WampServer

I have a laptop that I use to run both WampServer and IIS 7. For ease of use, I configure WampServer to use localhost:8080. The laptop runs win7 Pro 64- bit. Because it's new, I had to download WampServer again, and I downloaded version 2.2E 64 bit. I've since upgraded Apache from 2.2.22 to 2.2.3.

I've been unable to get Apache to work, and I found this error message in the Windows Event Viewer:

The Apache service named reported the following error:
>>> httpd.exe: Syntax error on line 115 of C:/wamp/bin/apache/apache2.2.3/conf/httpd.conf: Cannot load C:/wamp/bin/php/php5.3.13/php5apache2_2.dll into server: The Apache service named is not a valid Win32 application. .

I don't understand this. What am I doing wrong? My previous laptop ran Win7 Ultimate, also had IIS 7 installed, and ran WampServer 2.0 (I think). That worked perfectly. I checked before installing and I have the C++ prereqs.

I had an idea, and I got rid of the Apache error by changing the Apache version from 2.2.3 back to 2.2.22 which came with the set. This means the error was caused by the Apache 2.2.3 download I added, which is annoying, but I can work with what I have.

I still can't bring up localhost:8080, even though the icon is green. I checked httpd.conf and both Listen and ServerName are set to localhost:8080. I've bounced the server several times. I can now bring up the Wampserver localhost panel by typing localhost:8080 in the browser address bar, but clicking on Localhost on the Wampserver menu brings up the IIS page. The config changes I made SHOULD be enough, what else is wrong?

Since nobody seems to be responding to my post, it's a good thing I solved this myself. This is for someone else who may have the same problem: running Wampserver 2.2E on a system where port 80 is owned by IIS.

I had changed the httpd.conf, and the Apache log clearly showed it listening on port 8080; I could bring up the Wampserver home page by hand typing localhost:8080 in the browser. But the Wampserver localhost menu entry brought up IIS7.

I searched the \wamp directory for ini and conf files containing the string "localhost" and found wampserver.ini. I corrected the entries in that AND IT DIDN'T HELP. I noticed a file called wampserver.tpl in the root folder - this is a template file used by (among other things) a template builder named Smarty. (Thank you, StackOverflow.) I opened it with a text editor and discovered the same menu configurations I saw in wampserver.ini. I made a copy of the tpl file and edited it to use localhost:8080 - and suddenly the menu brings up the home page.

I still don't know why I got a system error message on the Apache 2.2.3 download I got from the Wampserver2 site. I couldn't get the icon for that to be green and it threw errors in the Event Viewer. But at least I can now use Apache 2.2.22.

Answers to some of your questions:

I have a laptop that I use to run both WampServer and IIS 7. For ease of use, I configure WampServer to use localhost:8080. The laptop runs win7 Pro 64- bit. Because it's new, I had to download WampServer again, and I downloaded version 2.2E 64 bit. I've since upgraded Apache from 2.2.22 to 2.2.3[/].

1. Thats a downgrade, not an upgrade.
2. All the old ( and 2.2.3 is very old ) are only compiled for windows 32bit. So if you need to go that far back in time you will have to install WAMPServer 32 bit.

This will almost definitely fix the error message you received
>>> httpd.exe: Syntax error on line 115 of C:/wamp/bin/apache/apache2.2.3/conf/httpd.conf: Cannot load C:/wamp/bin/php/php5.3.13/php5apache2_2.dll into server: The Apache service named is not a valid Win32 application.

By the way it could not give you much more help in fixing the error if it tried. It gives the line number in the httpd.ini file and location of the httpd.ini file to go and look for the error.

Wampserver.ini and wampserver.tpl

Well done you eventually got to the correct place.

Wampmanager ( thats the W icon that sits in the system tray ) reads wampmanager.tpl each time it runs and from that file it rebuilds wampmanager.ini. So you got to the right place now. The extension TPL is used by SMARTY but it stands for Template and is not the exclusive property of SMARTY.


I still don't know why I got a system error message on the Apache 2.2.3 download I got from the Wampserver2 site. I couldn't get the icon for that to be green and it threw errors in the Event Viewer. But at least I can now use Apache 2.2.22.

You were trying to run a 32bit Apache witha 64bit PHP, Thats not going to work.
Install a wampserver 32bit version and try again.