Getting Started With XAMPP

7 minute read

What is XAMPP?

XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server solution stack package developed by Apache Friends, consisting mainly of the Apache HTTP Server, MariaDB database, and interpreters for scripts written in the PHP and Perl programming languages. XAMPP is easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start. XAMPP is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl. The XAMPP open source package has been set up to be incredibly easy to install and to use.

Installing XAMPP

  • Download the latest version of XAMPP from https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html
  • Install it, ignore the UAC first. Decide where your XAMPP folder will be created. In my case I have an allocated drive for all my development applications and I never put it in drive C.
  • Start the Apache and MySQL service.
  • Open the browser and go to http://localhost or http://ip-address if you are accessing it from another computer.

Configuring Apache, PHP and MySQL

Accessing phpMyadmin over the network

By default you will get the following error when accessing the phpMyadmin over network in after installing XAMPP.

1    Access forbidden!
2    New XAMPP security concept:
3    Access to the requested directory is only available from the local network.
4    This setting can be configured in the file "httpd-xampp.conf".
5    If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.
6    Error 403
7    192.168.5.6
8    Apache/2.4.37 (Win32) OpenSSL/1.1.1a PHP/7.3.1

To fix this, open the file httpd-xampp.conf in your XAMPP folder. Find the following line:

1    Require local

And change it to:

1    Require all granted

Setting PHPMyAdmin with Credentials

  • Open XAMPP Control Panel
  • Open the file config.inc.php in your XAMPP folder or in Xampp Control Panel, click on the Config button in the phpMyAdmin section.
  • Add blowfish secret key. You can generate it using this https://www.motorsportdiesel.com/tools/blowfish-salt/pma/ or you can use this blowfish_secret = 'your-secret here' as your secret key.
  • Find the following line:
1    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';
2    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
3    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '';
4    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = 'mysqli';
5    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = false;
  • Change the config to cookie and add your credentials.
1    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
2    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
3    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = 'your-password';
4    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = 'mysqli';
5    $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = false;
  • Save the file and restart the Apache and MySQL service.

Grant All Privileges to MySQL User in Any Host

By default the root account is not accessible outside your local machine. It means that you cannot connect to the XAMPP MySQL database over the network, even adding new connection to your database management tool like HeidiSQL and Navicat will not work. but you can use it in your local machine.

To fix this, you need to grant all privileges to your MySQL user in any host.

  • Open command prompt and go to your XAMPP folder
  • Run the following command:
1    mysql -u root -p
  • Enter your MySQL root password
  • Run the following command:
1    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password' WITH GRANT OPTION;
  • You can replace root and your_password with your desired MySQL username and MySQL password.
  • Run the following command:
1    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
  • Run the following command:
1    exit
  • Restart the MySQL service in XAMPP

Configuring Timezone

  • Open the file php.ini in your XAMPP folder
  • Find the following line:
1    ;date.timezone =
  • Change it to:
1    date.timezone = Asia/Manila ; Change this to your desired timezone
  • Restart the Apache service in XAMPP

Changing Apache Ports

By default the Apache port is 80. If you want to change it, you can do it by editing the httpd.conf file in your XAMPP folder.

  • Open XAMPP control panel
  • Click on the Config button and select Service and Port Settings tab
  • Change the Apache port to your desired port and click on the OK button
  • Then open the file httpd.conf in your XAMPP folder or open XAMPP control panel and click on the Config button in Apache section and choose httpd.conf
  • Find the following line:
1    Listen 80
  • Change it to:
1    Listen 8080 ; Change this to your desired port
  • Restart the Apache service in XAMPP

Configuring FileZilla FTP Server

XAMPP also has FileZilla Server in order for the developer securely tranfer all files via ftp or sftp. By default Filezilla server listen to port 21 and has unlimited user set.

Changing FileZilla Server Port

  • Open XAMPP control panel
  • Click on the Config button and select Service and Port Settings tab
  • Change the FileZilla Server port to your desired port and click on the OK button
  • Then open the file FileZilla Server.xml in your XAMPP folder or open XAMPP control panel and click on the Config button in FileZilla Server section and choose FileZilla Server.xml
  • Find the following line:
1    <Port>21</Port>
  • Change it to:
1    <Port>2121</Port> ; Change this to your desired port
  • Restart the FileZilla Server service in XAMPP

Creating Groups to FileZilla Server

This is optional. You can create groups to your FileZilla Server. By default it has unlimited user set.

Note: In these part, the shared directory are the directory where my project located. For example our group project directory name firstproject are located under the htdocs folder. Therefore, the directory will be added to this part. If there are more than one project directory for your group, use aliases to display each folder every time you use you FTP account.

  • Open XAMPP control panel

  • Click on the Admin button in FileZilla Server section to open the FileZilla Server interface

  • Change the admin password to your desired password

  • Then start adding groups and set the shared directory to your project directory

    • Click on the Groups icon to open the groups configuration window
    • In the General tab, click on the Add Group button and add your desired group name
    • Then go to Shared Folders tab and start adding your shared directory

Creating Groups to FileZilla Server

  • Open XAMPP control panel
  • Click on the Admin button in FileZilla Server section to open the FileZilla Server interface
  • Click on the Users icon to open the users configuration window
  • In the General tab, click on the Add User button and add your desired username, change the password to your desired password and select the group that you belong, and make sure that the Enabled checkbox is checked
  • To share project directory, click on the Shared Folders tab and add your project directory. If you belong to a group with shared directory, you don’t need to add it again.

Connecting to FileZilla Server

  • Open FileZilla Client or any FTP client
  • Enter the following details:
1    Host: localhost ; Change this to your server ip address or domain name
2    Port: 2121 ; Change this to your server port
3    Username: your-username
4    Password: your-password

  • Click on the Quickconnect button

  • If you are using windows explorer, you can also use the following format:

1    ftp://username:password@localhost:port
  • Replace username, password, port with your desired username, password and port.

Configuring Mercury

Mercury is a web server that is included in XAMPP. It is a lightweight web server that is used for testing and development purposes. By default Mercury listen to port 8080. If you want to change it, you can do it by editing the mercury.ini file in your XAMPP folder.

Changing Mercury Port

  • Open XAMPP control panel
  • Click on the Config button and select Service and Port Settings tab
  • Change the Mercury port to your desired port and click on the OK button
  • Then open the file mercury.ini in your XAMPP folder or open XAMPP control panel and click on the Config button in Mercury section and choose mercury.ini
  • Find the following line:
1    Port=8080
  • Change it to:
1    Port=8081 ; Change this to your desired port
  • Restart the Mercury service in XAMPP

Other Configurations

For more information about Mercury, you can watch this video:

How to setup local email server using XAMPP (Mercury mail)

Configuring Tomcat

Tomcat is a web server that is included in XAMPP. It is a lightweight web server that is used for testing and development purposes. By default Tomcat listen to port 8080. If you want to change it, you can do it by editing the server.xml file in your XAMPP folder.

Changing Tomcat Ports

  • Open XAMPP control panel
  • Click on the Config button and select Service and Port Settings tab
  • Change the Tomcat port to your desired port and click on the OK button
  • Then open the file server.xml in your XAMPP folder or open XAMPP control panel and click on the Config button in Tomcat section and choose server.xml
  • Find the following line:
1    <Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
  • Change it to:
1    <Connector port="8082" protocol="HTTP/1.1" ; Change this to your desired port

Adding Tomcat Role

  • Open the file tomcat-users.xml in your XAMPP folder or open XAMPP control panel and click on the Config button in Tomcat section and choose tomcat-users.xml
  • Find the following line:
1    <tomcat-users>
  • Add the following line below:
1    <role rolename="admin-gui"/>
2    <role rolename="admin-script"/>
3    <role rolename="manager-gui"/>
4    <role rolename="manager-script"/>
5    <role rolename="manager-jmx"/>
6    <role rolename="manager-status"/>
  • Find the following line:
1    </tomcat-users>
  • Add the following line above:
1    <user username="admin" password="admin" roles="admin-gui,admin-script,manager-gui,manager-script,manager-jmx,manager-status"/>
  • Restart the Tomcat service in XAMPP

Connecting to Tomcat

  • Open your browser and enter the following URL:
1    http://localhost:8082/manager/html ; Change this to your server ip address or domain name and port
  • Enter the following details:
1    Username: admin
2    Password: admin
  • Click on the Login button
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