How to install Apache Server on Windows

January 3, 2010 - 5:57pm — ricocheting

Note

Those of you interested in the Apache 2.0.X tutorial, it has been abandon and I will no longer keep it updated, but it can be found here.

Apache 2.2.X

  1. Download & Unpack

    Go to http://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/binaries/win32/ and choose a mirror. You want the latest win32-x86-no_ssl.msi "MSI Installer Package" release.

    My file was named: apache_2.2.11-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi
    NOTE
    Apache sometimes moves the "quick download" link to the win32 binary. The long way to officially find it is Download > Other files > binaries folder (not the "Binary Releases" info link at the top) > win32 folder > then the latest win32-x86-no_ssl.msi release

  2. Install

    When you install Apache, you'll get a prompt for "Server Information." Here is the settings I used:
    Network Domain: localhost
Server Name: localhost
Admin Email: (any email. real or fake)

[checked]: for All Users, on Port 80, as a Service

  3. Starting/Stopping Apache

    After installing, Apache2 automatically starts. The start icon in the System Tray means it started. The stop icon means the "Monitor Apache Servers" is running, but Apache2 isn't started.

    You can easily start/stop/restart Apache and Apache2 via that icon in your System Tray. If you get "The requested operation has failed!" error while starting apache use the "Test Configuration" shortcut in the Start Menu to find the error (if the text window pops up then closes before you can read it, your config file is fine).

  4. Testing

    Now the ultimate test. To see if it's serving. Open your browser and head to: http://127.0.0.1/ or http://localhost/

    If it shows the It works! you have your server software installed and running.

  5. Making Apache point to your files

    Using Notepad open C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/conf/httpd.conf (in the start-menu there should also be a "Apache HTTP Server 2.2 > Configure Apache Server > Edit the Apache httpd.conf Configuration File" shortcut) and search for DocumentRoot. Change it from something like DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs" to the location where your HTML files and site are located. In my case: DocumentRoot "C:/public_html"
    NOTE
    The first time i installed Apache2, i accidentally changed ServerRoot. Make sure you change the correct line which is DocumentRoot and which is down about line 150.
  6. Then scroll down about one page and change: <Directory "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"> to point to the same location you set DocumentRoot to in the last step. Restart apache to make the changes take effect

Comments

July 14, 2010 - 11:58pm — Anonymous

Skype will not let Apache work...

I was getting the pop up window that Apache Server couldn't start; "The requested operation has failed!" yet the "Test Configuration" text window poped up quickly and went away.

After some messing around, and per my exiting Skype, Apache worked! Skype and Apache both want to use Port 80...

Change Skype to not use port 80 by clicking Tools > Options > Advanced > Connection. Ensure you untick “Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections”.

It worked for me! :-)

June 22, 2010 - 6:43pm — Anonymous

Fixing "cannot create ... http.conf file" error

Hey there, great tutorial! Everything went smooth as silk except for one little hiccup, and I'd like to post the solution for anyone else who might have this problem.

After installing Apache successfully, when trying to edit and save the httpd.conf, an error pops up saying something like:

cannot create the C:\Program files\apache Software Foundation\apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf file

Make sure the path and file name are correct

The reason this happens is because by default users do not have write permissions for this file. All you have to do is right click on httpd.conf, click properties, select the security tab, click edit, select users, and then check Full Control - Allow.

Hope this helps! For reference I'm using Windows Vista (yes, I know I know, don't get me started...)