbie - I enter "http://name of the computer/xibo" but I have fixed the problem with connection so why is this relevant?

It is relevant because you may have declared different VirtualHosts for localhost und "name of the computer" for example. Or simply provide a wrong URL (like you did here, that link does not yield to cgi.cgi). If you dont like to answer questions for things we need to know, we cannot help you. It is your problem, not mine.

[help me pls]

So what would be a good example for a link that yields cgi.cgi.? I have answered your questions I just wanted to get a view of your thought process into why that would matter as I have very little experience in web servers.... Thanks for your help.

[Nobbie]

So what would be a good example for a link that yields cgi.cgi.?

You still get it wrong: I dont want an example. I want to know, which URL you entered (in reality, not as example) in order to receive the error message from above?

[help me pls]

Ohhh that error message wasn't from a web browser. The error came from searching through the apache log files, specifically: C:\xampp\apache\logs\error.log

I believed that checking the log files would be a start to trying to solve the problem before asking the forums but after I found that the cgi.cgi file was present I became stumped.