Any risk to installing XAMPP on Windows box?

[Marcia]

XAMPP comes with its own installer so it doesn't change the registry. Is there any risk of messing up my WindowsXP if I install it?

[gergoe]

No, not that I know of. You only have the "usual" risk of mixing up anything. Only problem is that it comes with some sort of default values (which is the invention of someone), you may need to change some settings anyway.

[jatar_k]

it depends on what you mean by risk

but I haven't seen any issues pop up from all those who have installed it

[jdMorgan]

There's always a risk to installing any software, since it (or its installer) might contain bugs. But I don't perceive any 'special' risk associated with XAMPP installation.

The main thing to watch out for is that if you have the XP-Pro-bundled IIS server enabled, then it will grab port 80, and that's the port that Apache will also use by default. You'll get an error message saying, "Socket Error -- Cannot bind to port." Basically, the two servers will 'fight' over who owns that port, and IIS will win. So, you'll need to pick one server or the other, and disable the IIS server if it's enabled but you don't plan to use it.

Jim

[Marcia]

if you have the XP-Pro-bundled IIS server enabled

It isn't XP Pro, it's XP Home, and all I can find that's not the usual (aside from Compaq junk) is .net and Python. Unless Compaq gave IIS as a freebie if it's only for Pro, which I doubt, it's just the standard XP Home.

Only problem is that it comes with some sort of default values (which is the invention of someone), you may need to change some settings anyway.

Actually, default is fine since I wouldn't know what to do custom anyway, I want it to re-do some sites with PHP templates and to try out a certain CMS, the only thing that might not be default that I'd like is mod_rewrite.

[coopster]

mod_rewrite will be quite easy for you to incorporate if it is not active by default. Most of these packages like WAMP and XAMPP have an httpd.conf editor option. If not, all you have to do is locate the file yourself and edit it using your favorite text editor (I wouldn't use Dreamweaver though, I've had issues using it to edit text files). Once you locate the Apache httpd.conf file, search for the mod_rewrite module and uncomment it. Just that easy. Restart the HTTP server and you have the module running.