2007 May · Dominic Foster

How To Fix XAMPP on Windows XP Running ZoneAlarm

May 4, 2007 on 9:50 am | In Geek | No Comments

If you are having problems running XAMPP on a machine running Windows XP with a ZoneAlarm firewall, then this may solve your problems.

When I say problems, I mean that after about 20-30 minutes running XAMPP, your ZoneAlarm craps itself and shuts down. At the same time, XAMPP throws its toys out of the cot and refuses to do anything. Then XP starts leaking memory to the extent that nothing works and you just want to plant your fist in your monitor. You begin to wish you had the brain cells to get Apache, PHP and MySQL working on your Windows box, but you are sure it’s all part of the big plan by Microsoft to get everyone developing in ASP.NET on Windows servers

Anyhow, here is a simple solution that works for me:

Instead of using the XAMPP control panel to manage the Apache and MySQL services.
Navigate yourself to the C:\Program Files\xampp folder. Or wherever else you installed XAMPP.
Double click the xampp_start.exe file.

And thats it. This will start the Apache and MySQL services without using the XAMPP Control Panel, and does not seem to cause the problems outlined above.

If you have found any other ways, please leave a comment.