1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
2 <!DOCTYPE manualpage SYSTEM "../style/manualpage.dtd">
3 <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="../style/manual.en.xsl"?>
4 <!-- $LastChangedRevision$ -->
7 Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
8 contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
9 this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
10 The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
11 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
12 the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
14 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
16 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
17 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
18 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
19 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
20 limitations under the License.
23 <manualpage metafile="windows.xml.meta">
24 <parentdocument href="./">Platform Specific Notes</parentdocument>
26 <title>Using Apache HTTP Server on Microsoft Windows</title>
29 <p>This document explains how to install, configure and run
30 Apache 2.&httpd.minor; under Microsoft Windows. If you have questions after
31 reviewing the documentation (and any event and error logs), you
32 should consult the peer-supported
33 <a href="http://httpd.apache.org/userslist.html">users' mailing
36 <p>This document assumes that you are installing a binary
37 distribution of Apache. If you want to compile Apache yourself
38 (possibly to help with development or tracking down bugs),
39 see <a href="win_compiling.html">Compiling Apache for Microsoft
44 <title>Operating System Requirements</title>
46 <p>The primary Windows platform for running Apache 2.&httpd.minor; is Windows
47 2000 or later. Always obtain and
48 install the current service pack to avoid operating system bugs.</p>
50 <note>Apache HTTP Server versions later than 2.2 will not run on any
51 operating system earlier than Windows 2000.</note>
55 <title>Downloading Apache for Windows</title>
57 <p>The Apache HTTP Server Project itself does not provide binary releases of
58 software, only source code. If you cannot compile the Apache HTTP Server
59 yourself, you can obtain a binary package from numerous binary distributions
60 available on the Internet.</p>
62 <p>Popular options for deploying Apache httpd, and, optionally, PHP
63 and MySQL, on Microsoft Windows, include:</p>
65 <li><a href="http://www.apachelounge.com/download/">Apache
67 <li><a href="http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html">XAMPP, from
68 ApacheFriends</a></li>
69 <li><a href="http://www.wampserver.com/">WampServer</a></li>
75 <title>Customizing Apache for Windows</title>
77 <p>Apache is configured by the files in the <code>conf</code>
78 subdirectory. These are the same files used to configure the Unix
79 version, but there are a few different directives for Apache on
80 Windows. See the <a href="../mod/directives.html">directive index</a>
81 for all the available directives.</p>
83 <p>The main differences in Apache for Windows are:</p>
85 <li><p>Because Apache for Windows is multithreaded, it does not
86 use a separate process for each request, as Apache can on Unix.
87 Instead there are usually only two Apache processes running: a
88 parent process, and a child which handles the requests. Within
89 the child process each request is handled by a separate thread.
92 <p>The process management directives are also different:</p>
94 <p><directive module="mpm_common">MaxConnectionsPerChild</directive>:
95 Like the Unix directive, this controls how many connections a single
96 child process will serve before exiting.
97 However, unlike on Unix, a replacement process is not instantly
98 available. Use the default <code>MaxConnectionsPerChild 0</code>,
99 unless instructed to change the behavior to overcome a memory leak
100 in third party modules or in-process applications.</p>
102 <note type="warning"><strong>Warning: The server configuration
103 file is reread when a new child process is started. If you have
104 modified <code>httpd.conf</code>, the new child may not start or
105 you may receive unexpected results.</strong></note>
107 <p><directive module="mpm_common">ThreadsPerChild</directive>:
108 This directive is new. It tells the server how many threads it
109 should use. This is the maximum number of connections the server
110 can handle at once, so be sure to set this number high enough for
111 your site if you get a lot of hits. The recommended default is
112 <code>ThreadsPerChild 150</code>, but this must be adjusted to
113 reflect the greatest anticipated number of simultaneous
114 connections to accept.</p></li>
116 <li><p>The directives that accept filenames as arguments must use
117 Windows filenames instead of Unix ones. However, because Apache
118 may interpret backslashes as an "escape character" sequence, you
119 should consistently use forward slashes in path names, not
120 backslashes.</p></li>
122 <li><p>While filenames are generally case-insensitive on
123 Windows, URLs are still treated internally as case-sensitive
124 before they are mapped to the filesystem. For example, the
125 <directive module="core" type="section">Location</directive>,
126 <directive module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>, and <directive
127 module="mod_proxy">ProxyPass</directive> directives all use
128 case-sensitive arguments. For this reason, it is particularly
129 important to use the <directive module="core"
130 type="section">Directory</directive> directive when attempting
131 to limit access to content in the filesystem, since this
132 directive applies to any content in a directory, regardless of
133 how it is accessed. If you wish to assure that only lowercase
134 is used in URLs, you can use something like:</p>
136 <highlight language="config">
138 RewriteMap lowercase int:tolower
139 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} [A-Z]
140 RewriteRule (.*) ${lowercase:$1} [R,L]
143 <li><p>When running, Apache needs write access only to the logs
144 directory and any configured cache directory tree. Due to the
145 issue of case insensitive and short 8.3 format names, Apache must
146 validate all path names given. This means that each directory
147 which Apache evaluates, from the drive root up to the directory
148 leaf, must have read, list and traverse directory permissions.
149 If Apache2.&httpd.minor; is installed at C:\Program Files, then the root
150 directory, Program Files and Apache2.&httpd.minor; must all be visible
153 <li><p>Apache for Windows contains the ability to load modules at
154 runtime, without recompiling the server. If Apache is compiled
155 normally, it will install a number of optional modules in the
156 <code>\Apache2.&httpd.minor;\modules</code> directory. To activate these or
157 other modules, the new <directive module="mod_so">LoadModule</directive>
158 directive must be used. For example, to activate the status
159 module, use the following (in addition to the status-activating
160 directives in <code>access.conf</code>):</p>
162 <highlight language="config">
163 LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so
166 <p>Information on <a href="../mod/mod_so.html#creating">creating
167 loadable modules</a> is also available.</p></li>
169 <li><p>Apache can also load ISAPI (Internet Server Application
170 Programming Interface) extensions such as those used by Microsoft
171 IIS and other Windows servers. <a href="../mod/mod_isapi.html">More
172 information is available</a>. Note that Apache <strong>cannot</strong>
173 load ISAPI Filters, and ISAPI Handlers with some Microsoft feature
174 extensions will not work.</p></li>
176 <li><p>When running CGI scripts, the method Apache uses to find
177 the interpreter for the script is configurable using the
178 <directive module="core">ScriptInterpreterSource</directive>
181 <li><p>Since it is often difficult to manage files with names
182 like <code>.htaccess</code> in Windows, you may find it useful to
183 change the name of this per-directory configuration file using
184 the <directive module="core">AccessFilename</directive>
187 <li><p>Any errors during Apache startup are logged into the
188 Windows event log when running on Windows NT. This mechanism
189 acts as a backup for those situations where Apache is not yet
190 prepared to use the <code>error.log</code> file. You can
191 review the Windows Application Event Log by using the Event Viewer,
192 e.g. Start - Settings - Control Panel - Administrative Tools
193 - Event Viewer.</p></li>
198 <section id="winsvc">
199 <title>Running Apache as a Service</title>
201 <p>Apache comes with a utility called the Apache Service Monitor.
202 With it you can see and manage the state of all installed Apache
203 services on any machine on your network. To be able to manage an
204 Apache service with the monitor, you have to first install the
205 service (either automatically via the installation or manually).
208 <p>You can install Apache as a Windows NT service as follows from
209 the command prompt at the Apache <code>bin</code> subdirectory:</p>
215 <p>If you need to specify the name of the service you want to
216 install, use the following command. You have to do this if you
217 have several different service installations of Apache on your
218 computer. If you specify a name during the install, you have to
219 also specify it during any other -k operation.</p>
222 httpd.exe -k install -n "MyServiceName"
225 <p>If you need to have specifically named configuration files for
226 different services, you must use this:</p>
229 httpd.exe -k install -n "MyServiceName" -f "c:\files\my.conf"
232 <p>If you use the first command without any special parameters except
233 <code>-k install</code>, the service will be called <code>Apache2.&httpd.minor;</code>
234 and the configuration will be assumed to be <code>conf\httpd.conf</code>.
237 <p>Removing an Apache service is easy. Just use:</p>
240 httpd.exe -k uninstall
243 <p>The specific Apache service to be uninstalled can be specified by using:</p>
246 httpd.exe -k uninstall -n "MyServiceName"
249 <p>Normal starting, restarting and shutting down of an Apache
250 service is usually done via the Apache Service Monitor, by using
251 commands like <code>NET START Apache2.&httpd.minor;</code> and <code>NET STOP
252 Apache2.&httpd.minor;</code> or via normal Windows service management. Before
253 starting Apache as a service by any means, you should test the
254 service's configuration file by using:</p>
257 httpd.exe -n "MyServiceName" -t
260 <p>You can control an Apache service by its command line switches,
261 too. To start an installed Apache service you'll use this:</p>
264 httpd.exe -k start -n "MyServiceName"
267 <p>To stop an Apache service via the command line switches, use
271 httpd.exe -k stop -n "MyServiceName"
277 httpd.exe -k shutdown -n "MyServiceName"
280 <p>You can also restart a running service and force it to reread
281 its configuration file by using:</p>
284 httpd.exe -k restart -n "MyServiceName"
287 <p>By default, all Apache services are registered to run as the
288 system user (the <code>LocalSystem</code> account). The
289 <code>LocalSystem</code> account has no privileges to your network
290 via any Windows-secured mechanism, including the file system, named
291 pipes, DCOM, or secure RPC. It has, however, wide privileges locally.
294 <note type="warning"><strong>Never grant any network privileges to
295 the <code>LocalSystem</code> account! If you need Apache to be able
296 to access network resources, create a separate account for Apache as
297 noted below.</strong></note>
299 <p>It is recommended that users create a separate account for running
300 Apache service(s). If you have to access network resources via Apache,
301 this is required.</p>
304 <li>Create a normal domain user account, and be sure to
305 memorize its password.</li>
307 <li>Grant the newly-created user a privilege of <code>Log on
308 as a service</code> and <code>Act as part of the operating
309 system</code>. On Windows NT 4.0 these privileges are granted via
310 User Manager for Domains, but on Windows 2000 and XP you probably
311 want to use Group Policy for propagating these settings. You can
312 also manually set these via the Local Security Policy MMC snap-in.
315 <li>Confirm that the created account is a member of the Users
318 <li>Grant the account read and execute (RX) rights to all document
319 and script folders (<code>htdocs</code> and <code>cgi-bin</code>
322 <li>Grant the account change (RWXD) rights to the
323 Apache <code>logs</code> directory.</li>
325 <li>Grant the account read and execute (RX) rights to the
326 <code>httpd.exe</code> binary executable.</li>
329 <note>It is usually a good practice to grant the user the Apache
330 service runs as read and execute (RX) access to the whole Apache2.&httpd.minor;
331 directory, except the <code>logs</code> subdirectory, where the
332 user has to have at least change (RWXD) rights.</note>
334 <p>If you allow the account to log in as a user and as a service,
335 then you can log on with that account and test that the account has
336 the privileges to execute the scripts, read the web pages, and that
337 you can start Apache in a console window. If this works, and you
338 have followed the steps above, Apache should execute as a service
339 with no problems.</p>
341 <note><strong>Error code 2186</strong> is a good indication that
342 you need to review the "Log On As" configuration for the service,
343 since Apache cannot access a required network resource. Also, pay
344 close attention to the privileges of the user Apache is
345 configured to run as.</note>
347 <p>When starting Apache as a service you may encounter an error
348 message from the Windows Service Control Manager. For example,
349 if you try to start Apache by using the Services applet in the
350 Windows Control Panel, you may get the following message:</p>
353 Could not start the Apache2.&httpd.minor; service on \\COMPUTER <br />
354 Error 1067; The process terminated unexpectedly.
357 <p>You will get this generic error if there is any problem with
358 starting the Apache service. In order to see what is really causing
359 the problem you should follow the instructions for Running Apache
360 for Windows from the Command Prompt.</p>
362 <p>If you are having problems with the service, it is suggested
363 you follow the instructions below to try starting httpd.exe from
364 a console window, and work out the errors before struggling to
365 start it as a service again.</p>
368 <section id="wincons">
369 <title>Running Apache as a Console Application</title>
371 <p>Running Apache as a service is usually the recommended way to
372 use it, but it is sometimes easier to work from the command line,
373 especially during initial configuration and testing.</p>
375 <p>To run Apache from the command line as a console application,
376 use the following command:</p>
382 <p>Apache will execute, and will remain running until it is stopped
383 by pressing Control-C.</p>
385 <p>You can also run Apache via the shortcut Start Apache in Console
386 placed to <code>Start Menu --> Programs --> Apache HTTP Server
387 2.&httpd.minor;.xx --> Control Apache Server</code> during the installation.
388 This will open a console window and start Apache inside it. If you
389 don't have Apache installed as a service, the window will remain
390 visible until you stop Apache by pressing Control-C in the console
391 window where Apache is running in. The server will exit in a few
392 seconds. However, if you do have Apache installed as a service, the
393 shortcut starts the service. If the Apache service is running
394 already, the shortcut doesn't do anything.</p>
396 <p>If Apache is running as a service, you can tell it to stop by opening another console
397 window and entering:</p>
400 httpd.exe -k shutdown
403 <p>Running as a service should be preferred over running in a
404 console window because this lets Apache end any current operations
405 and clean up gracefully.</p>
407 <p>But if the server is running in a console window, you can
408 only stop it by pressing Control-C in the same window.</p>
410 <p>You can also tell Apache to restart. This forces it to reread
411 the configuration file. Any operations in progress are allowed to
412 complete without interruption. To restart Apache, either press
413 Control-Break in the console window you used for starting Apache,
420 <p>if the server is running as a service.</p>
422 <note>Note for people familiar with the Unix version of Apache:
423 these commands provide a Windows equivalent to <code>kill -TERM
424 <em>pid</em></code> and <code>kill -USR1 <em>pid</em></code>. The
425 command line option used, <code>-k</code>, was chosen as a reminder
426 of the <code>kill</code> command used on Unix.</note>
428 <p>If the Apache console window closes immediately or unexpectedly
429 after startup, open the Command Prompt from the Start Menu -->
430 Programs. Change to the folder to which you installed Apache, type
431 the command <code>httpd.exe</code>, and read the error message. Then
432 change to the logs folder, and review the <code>error.log</code>
433 file for configuration mistakes. Assuming httpd was installed into
434 <code>C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.&httpd.minor;\</code>,
435 you can do the following:</p>
439 cd "\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.&httpd.minor;\bin" <br />
443 <p>Then wait for Apache to stop, or press Control-C. Then enter the
451 <p>When working with Apache it is important to know how it will
452 find the configuration file. You can specify a configuration file
453 on the command line in two ways:</p>
456 <li><p><code>-f</code> specifies an absolute or relative path to
457 a particular configuration file:</p>
460 httpd.exe -f "c:\my server files\anotherconfig.conf"
466 httpd.exe -f files\anotherconfig.conf
469 <li><p><code>-n</code> specifies the installed Apache service
470 whose configuration file is to be used:</p>
473 httpd.exe -n "MyServiceName"
478 <p>In both of these cases, the proper
479 <directive module="core">ServerRoot</directive> should be set in
480 the configuration file.</p>
482 <p>If you don't specify a configuration file with <code>-f</code>
483 or <code>-n</code>, Apache will use the file name compiled into the
484 server, such as <code>conf\httpd.conf</code>. This built-in path
485 is relative to the installation directory. You can verify the compiled
486 file name from a value labelled as <code>SERVER_CONFIG_FILE</code> when
487 invoking Apache with the <code>-V</code> switch, like this:</p>
493 <p>Apache will then try to determine its <directive module="core"
494 >ServerRoot</directive> by trying the following, in this order:</p>
497 <li>A <directive module="core">ServerRoot</directive> directive
498 via the <code>-C</code> command line switch.</li>
500 <li>The <code>-d</code> switch on the command line.</li>
502 <li>Current working directory.</li>
504 <li>A registry entry which was created if you did a binary
507 <li>The server root compiled into the server. This is <code>
508 /apache</code> by default, you can verify it by using <code>
509 httpd.exe -V</code> and looking for a value labelled as
510 <code>HTTPD_ROOT</code>.</li>
513 <p>If you did not do a binary install, Apache will in some
514 scenarios complain about the missing registry key. This warning can
515 be ignored if the server was otherwise able to find its
516 configuration file.</p>
518 <p>The value of this key is the
519 <directive module="core">ServerRoot</directive> directory which
520 contains the <code>conf</code> subdirectory. When Apache starts it
521 reads the <code>httpd.conf</code> file from that directory. If
522 this file contains a <directive module="core">ServerRoot</directive>
523 directive which contains a different directory from the one
524 obtained from the registry key above, Apache will forget the
525 registry key and use the directory from the configuration file. If
526 you copy the Apache directory or configuration files to a new
527 location it is vital that you update the
528 <directive module="core">ServerRoot</directive> directive in the
529 <code>httpd.conf</code> file to reflect the new location.</p>
533 <title>Testing the Installation</title>
535 <p>After starting Apache (either in a console window or as a
536 service) it will be listening on port 80 (unless you changed the
537 <directive module="mpm_common">Listen</directive> directive in the
538 configuration files or installed Apache only for the current user).
539 To connect to the server and access the default page, launch a
540 browser and enter this URL:</p>
546 <p>Apache should respond with a welcome page and you should see
547 "It Works!". If nothing happens or you get an error, look in the
548 <code>error.log</code> file in the <code>logs</code> subdirectory.
549 If your host is not connected to the net, or if you have serious
550 problems with your DNS (Domain Name Service) configuration, you
551 may have to use this URL:</p>
557 <p>If you happen to be running Apache on an alternate port, you
558 need to explicitly put that in the URL:</p>
561 http://127.0.0.1:8080/
564 <p>Once your basic installation is working, you should configure it
565 properly by editing the files in the <code>conf</code> subdirectory.
566 Again, if you change the configuration of the Windows NT service
567 for Apache, first attempt to start it from the command line to
568 make sure that the service starts with no errors.</p>
570 <p>Because Apache <strong>cannot</strong> share the same port with
571 another TCP/IP application, you may need to stop, uninstall or reconfigure
572 certain other services before running Apache. These conflicting
573 services include other WWW servers, some firewall implementations,
574 and even some client applications (such as Skype) which will use port
575 80 to attempt to bypass firewall issues.</p>
578 <section id="windrivemap">
579 <title>Configuring Access to Network Resources</title>
581 <p>Access to files over the network can be specified using two
582 mechanisms provided by Windows:</p>
585 <dt>Mapped drive letters</dt>
586 <dd>e.g., <code>Alias /images/ Z:/</code></dd>
589 <dd>e.g., <code>Alias /images/ //imagehost/www/images/</code></dd>
592 <p>Mapped drive letters allow the administrator to maintain the
593 mapping to a specific machine and path outside of the Apache httpd
594 configuration. However, these mappings are associated only with
595 interactive sessions and are not directly available to Apache httpd
596 when it is started as a service. <strong>Use only UNC paths for
597 network resources in httpd.conf</strong> so that the resources can
598 be accessed consistently regardless of how Apache httpd is started.
599 (Arcane and error prone procedures may work around the restriction
600 on mapped drive letters, but this is not recommended.)</p>
602 <example><title>Example DocumentRoot with UNC path</title>
603 <highlight language="config">
604 DocumentRoot //dochost/www/html/
608 <example><title>Example DocumentRoot with IP address in UNC path</title>
609 <highlight language="config">
610 DocumentRoot //192.168.1.50/docs/
614 <example><title>Example Alias and corresponding Directory with UNC path</title>
615 <highlight language="config">
616 Alias /images/ //imagehost/www/images/
618 <Directory //imagehost/www/images/>
624 <p>When running Apache httpd as a service, you must create a
625 separate account in order to access network resources, as described