Install XAMPP on OneDrive (locally synced folder)

[mike_300zx]

Hi, thanks to Altrea's help on vhosts ( https://community.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=75303 ) (and also Akeeba's support on their Backup system), I have now managed to move my testing stuff from one PC to another on my local network and also setup vhosts for multiple sites.

I then started to think about backups in general. Copying the vhosts folder is only a partial solution (doesn't backup the joomla database). Using Windows 10 File History doesn't cover where XAMPP default is, backing up the whole PC is a bit overkill just to get XAMPP and my dev sites backed up (yes, I do have PC backup overall but that's a different question).

And for my Joomla site overall, I can use AKB locally for the dev sites (live sites already have backup routine). But is there a day-to-day regular way to have some backup on my dev?

I wondered what would happen if I installed XAMPP in a folder within my locally sync'ed OneDrive folder? (Note, this is not intended as a sharing thing or for use between 2 PCs as in this thread https://community.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=72710&p=248078&hilit=OneDrive#p248078 ).

So I tried it. Uninstalled XAMPP entirely then fresh download/install into c:/users/myname/onedrive/xampp and in simple terms although it's not in the default root of C: it seems to work. Fire up XAMPPP (as administrator as usual), start Apache and MySQL in XAMPP panel, no issues. Type localhost in the browser and there is the dashboard as you'd expect.

Before I now setup vhosts following what I learned before adapted for the new folder, is there anything I missed? Is there a fundamental reason why this approach won't work and is a stupid thing to try - or should it be OK as long as I get paths right.

Again, I don't expect this to substitute for proper backups or to be able to use the copy saved in the cloud as a webserver (I have one of those for Live) but just as a belt/braces in case the cat tapdances format c: on my keyboard.

[mike_300zx]

I post this only to point out an error in the above and avoid anyone else wasting their time. When I used XAMPP Control Panel, it was still starting the C:/XAMPP install and not the one on OneDrive. When I do that manually:

10:30:05 [main] Initializing Control Panel
10:30:05 [main] Windows Version: Home 64-bit
10:30:05 [main] XAMPP Version: 7.0.15
10:30:05 [main] Control Panel Version: 3.2.2 [ Compiled: Nov 12th 2015 ]
10:30:05 [main] Running with Administrator rights - good!
10:30:05 [main] XAMPP Installation Directory: "c:\users\mike4\onedrive\xampp\"
10:30:05 [main] Checking for prerequisites
10:30:05 [main] All prerequisites found
10:30:05 [main] Initializing Modules
10:30:05 [main] Starting Check-Timer
10:30:05 [main] Control Panel Ready
10:32:08 [Apache] Attempting to start Apache app...
10:32:09 [Apache] Status change detected: running
10:32:11 [Apache] Status change detected: stopped
10:32:11 [Apache] Error: Apache shutdown unexpectedly.
10:32:11 [Apache] This may be due to a blocked port, missing dependencies,
10:32:11 [Apache] improper privileges, a crash, or a shutdown by another method.
10:32:11 [Apache] Press the Logs button to view error logs and check
10:32:11 [Apache] the Windows Event Viewer for more clues
10:32:11 [Apache] If you need more help, copy and post this
10:32:11 [Apache] entire log window on the forums

So I need to do more research in the areas indicated by the Error message. I will come back to this when I have a little more time. Until then, I'll avoid being overclever and stick to the default c:/xampp install together with vhosts.