Last updated on 14-03-2018
 
The worst thing that can happen to a begginer after successfully installing wamp (or xampp) for the first time, is for it not to work. What's even worse than that, is to get "the white screen of death" (that's the official term, for real!)

When something like this happens, it's only logical for someone to assume they messed up with the installation process. As a result, they try uninstalling and re-installing it a couple of times before they ultimately give up.

What they don't know, is that the problem lies elsewhere. Let's find out.

Wamp (Windows Apache MySQL PHP), is used as local server so you can test your website before you go public. As the name suggests for itself, it uses Apache server software, which is the "thing" responsible for serving your webpage over the http protocol.

Apache, is set to "listen" port 80. This is not an issue, unless there's another software that uses the same port at the same time. Ususally, that software is Skype. The easy way to resolve it is to make sure you always run wamp before Skype. However, that's not something I recommend since Skype almost in all cases starts immediately after starting your pc.

Freeing port 80 in Skype

There's a more permanent way to resolve it by making sure port 80 is never occupied by Skype. To do that, follow the instructions below.

1. Run Skype
2. Go to Tools> Options > Advanced > Connection
3. Uncheck the option that says, “Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections”
4. Click Save
5. Exit and then restart Skype
6. Restart wamp

You can now run wamp and skype simultaneously without any conflicts.

Freeing port 80 in TeamViewer

If you're running TeamViewer,  there's a very good chance that you'll have a port 80 conflict with wamp. Follow these simple steps to diasble TeamViews from using port 80

1. Run TeamViewer
2. Go to extras> Options >
3. Click on advanced> show advance options
4. Check the option that says, “Don’t use incomming ports 80 and 443 ”
5. Click Ok
6. Exit and then restart TeamViewer

IIS's port 80 conflict in Windows 10

There have been a number of occasions reported with a port 80 conflict after upgrading to Windows 10. That's because Windows 10 run IIS (Internet Information Services, Microsoft's web server software) by default, at port 80. Inevitably, Apache can't run when there's another server software that listens o the same port. In order to run Apache, you have to stop IIS.

1. Click the "start" icon at the bottom left of your screen
2. Search for "Administrative Tools" and open it
3. DoubleClick on "services" from the list
4. Find "World Wide Web Publishing Service" and right-click it
5. click on "stop"

This way will disable IIS temporarily so you can run Apache. The next time you'll start your pc, it will run again automatically. Although, if you want to manually run it, then instead of choosing "stop" (see above) then

1. Right-click "World Wide Web Publishing Service"
2. Click "Properties"
3. Find "Startup type" dropdown list
4. Select "manually"
5. Click Ok

Freeing port 80 in wamp server

For more advanced users ther's another way to resolve the port 80 conflict. This time, we're going to change the apache settings in wamp. The reason for that, is because there are other software out there, except for skype, that use port 80 such as IIS, TeamViewer, Remote Desktop, Zonealarm, Tomcat and many more. That's why, instead of changing the port in all the other applications, we change it only in wamp.

I mentioned before, this is for more advanced users because you have to change some code, but it's super easy so anyone can do  it.

1. Go to your "C:\wamp\Apache2\conf" directory
2. Open the "http.conf" file with notepad
3. Search (Ctrl&F) for the number "80"
4. Replace it with "8080"
5. Repeat until there are no search results for "80"
6. Save the file and restart wamp

 

If you still have a problem with port 80, then comment below and I'll do my best to help you.