MacOS – XAMPP won’t start Apache on Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard

apache-http-servermacosulimitxampp

When I try starting Apache from the XAMPP control panel (Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard), I get the following error popup and Apache won’t start:

/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/apachectl: line 70: ulimit: open files: cannot modify limit: Invalid argument
(48)Address already in use: make_sock: could not bind to address [::]:80

XAMPP was running perfectly 10 minutes earlier. I stopped Apache to add some .conf files and it failed on restart. I removed all the new .conf files (i.e. reverted it to how it was before) but now I get the above message.

I’ve checked AppMonitor and I see the httpd processes (one by _www nested within root). Just tried quitting these but they’re auto-restarted on new process IDs and it didn’t solve the problem.

And I’ve tried a full reboot and I still get the same error (before starting any apps). I’d be grateful if someone has an idea how to solve this.

Best Answer

It's complaining about port 80 already being in use. In scenarios like yours, this is commonly caused by Apache already (or still) running.

As you already noticed, there is still an httpd process running. Make sure to first exit all Apache HTTPD processes and then start it again.

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Http://localhost:8080 is not working on running apacher Server through XAMPP

In general, messing with the ports that your operating system is using just seems like a bad idea. You’ll end up with weird network issues like when trying to print.

In addition, for me having two web servers (IIS running locally for .NET projects) listening on different ports was important.

The best situation was to simply change the IP Port that Apache listens on (the default is port 80, which is the standard for all web traffic).

I changed mine to port 8666 (but it could be anything above 1024). I did the following:

Locate the httpd.conf file in the following directory

[install directory]\xampp\apache\conf

(mine was in, C:\xampp\apache\conf)
Find the line that says, "Listen 80"
Change it to "Listen 8666"
Save and Close the file
Start or restart the Apache service in the XAMPP control panel.

Life should be good.

The only catch to this method is that you can’t just go to http://localhost/xampp any more. You have to tell your browser which port specifically to use (it will by default use 80), so you will have to use http://localhost:8666/xampp/ (the port is designated by the colon and then the number).

The cool thing is I can run http://localhost:8666 to run Apache and http://localhost:8616 to run my local IIS for .NET projects.

Note: XAMPP install path must NOT have special characters in it. Spaces are allowed, parentheses are NOT allowed. Other special characters have to be tested. Apache will not start if the XAMPP install path contains special characters such as parentheses.

Macos – XAMPP won’t start Apache on Mac OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite

After months of trying, I finally got it working. I found the solution here: disable OSX's built-in Apache server.

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

Best Answer

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Http://localhost:8080 is not working on running apacher Server through XAMPP

Macos – XAMPP won’t start Apache on Mac OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite

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