Xampp Apache server won't start - “Error: Apache shutdown unexpectedly.”

Question

I've searched far and wide on the internet for answers but with no success. I downloaded xampp a couple of months ago and everything has worked fine until recently. I noticed the problem when I was unable to access localhost so I went onto the xammp control panel and saw that apache was turned off. When I click start now every time I get this message -

13:41:55  [Apache]  Error: Apache shutdown unexpectedly.
13:41:55  [Apache]  This may be due to a blocked port, missing dependencies, 
13:41:55  [Apache]  improper privileges, a crash, or a shutdown by another method.
13:41:55  [Apache]  Press the Logs button to view error logs and check
13:41:55  [Apache]  the Windows Event Viewer for more clues
13:41:55  [Apache]  If you need more help, copy and post this
13:41:55  [Apache]  entire log window on the forums

A common answer to this seems to be to change the port from 80 to 8080 in the httpd.conf file and then changing it from 443 to 4433 in the httpd-ssl.conf file. I have already done this and still not working. When I check the apache error logs it says -

AH00020: Configuration Failed, exiting

It might be worth mentioning that I installed Wordpress on my local server a few days ago and maybe that might have something to do with it? I have tried everything from re-starting my computer to running a full virus scan and nothing seems to work.

I am using Windows 10, Apache version 2.4 and PHP 7.

I've now also tried typing in the command "httpd -t" in Shell and it returns "syntax OK". Also here is a sample from the apache error log -

PHP Warning:  'vcruntime140.dll' 14.0 is not compatible with this PHP build linked with 14.16 in Unknown on line 0
[Tue Jun 09 04:15:03.462661 2020] [:emerg] [pid 4160:tid 548] AH00020: Configuration Failed, exiting
[Tue Jun 09 12:54:30.209908 2020] [core:warn] [pid 4000:tid 684] AH00098: pid file C:/xampp/apache/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
PHP Warning:  'vcruntime140.dll' 14.0 is not compatible with this PHP build linked with 14.16 in Unknown on line 0
[Tue Jun 09 12:54:30.239019 2020] [:emerg] [pid 4000:tid 684] AH00020: Configuration Failed, exiting

Thanks for taking the time to read this and if anyone has any ideas it would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Ok I've managed to solve the proplem.

For anyone who is having the same problem (apache won't start even if port 80 is available) this info could be useful.

When I looked through the apache error logs there were a number of errors but the particular error causing the problem was -

PHP Warning:  'vcruntime140.dll' 14.0 is not compatible with this PHP build linked with 14.16 in Unknown on line 0

If anyone else gets this error it can be solved by installing the "Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019" runtime (x64: vc_redist.x64.exe). Here's the link to where you can download it.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads

After the download is finished, go into xampp folder and right click on xampp-control.exe, click "run as administrator" then you should be able to start apache with no problems.

Hope this will help anyone who winds up in the same situation as I did.

Answer 2

• Do you have checked the log files?
• Sometimes it helps to reboot your computer. And then start xampp again