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Windows 10, XAMPP Apache won't start after PHP update from 7.3 to 7.4

I tried to update PHP7.3 to PHP7.4 for my XAMPP Apache on Windows 10. Now Apache won’t start…

I’m using a self-signed security certificate for development.

The error message I’m getting from Apache is:

10:30:53 AM  [Apache]   Attempting to start Apache app...
10:30:53 AM  [Apache]   Status change detected: running
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   Status change detected: stopped
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   Error: Apache shutdown unexpectedly.
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   This may be due to a blocked port, missing dependencies, 
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   improper privileges, a crash, or a shutdown by another method.
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   Press the Logs button to view error logs and check
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   the Windows Event Viewer for more clues
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   If you need more help, copy and post this
10:30:54 AM  [Apache]   entire log window on the forums

These are the latest error log entries:

[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.253500 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH01906: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.253500 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.278953 2020] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.

I followed this tutorial:
https://medium.com/oceanize-geeks/how-to-upgrade-lower-version-to-latest-php-version-in-xampp-on-windows-f7be9a70bbb0

  1. download Thread Safe PHP version from http://windows.php.net
  2. unzip, rename folder to PHP
  3. rename php folder in XAMPP (so mine is now php_7.3)
  4. insert new php folder
  5. inside this new php folder, I renamed php.ini.development to php.ini
  6. then I replaced the PHP module lines in my httpd-xamp.conf as follows:
LoadFile "D:/xampp/php/php7ts.dll"
LoadFile "D:/xampp/php/libpq.dll"
LoadModule php7_module "D:/xampp/php/php7apache2_4.dll"

I’m not sure what to do and concerned that I will just mess it up even more… Help is very much appreciated! I really need Apache to work…

EDIT:

Here’s today’s complete error log:

[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.558720 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH01906: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.559723 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.611001 2020] [core:warn] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH00098: pid file C:/xampp/apache/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.613027 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH01906: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.613027 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.648936 2020] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH00455: Apache/2.4.41 (Win64) OpenSSL/1.1.1c PHP/7.3.11 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.648936 2020] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH00456: Apache Lounge VC15 Server built: Aug 11 2019 12:20:04
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.648936 2020] [core:notice] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH00094: Command line: 'c:\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe -d C:/xampp/apache'
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:07.655110 2020] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 17248:tid 512] AH00418: Parent: Created child process 3120
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.205628 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH01906: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.206625 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.253500 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH01906: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.253500 2020] [ssl:warn] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 18 09:50:08.278953 2020] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 3120:tid 520] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.

EDIT 2:

The result of running httpd.exe and httpd.exe -t command via the Windows command prompt:

"httpd.exe: Syntax error on line 537 of C:/xampp/apache/conf/httpd.conf: Syntax error on line 17 of C:/xampp/apache/conf/extra/httpd-xampp.conf: Cannot load D:/xampp/php/php7ts.dll into server: The specified module could not be found."

Line 537 in httpd.confis: 

# XAMPP settings
Include "conf/extra/httpd-xampp.conf"

Line 17 in http-xampp.conf is:

LoadFile "D:/xampp/php/php7ts.dll"

Further research led me to this question about php7ts.dll: php7ts.dll cannot load into server

So I ran the commands httpd.exe -v and php.exe -v.
The result is that they’re both the 64-bit version, I think:

C:xamppapachebin>httpd.exe -v
Server version: Apache/2.4.41 (Win64)
Apache Lounge VC15 Server built:   Aug 11 2019 12:20:04

C:xamppapachebin>php.exe -v
PHP 7.4.7 (cli) (built: Jun  9 2020 13:36:15) ( ZTS Visual C++ 2017 x64 )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
Tags:

2

Answers


  1. 0

    Confirm your confirm php7ts.dll file location and use same in apache httpd configuration file.

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  2. 0

    You can check if the settings of apache are correct:

    1. Open command prompt and navigate to your apache installation bin folder: cd C:/xampp/apache/bin

    2. Then run the following command to see if the syntax is OK:
      httpd.exe -t

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