I’ve just upgraded to windows 10 and found that XAMPP/WAMP Apache won’t start anymore for some reasons. It will simply attempt to start but then fail and ask the user to check the Apache error logs.
The “culprit” or should I say, reason, is because windows 10 comes with a service known as World Wide Web Publishing Service (I will just call it WWWPS for short) which is started automatically when windows starts and uses port 80 by default. Port 80 is what Apache in XAMPP/WAMP uses by default as well, and hence why the error above since port 80 has already been taken by WWWPS.
So the solution is pretty simple:
1. Run Command Prompt and type services.msc, then click OK.
2. Scroll To World Wide Web Publishing Service. Note that the Status should say that it is Running.
3. Double Click on that row. Change the Startup type from Automatic to Manual. Next, click on Stop to stop the WWWPS service. Don’t worry, unless you’re running some software that depends on the Microsoft IIS Web Server, you should be fine.
4. Now, try to start Apache again.
Yup, that’s all and it should work. Please leave a comment if this helps or you have other suggestions.
Ismail Chahrazed says
I just did exactly what you say but it stills not working. Any other suggestion please???
David says
Check the apache log file and windows event viewer to see if there are any errors
bigb says
the solution works but you must be running a new version. I’m now using v3.2.1(i had to upgrade too)
simon frans says
Thank you bro !!!
Earl Alvin Alvizo (@props21) says
Thanks David. It fix my xamp
Farhad says
excelent. I tried 1000 way. and read 100000 Article and didn’t work. thank you. your solution is the best.
Zeljko says
My Apache started after stopping IIS, but defined virtual host still not works, why?
Clay says
Cheers mate 🙂
Nigel says
Brilliant, David. Worked a treat. Many thanks!
Brian says
I followed you instructions and it failed to work. Then I ran XAMPP control panel as administrator and it works. Just to add another thought.
Ken Mayer says
This seems to be the issue for me. I ran the XAMPP control panel as administrator and it works … (don’t seem to have the World Wide Publishing Service on my computer for whatever reason).
Fernando Soguero Sánchez says
I was looking for a solution to this problem and find this. Thanks to you, my problem is solved!
Guido Vanthienen says
Thank you very much, problem solved
kuda says
thanks david
John says
This didnt work for me i couldnt find worl wide web publishing service
Mohd Rizal Mustafa says
it is work.Tq david
Marilyn O'Sullivan says
Thanks so much for this tip. It worked like a charm!!!
gregneils says
Thank you! This fix did it. Run Apache Run!
Ajit Singh says
It worked 🙂
Coşi says
hello.. i was fighting with same problem..
it is an unsatisfiying Error message above and i’ve tryed to run my httpd.exe from CommandLine.
it won’t start and, it said me something like that:
“invalid root folder on line 242 of C:\ xampp \ apache \ conf \ httpd . conf”
than i checked the root path in my config file and it was seem correct..
than i checked the root path, and i find out my root folder was missing. i must be accidently delete and forget that shit.. i mean all was my fool 🙂
pls. check your rooth path twice, and naming of your folders (if you renaming the root on desing time). Xamp giving the same error in this case.
dav says
Wow it amazing it fix my problem straight away. Give you A++++ for you excellent Help
Tharu says
YOU THE BEST !!! THANKS MAN
Harvey says
it works,thanks!
Jaros says
great! you save me
Ray Hendriksma says
Perfect! Thanks
Sophia says
Thankyou Soo much!!
j says
Worked! Very simple, thanks,
wahyu says
it works after restart my PC, thanks a lot
Pete says
Tried to install wampserver on my Windows 10. Get error httpd.exe cannot start correctly 0xc000007b. Tried all tips here and in other places, still nothing. wamp icon remains red, no services running, there isn’t any Apache log to examine. Yes, IIS is stopped, W3SVC too, changed ports from 80 to 8080, all VC++ dlls are installed, tried just runnin httpd.exe as admin but it won’t work.
dinoZick says
Thank you! Ran as admin fixed the problem
Meg Morgan says
Thank you so much! It worked perfectly (Apache 2.2) !!!
dan says
WWWPS service wasn’t installed in my w10, still the apache service can’t run. why?
virender says
Thank u soooooooooooooooo much
mugi says
Great. It works, mate. Thank you so much.
Teresa says
Hi tried your solution but i cant seem to find WWWPS, its a new computer. windows 10.
error log[Sun Jan 10 11:13:02.514568 2016] [ssl:warn] [pid 9160:tid 584] AH01909: http://www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:02.686445 2016] [ssl:warn] [pid 9160:tid 584] AH01909: http://www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:02.733320 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9160:tid 584] AH00455: Apache/2.4.17 (Win32) OpenSSL/1.0.2d PHP/5.6.15 configured — resuming normal operations
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:02.733320 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9160:tid 584] AH00456: Apache Lounge VC11 Server built: Oct 13 2015 10:54:13
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:02.733320 2016] [core:notice] [pid 9160:tid 584] AH00094: Command line: ‘C:\\xampp\\apache\\bin\\httpd.exe -d C:/xampp/apache’
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:05.248970 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9160:tid 584] AH00418: Parent: Created child process 8384
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:05.686474 2016] [ssl:warn] [pid 8384:tid 500] AH01909: http://www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:05.827102 2016] [ssl:warn] [pid 8384:tid 500] AH01909: http://www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Sun Jan 10 11:13:05.858351 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 8384:tid 500] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.
any ideas
ian says
Thanks very much David. It works. Your great article solve my problem.
Bayu says
thanks. Now it work. Problem solved
Peter Meint says
January 2016, and it still works perfectly 😉
Nico says
Thanks, this is very helpful
Luca says
Hi to all, i have the problems with Apache.
Windows 10, not upgrade.
The versione of XAMPP is 3.2.2
No skype installed..
my file http.conf:
ServerRoot “/xampp/www” www exist.
Listen 8080
ServerName localhost:8080
DocumentRoot “/xampp/www”
Apache not run.
From the consolle i read:
Attempting to start Apache service…
Executing “net start “Apache2.4″”
Return code: 0
From Events read:
>>> httpd.exe: Syntax error on line 37 of C:/Program Files (x86)/xampp/apache/conf/httpd.conf: ServerRoot must be a valid directory
Help 🙂
David says
Luca, try changing the ServerRoot line to
ServerRoot “/xampplite/apache”
Saturminus Combie says
Thanks it is running on local-host. I had that in mind but could not access the service.
Pedro M. says
Found these instructions by accident and while they didn’t work for me, I wanted to pose the following question to whoever reads this: My XAMPP apache 2.4 will not start on computer reboot because the IP Helper service is already started. Once I shut down this sevice, apache runs fine. Has anyone come across this before? I don’t have IIS installed.
Denise Perez says
Solved !!!!
Thank you
Jeff Swanson says
Worked great. Thank you!
Paul Hansen says
Also worked great for me. I was about to reinstall Apache and waste a bunch of time. Thanks tremendously!
Stephen says
same as min bro. I coudnt find wwwPublishing service. my xampp is still not working. I tried many ways but nothing happens.
Saranga Ekanayaka says
Thanks bro..
xxxx says
wowwww!! its works!
Gadson TheMeeky says
From now it is working….. This article was helpful bro.
Rich says
I tried looking for the service but it’s not listed, what do I do now?
Faizan Ahmed says
If changing ports isn’t working then try this: Install Visual C++ and reinstall Xamp.
SanjayPatlo says
I had the same problem and didnt have world wide web publishing service installed. Managed to fix through this forum:
I changed the port from 80 to 81 from httpd.config (Searched listen as shown in the article/threads)
I also noted that my folder was named C:/Xampp1 while the server root in httpd.config was C:/Xampp/Apache so removed the 1 in my folder so it matches the http.config file
I then started Xampp as administrator
Shocked to see that it worked like a charm (Win firewall asked to allow access and now I am good to go)
Thanks guys for solving my prob for over a couple of months now!
Jun Chen says
same error with v 3.2.4
CMonkee says
I was setting up my new laptop with XAMPP on a different drive letter (was on E: before) and got this error message:
12:56:12 PM [Apache] Executing “g:\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe”
12:56:12 PM [Apache] Return code: 0
For me I had to make sure I updated the paths in all the Apache config files and also in PHP.ini.
Go through the XAMPP Control Panel and click on Config (beside Apache) and edit each of the config files there listed. After I fixed all the paths in each config file, Apache started up.