Apache cannot start error (OS 10048) about port 443 / 80

Did you get one of the following errors when trying to start Apache from XAMPP control or using apache_start.bat?

(OS 10048)Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted.  : make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:443 no listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs

or

Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted.  : make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:80 no listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs

There are several ways to fix this. One option would be to change IIS port bindings, which I will cover in a future post.

Another option is to change the httpd.conf, under: <xampp_install_dir>\apache\conf. Look for a line that says Listen: 80. Replace 80 with any other available port (e.g. 8080).

Then, you may still get the complaint about port 443. If you look through the httpd.conf,  you won’t be able to find 443. But, you will find the following:

# Secure (SSL/TLS) connections
Include “conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf”

Look in the httpd-ssl.conf file, and replace 443 with some other port.

Enjoy!