Unable to access localhost after starting Xampp

Question

I'm running Windows XP Professional SP2.

A few days back I installed xampplite 1.7.1 and was able to access localhost and phpmyadmin through the browser. Today however it suddenly stopped working.

In Firefox after I type http://localhost/ nothing happens - just a blank white screen.

I removed all the files in the xampplite folders and reinstalled ver 1.7.1 again, but it was of no use. I then installed xampplite 1.7.2 (the latest), which I downloaded from the xampp website, but again this made no difference. Apache and MySQL are running however.

I tried using a locally installed WordPress, as I have a theme ready and want to convert that design to WordPress, test it and start using it online.

Running 'Port-check' on xampp control panel showed this:

RESULT
------

Service --     -- Port --      -- Status --
---------------------------------------------------
Apache (HTTP) -- 80 -- C:\xampplite\apache\bin\httpd.exe

Apache (WebDAV) -- 81 -- free

Apache (HTTPS) -- 443 -- C:\xampplite\apache\bin\httpd.exe

MySQL -- 3306 -- C:\xampplite\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe

FileZilla (FTP) -- 21 -- free

FileZilla (Admin) -- 14147 -- free

Mercury (SMTP) -- 25 -- free

Mercury (POP3) -- 110 -- free
Mercury (IMAP) -- 143 -- free

Mercury (HTTP) -- 2224 -- free

Mercury (Finger) -- 79 -- free

Mercury (PH) -- 105 -- free

Mercury (PopPass) -- 106 -- free

Tomcat (AJP/1.3) -- 8009 -- free

Tomcat (HTTP) -- 8080 -- free

---------------------------------------------

I also have Skype installed but it's not using port 80 - I had read this might be the cause of the issue, so I checked under Skype options and confirmed that the port is 65013.

When I run file://C:/xampp/htdocs/index.php it says:

Something is wrong with the XAMPP installation.

Any ideas how I can fix this?

Answer 1

Check your hosts file in %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and make sure that the following entry is there:

127.0.0.1 localhost

Answer 2

Make sure that Mercury is running, from your port list it doesn't look like it is. That will keep the .php files from opening correctly, it is possible to just see a whitescreen. Make a simple html file and place it in the webservers root and try to access it with local host.

Answer 3

You might need to be accessing http://localhost:8080 or some other port. I think 8080 is the default though.

Answer 4

If you really saw a "blank white screen" then the setup is working, i.e. it's not a port problem, because otherwise your browser should give you an error.

You should check the apache configuration files and your document root to see why a blank page is being served.

Answer 5

I often faced trouble with xampp while using skype. Even when it is not running on port 80, you may want to deactivate skype and try again. (a reboot may be required, too)