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If XAMPP Apache won't start...
and your not running IIS...
and you're not running Skype...

Continue reading. Solution below (Windows)

First, open C:\xampp\apache\logs\error.log and see what the error is.

If the error says that a port is already in use, the instructions below will explain how you can determine which application is using that port (Windows).

My error log entry said that Port 443 was already being used (and I wasn't running IIS or Skype)

(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

To determine which application is using Port 443 (or port 80), do the following (Windows)

1. Open a DOS window - Start | Run | "CMD"
2. Type the following: netstat -aon
3. Find the local address using :443 (example: 127.0.0.0:443)
4. Now find the PID associated with that active connection (last column) - This is the application that's using that port.

To figure out what application is associated with that PID, do the following:
5. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and select the Processes tab.

By default, you will only see the following columns in the Process Tab:
- Image Name
- UserName
- CPU
- Mem Usage

6. From the dropdown menu, Click "View" and then "Select Columns..."
7. Place a check next to PID (Process Identifier) - you will now be able to see the PID for each application running
8. Find which process is associated with the PID

You have now identified which application is screwing up your Apache Service.

btw, my problem was PMB.EXE, which is Pando Media Booster. Pando Media Booster is the Peer-to-Peer downloader client for Dungeons and Dragons Online. As soon as I uninstalled it, Apache started no problem.

I hope that helped.