How to Configure NameVirtualHost in XAMPP’s Apache Server

Updated for XAMPP version 1.6.5

Some time ago, I decided to start phasing out static xhtml in favor of pages using PHP includes. To test these new pages, I used apachefriends.org’s wonderful XAMPP (which I really can’t recommend highly enough) to install Apache, MySQL, and PHP (among other things). Once I had my local server running, I put each dev site into its own folder in \htdocs\ and navigated to them by http://127.0.0.1/foldername/.

This setup was functional but far from ideal, as the index pages for these local sites weren’t in what could be considered a root directory, which lead to some tip-toeing around when creating links.

Then I discovered the NameVirtualHost feature in Apache. NameVirtualHost allows the server admin to set up multiple domains/hostnames on a single Apache installation by using VirtualHost containers. In other words, you can run more than one web site on a single machine. This means that each dev site (or domain) can then consider itself to have a root directory. You will be able to access each local site as a subdomain of “localhost” by making a change to the HOSTS file. For example, I access the local dev version of this site at http://ardamis.localhost/.

This works great for all sorts of applications that rely on the site having a discernible root directory, such as WordPress.

Unfortunately, setting up NameVirtualHost can be kind of tricky. If you are having problems configuring your Apache installation to use the NameVirtualHost feature, you’re in good company. Here’s how I managed to get it working:

For XAMPP version 1.6.5

Create a folder in drive:\xampp\htdocs\ for each dev site (adjust for your directory structure). For example, if I’m creating a development site for ardamis.com on my d: drive, I’d create a folder at:
d:\xampp\htdocs\ardamis\
Edit your HOSTS file (in Windows XP, the HOSTS file is located in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\) to add the following line, where sitename is the name of the folder you created in step 1. Don’t change or delete the existing “127.0.0.1 localhost” line.
```
127.0.0.1 sitename.localhost
```
Add a new line for each dev site folder you create.

Continuing with the example, I’ve added the line:
127.0.0.1 ardamis.localhost
Open your drive:\xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf file and add the following lines to the end of the file, using the appropriate letter in place of drive. Do this step only once. We’ll add code for each dev site’s folder in the next step. (Yes, keep the asterisk.)
```
NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "drive:/xampp/htdocs"
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
```
My DocumentRoot line would be:
DocumentRoot "d:/xampp/htdocs"
Immediately after that, add the following lines, changing sitename to the name of the new dev site’s folder, again using the appropriate letter in place of drive. Repeat this step for every folder you’ve created.
```
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "drive:/xampp/htdocs/sitename"
    ServerName sitename.localhost
</VirtualHost>
```
My DocumentRoot line would be:
DocumentRoot "d:/xampp/htdocs/ardamis"
My ServerName line would be:
ServerName ardamis.localhost
Reboot your computer to be sure it’s using the new HOSTS file (you’ll have to at least restart Apache). You should now be able to access each dev domain by way of:
http://sitename.localhost/

For XAMPP version 1.4

If you are using an older version of XAMPP (like XAMPP version 1.4) without the httpd-vhosts.conf file, use the instructions below.

Create a folder in your drive:\apachefriends\xampp\htdocs\ for each local version of your site. For example, if I’m creating a development site for ardamis.com on my f: drive, I’d create a folder at:
f:\apachefriends\xampp\htdocs\ardamis\
Open your HOSTS file (in Windows XP, the HOSTS file is located in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\) and add the following line, where sitename is the name of the folder you created in step 1. Repeat this step, as necessary, for each folder you create. Don’t change or delete the existing “127.0.0.1 localhost” line.
```
127.0.0.1 sitename.localhost
```
Continuing with the example, I’ve added the line:
127.0.0.1 ardamis.localhost
Open your drive:\apachefriends\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf file and add the following lines to the end of the file, using the appropriate letter for drive. Do this step only once. We’ll add code for each dev site’s folder in the next step. (Yes, keep the asterisk.)
```
NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "drive:/apachefriends/xampp/htdocs"
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
```
My DocumentRoot line would be:
DocumentRoot "f:/apachefriends/xampp/htdocs"
Immediately after that, add the following lines, changing sitename to the name of the new folder, using the appropriate letter for drive and repeating this step for every folder you’ve created.
```
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "drive:/apachefriends/xampp/htdocs/sitename"
    ServerName sitename.localhost
</VirtualHost>
```
My DocumentRoot line would be:
DocumentRoot "f:/apachefriends/xampp/htdocs/ardamis"
Reboot and restart Apache. Open a browser; you should now be able to access each folder by way of:
http://sitename.localhost

I’m assuming that you could change the DocumentRoot line to point to any folder on any drive. I’ll experiment with pointing this at a folder on another drive later.

The official Apache.org documentation for VirtualHost is at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/vhosts/. You may want to read that for further details before you try to set up virtual hosts.

If you have any questions about the above instructions, the Apache NameVirtualHost function, XAMPP, or anything in between, post a comment, but I can’t promise that I’ll be able to help. I’m learning as I go along, too.

44 thoughts on “How to Configure NameVirtualHost in XAMPP’s Apache Server”

bryan August 31, 2006 at 7:50 pm

dude, thank you so much. i’ve been so frustrated the last 2 days w/ NameVirtualHost. btw, this page was the 2nd google result for . nice!
Theo Skye September 4, 2007 at 4:49 pm

This is an old post, but thanks for the XAMPP info. I have have had virtual hosts using Apache2Triad (similar to XAMPP) for years, and I never had to specify the port #. So when I installed XAMPP, I wasn’t specifying the port # in my VirtualHost tags. I was trying to use instead of the more specific but I was getting “denied” errors from Apache. But adding the port number (:80) right after the asterisk (*) cleared it all up and virtual hosts are now running fine under XAMPP.

This info also applies to the Mac OS X version of XAMPP (still in beta).

You can also define all your Virtual Hosts in a separate file that gets included into your main Apache httpd.conf file. First create a file in the same directory as your httpd.conf file named httpd-vhosts.conf and move all the tags from httpd.conf into that new file. Then in your main httpd.conf file, you can add just a line like this to “include” the external virtual host definitions:

Include "drive:/apachefriends/xampp/etc/httpd-vhosts.conf"

Depending on what version of XAMPP you have installed, there may already be an Include line commented out near the bottom of the httpd.conf that would include a httpd-vhosts.conf that is in the XAMP_ROOT/etc/extra/ folder.

I hope the formatting in this comment isn’t too ugly. Cheers! 😀
Free Ads February 16, 2008 at 8:40 pm

Thanks man. This has saved my bacon. Specifically the bit about the DocumentPath needing the full path. As the apache documentation given within xampp http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/en/vhosts/name-based.html doesnt mention it, but just suggests /www/domain which was throwing a access denied problem.
yaddi April 5, 2008 at 11:36 pm

thanks for the article, its really useful. dose it work with v1.5.5 a
ardamis Post authorApril 6, 2008 at 1:46 am

Yes, one of the two methods works with version 1.5.5. I jumped from 1.4 to 1.6, so I’m not sure which method is used in 1.5.5.

Just look for the httpd-vhosts.conf file described in the 1.6.5 instructions. If it doesn’t exist, use the instructions for 1.4 instead.
Boris June 13, 2008 at 10:09 pm

Thanks so much for this how-to…
Shumon June 26, 2008 at 2:45 pm

Great Tutorial!

In this tutorial all the site are under: drive:/xampp/htdocs

Is it possible to have additional sites located elsewhere, like on an external drive? Reason being, I work off this drive at work and at home.
John Crenshaw August 30, 2008 at 3:11 am

Oh man! Thanks for that…I’ve been messing with url rewriting and couldn’t quite get it to behave the same on my local server as my production…it was all because of the root directory issue and this solves it. Thanks a lot.

By the way, you’re readers may want to note that I didn’t appear to have a hosts file…I had a hosts1.bak file, which I then edited and renamed as hosts without the extension. Oddly enough it then asked if I wanted to rewrite the hosts file (without the extension) even though hidden files were being shown and there didn’t appear to be any hosts file in that directory at all.

So, then I tried to save it, but it wouldn’t let me…then I realized it was read only, so, when I changed that, all was well. I didn’t have to reboot windows…only apache.

Thanks again for the clear tutorial!
John Crenshaw August 30, 2008 at 3:13 am

By the way I’m on XAMPP Version 1.6.6a windows xp sp3
chefchops September 4, 2008 at 4:27 pm

Thankyou sooooo much updated to latest xampp and could not get vhost working right. It’s easy when you know how.

chefchops
dewabenny November 1, 2008 at 9:59 am

Thank for this tutorial…… Now I can install and try the vbulletin board forum…
John Langlois February 3, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Due to my misery with Dreamweaver, I decided to switch to a local development server. Thanks for blazing the trail on the Virtual Hosts and sharing your experience.
Hamad Amaral March 10, 2009 at 4:00 pm

Thanks!
Steve March 14, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Thanks!!
Nico van de Kamp June 8, 2009 at 4:39 am

Hello,

Thanks for this tutorial. I’m new to webservers. Yesterday evening I was trying to do this. I have on my D drive all my applications and on E drive all my development stuff. So in this situation I seperate

If you are working with virtual hosts (httpd-vhosts.conf) then you don’t have to change the documentroot in httpd.conf?

Now I have changed the documentroot in httpd.conf, but then I get php errors of session-request can’t find the line D:XAMPPHTDOCS…. ‘some text’ E:htdocsapplicationname. I have few applications with only html and they are working without any problem.

Another thing my let say standard application as phpmyAdmin are not working anymore, because they are still in the original htdocs dir of XAMPP. But maybe if I’m working with virtual hosts then I can leave the standard applications in the original dir of XAMPP.

I’m gonna try it out tonight.

Nico
ardamis Post authorJune 8, 2009 at 4:50 am

You should only need to change the httpd-vhosts.conf file. I haven’t split my apache installation and my dev sites between two hard drives yet, but I wouldn’t mess with the httpd.conf file or any of the other files/folders installed by XAMPP. Just create the new site folders and then use the DocumentRoot line in each VirtualHost entry in httpd-vhosts.conf to describe the path to that site’s directory.
1. Nico van de Kamp June 8, 2009 at 2:20 pm
  
  Maybe I’m doing something wrong but I get error HTTP 403 Forbidden. I have switch off the firewall but that doesn’t help. Has it something todo with a different drive?
  
  I’v brought back httpd.conf in the original state. phpmyAdmin, Xampp etc is still working fine with localhost/phpmyadmin for example.
  Xampp is installed op de D drive.
  
  httpd-vhosts.conf file.
  NameVirtualHost *:80 DocumentRoot D:/xampp/htdocs ServerName localhost
  DocumentRoot e://htdocs/dijkman-wsv ServerName dijkman-wsv.dev
  DocumentRoot e:/htdocs/sedapcatering ServerName sedapcatering.dev
  
  hosts file
  127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.0.1 dijkman-wsv.dev 127.0.0.1 sedapcatering.dev
  
  I’m typing as url: http://dijkman-wsv.dev or http://sedapcatering.dev.
  
  Does somebody know why I do get error HTTP 403 Forbidden? What do I wrong?
  
  Thanks,
  
  Nico
Nico van de Kamp June 8, 2009 at 3:00 pm

This the error in my error.log file
[Mon Jun 08 22:57:18 2009] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] client denied by server configuration: E:/htdocs/dijkman-wsv/

This directory exists and in the dir dijkman-wsv does a index.html exist.
1. Nico June 9, 2009 at 3:35 pm
  
  I have found a solution about the HTTP 403 error. I have changed the following in httpd.conf:
  Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order deny,allow #Deny from all #This is the original line Allow from all #Changed to this line Satisfy all
  
  “Normal” (just HTML) sites are working now but php sites I get HTTP 404 error (Logs):
  Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: open(xampptmpsess_e3a9c80099fad3b0be6d24c38f19087f, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in E:htdocssedapcateringinclude.php on line 34
  Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at E:htdocssedapcateringinclude.php:34) in E:htdocssedapcateringinclude.php on line 34
  Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at E:htdocssedapcateringinclude.php:34) in E:htdocssedapcateringinclude.php on line 34 string(113) "Smarty error: [in tpl_top:20 line 1]: [plugin] unknown tag - 'process_pagedata' (core.load_plugins.php, line 124)" Fatal error: Call to undefined function smarty_cms_function_process_pagedata() in E:htdocssedapcateringtmptemplates_c%%BC^BCE^BCE9A9A7%%tpl_top%3A20.php on line 5
  [Tue Jun 09 22:49:06 2009] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: E:/htdocs/sedapcatering/function.session-start, referer: http://sedapcatering.dev/
  
  Although that this is different error I hope that somebody can help what is wrong
  Does somebody what the reason of this error is?
  1. Nico June 13, 2009 at 4:12 pm
    
    Oke I’m further. First my virtual host:
    DocumentRoot "K:/xampp/xampp/htdocs" ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot "I:/www/cms/" ServerName cms.tld ServerAlias cms.tld *.cms.tld AllowOverride All Allow from All
    DocumentRoot "I:/www/test/" ServerName test.tld ServerAlias test.tld *.test.tld AllowOverride All Allow from All
    
    Then about the session. In php.ini I have changed the session variable:
    session.save_path = "d:xampptmp"
    
    So I have now one error HTTP 401 Access denied for a own made php site. When I have this in the D:xampphtdocs, then it is working fine. I hope I wil find it soon.
    
    Nico
Mau June 26, 2009 at 9:17 am

Great tutorial! It was a breeze and I’m really newbi to PHP and Apache. Thanks a lot, now I’m able to do all testing on my computer before going to production.

Chreers!
wisk October 22, 2009 at 7:33 pm

Thanks a ton.. this helped a lot!
Guy Baker December 28, 2009 at 1:10 pm

Hi
I am trying to configure a url for my website on my localhost machine. I am running xampp from a memory stick. I cannot find the hosts file to configure the url. I am running the latest version of xampp
Other sollution February 11, 2010 at 1:07 pm

Hi All,
I just did the second step and i added the following code to the httpd-vhosts file,this is the code:
DocumentRoot C:xamppphpwwwPCExercises ServerName PCExercises.localhost DirectoryIndex index.php
Bigg Salutation from Morocco 😉
Noam April 1, 2010 at 9:32 am

Thank you so much. I’ve spended so much time searching for something like this.

Thank you. You maked my day!
Dustin May 5, 2010 at 8:12 pm

WOW i have been having issues for years and still have never had virtual hosts wow is all i can say and many thanks
Stephan February 27, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Dude, you don´t know how great this post was, especially in its simplicity! I´ve gone through a dozen similiar guides today, and not one of them worked, until now! And a lot of the others went into far more detail which still ended up being unclear or useless!
thanks again, simplicity and straightforwardness win the day.
Marianna April 8, 2011 at 8:34 am

Thank you SO MUCH!
I have been trying for more than a day to do just this,
Followed many other “instructions” to do this = but they all ended up crashing my server or just giving some error messages – endless headache!
Your instuctions were so easy and clear to follow
WELL DONE !
🙂
Marianna April 18, 2011 at 5:03 am

Hi,
Seems like i lost my previous message:
I am struggling with the virtual server – now that I have moved on to more web sites.

my host file is as follows:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 web1.dev
127.0.0.1 web2.dev
127.0.0.1 web3.dev
etc
and my httpd-vhosts file is as follows:
NameVirtualHost *:80

DocumentRoot “d:/xampp/htdocs”
ServerName localhost

DocumentRoot “d:/xampp/htdocs/web1”
ServerName web1.dev

DocumentRoot “d:/xampp/htdocs/web2”
ServerName web2.dev

DocumentRoot “d:/xampp/htdocs/web3”
ServerName web3.dev
etc

Now my problem is… is localhost, web1.dev & web2.dev points to web3.dev and i can’t see web1.dev or web2.dev etc.

Another problem, is that when I add more hosts settings to vhosts files -my apache server does not want to restart…
any suggestions please?
thank you!

ardamis Post authorApril 18, 2011 at 11:51 pm

Marianna,
I believe that your problem is that you need to wrap each new site in its own VirtualHost tag.

In the example below, I’m running three web sites located in different subfolders of E:/xampp/.


<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs"
    ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs/ardamis"
    ServerName ardamis.localhost
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs/minifide"
    ServerName minifide.localhost
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "E:/xampp/htdocs/plogger"
    ServerName plogger.localhost
</VirtualHost>

The above code would let me access the three local sites at

ardamis.localhost
minifide.localhost
plogger.localhost

Let me know if you still need help.

Marianna April 19, 2011 at 5:42 am

Ah!
Working like a dream now ! 🙂
Thank you Ardamis.
Ivan April 22, 2011 at 7:24 am

Hi!
I could not save the host file because this file doesn’t have any extensions. What should I do?
Kevin Stevens June 20, 2011 at 10:18 am

Thanks, I was having an issue with this and your post pointed the way (needed to add the ‘ServerName localhost’ to my almost working configuration).
I am running xampp on Windows 7, and have found that you can leave out the drive letter in the path names, which means it’s still a portable configuration : i.e.

DocumentRoot “/xampp/htdocs/drupal”
ServerName drupal.localhost

Works for me – ymmv!
sumit kalra September 23, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Hosts file content :127.0.0.1 sumitlocal
httpd-vhosts.conf Content

DocumentRoot “c:/xampp/htdocs/sumitlocal”
ServerName sumitlocal.localhost

After changes its showing me xampp folder content (http://localhost/ )

Please tell me what should i do
its show lthe path //http://sumitlocal/xampp
sumit kalra September 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm

its not working
sumit kalra September 24, 2011 at 9:43 am

Hosts file content :127.0.0.1 sumitlocal
httpd-vhosts.conf Content

DocumentRoot “c:/xampp/htdocs/sumitlocal”
ServerName sumitlocal.localhost

After changes its showing me xampp folder content (http://localhost/ )

Please tell me what should i do
its show lthe path //http://sumitlocal/xampp
After restart of my system and appache server its not working
still the same problem i am not abel to run my virtual site

i am using window 7 can i send u my both setting files

ardamis Post authorSeptember 24, 2011 at 9:52 am

It looks like you are missing part of the HOSTS file line.

The line in HOSTS should be:

127.0.0.1 sumitlocal.localhost

It also looks like you are missing some lines in xamppapacheconfextrahttpd-vhosts.conf.

The lines should be:

NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "c:/xampp/htdocs"
    ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "c:/xampp/htdocs/sumitlocal"
    ServerName sumitlocal.localhost
</VirtualHost>

Good luck.

Subash Pathak November 17, 2011 at 2:36 am

Thanks DUDE
Stan December 7, 2011 at 5:41 pm

Thanks for this, I was on another site which had an example that didn’t work and was a lot more complicated.
Hal December 19, 2011 at 5:15 am

This was great — clear, concise and it works perfectly. I’m using XAMPP 1.7.7 on Windows 7 – no Windows reboot necessary. Just update the hosts file & apache CONF file and you’re good to go.
Pixeldrummer January 22, 2012 at 4:52 pm

Thank you so much for your post. It was a bit of a nightmare finding the right tool (XAMPP) to use on my Windows machine. Then more frustration trying to configure it to use as a web server. I tried a few other instructions and nothing worked until I read yours. I’ll now be able to take over the maintenance of a couple of website applications for a client whose sites I could not “see” and test with IIS (even though it worked for PHP sites) because they use .htaccess. I am sooooo grateful!
Irene June 19, 2012 at 7:18 am

Hy! If i connect to my local website through the address http://ip_address:8080/site_name/ ,. how could i make the changes in my hosts to access my website through http://site_name/ ? The port number modifcation where should be done?
dave August 29, 2012 at 11:08 am

Thanks man! I’ve read so many differing ways to accomplish this and nothing was working for me. This was so simple and worked first try!
Paul April 13, 2013 at 7:05 pm

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. This had been driving me crazy. Thanks to this page, I got it sorted in minutes. XAMPP v.3.1

Comments are closed.