Xampp won't start for 2 reasons can't map Mac address & PID

[martoon196]

Hi folks,

I wonder if you could help me. I used to use XAMPP a lot then I changed projects & didn't use it for ages. When i went back to it I couldn't access any of the files on the testing server, they were locked and the lock button was greyed out. XAMPP wouldn't start either.

I scanned the forums and followed some instructions, I retrieved the files from htdocs into a temp folder and replaced it as well as changing the permissions of the others with the terminal.

However I still couldn't start Apache so I uninstalled and deleted it then downloaded the latest version - VM.

Now, when I start it at first I get this message: Error starting XAMPP - stack cannot map MAC address "96:a8:df:37:31:7c" to IP: Could not find an IP address for 96:a8:df:37:31:7c

Then, if I try again I get this error message Error starting "XAMPP" stack - another instance seems to be running at PID 3043

The PID number changes each time.

I've reset the computer, turned XAMPP on and off again, followed various threads about terminal inputs, none of which have worked.

I have no XAMPP folder and everything on every tab of XAMPP is greyed out except the start button on the general tab that generates these messages.

I don't post on forums much, I'm not expert level enough to help but am resourceful enough to follow along from other peoples issues, in this case, I am absolutely stuck.

Thank you for reading this and please help!!

[Nobbie]

However I still couldn't start Apache so I uninstalled and deleted it then downloaded the latest version - VM.

Why did you pick the VM? Thats a VirtualMachine and totally different than all the other 3 installations. I would pick another installation. Or read the long thread above about all the difficulties with the VM. Not sure if that helps, but without reading it you are totally lost. Or do not use the VM version.