XAMPP - Apache could not start - Attempting to start Apache service

Question

While trying to start Apache using XAMPP, I was receiving - \"Attempting to start Apache service...\" message in XAMPP UI. No further details were availabl

Answer 1

Solution for my particular scenario (It had been working a couple days before getting borked):

Port 80 was not the problem, but something I had done while messing around with Services and Startup.

1. Type msconfig on Windows' Start menu
2. Click System Configuration

Screenshot for System Configuration

3. In the Services tab, search for Apache24 (Click "Hide all Microsoft services" in the checkbox at the bottom of the window to make it easier to find)
4. If its checkbox isn't checked, check it

If it was already checked, then this guide isn't going to help. However if it is:

5. Click OK, your PC will have to restart
6. Try once again! In my case Apache was already running once I opened Xampp

Answer 2

In my case, with the same problem and Xampp window, I had copied \apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf entries from an old Xampp version to a newly installed one so I could continue to open local projects in browsers. One of the vhosts paths was wrong. After deleting that entry Apache started without problem.

The reference by @Karthik to "in the Event viewer (Control panel -> View Event Logs" saved me time. It's all too easy to presume Xampp logs will point to the problem. It doesn't.