Localhost is not working - apache

Question

I spend a day this issue, and I can't fix it.
Everytime I try to access to my localhost or by typing 127.0.0.1, the browser that I'm using is returning an error like : "Firefox can not find the server address at www.localhost.com."(i'm french, I translated the issue).
The same issue occures in Google Chrome and with 127.0.0.1. I tried with XAMPP and WAMP, still nothing. My Apache httpd.conf seems good, I tried to change the port (8080, 81, 8800). It still not working. My Skype is not open nether VMware Workstation. There is no program blocking the access to port 80 or 443.
I've made a ping test with the localhost and everthing is ok, but I can't access the index page of WAMP or XAMP.
The weird thing is that I can access to localhost/phpmyadmin and other pages like that.
I think my problem is in the hosts file of Windows, but it seems ok to me :
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
Why am I thinking of the hosts file? Because my vhost in XAMPP and in WAMP are not working. Maybe I'm wrong, but this problem is driving me crazy!
Thanks for the help

Answer 1

If you have defined Virtual Hosts, and thats a very good idea, then you need to define the vhosts name in the HOSTS file.
For example, the hosts file:
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 vhost1.dev
::1 vhost1.dev
127.0.0.1 vhost2.dev
::1 vhost2.dev
Otherwise windows has no way of knowing where to look for them.
Another possibility for localhost not working is a corrupted HOSTS file. Try deleting it and recreating it with an editor that is not notepad.
Also when you change the HOSTS file you need to restart the dmscache service 'DNS Client' by either rebooting or better still run a command window using "Run as Administrator" and do this
net stop dnscache
net start dnscache
that activates the new entries in your hosts file.

Answer 2

The weird thing is that I can access to localhost/phpmyadmin and other
pages like that.
Sounds to me like your hosts file is fine. There is something preventing Apache from starting up and binding to your port.
I'm not too familiar with Windows, but from the documentation:
Any errors during Apache startup are logged into the Windows event log
when running on Windows NT. This mechanism acts as a backup for those
situations where Apache is not yet prepared to use the error.log file.
You can review the Windows Application Event Log by using the Event
Viewer, e.g. Start - Settings - Control Panel - Administrative Tools -
Event Viewer.
Take a look to see what is preventing Apache from booting.

Answer 3

I don't now if it will help you, this is what I get in my log when I restart Apache
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:13.480163 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9984:tid 392] AH00422: Parent: Received shutdown signal -- Shutting down the server.
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:15.481278 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 6728:tid 268] AH00364: Child: All worker threads have exited.
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:15.504279 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9984:tid 392] AH00430: Parent: Child process 6728 exited successfully.
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:20.536567 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 9648:tid 392] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:20.735578 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 9648:tid 392] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:20.757580 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9648:tid 392] AH00455: Apache/2.4.9 (Win32) OpenSSL/1.0.1g PHP/5.5.11 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:20.757580 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9648:tid 392] AH00456: Apache Lounge VC11 Server built: Mar 16 2014 12:13:13
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:20.757580 2014] [core:notice] [pid 9648:tid 392] AH00094: Command line: 'C:\\xampp\\apache\\bin\\httpd.exe -d C:/xampp/apache'
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:20.758580 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 9648:tid 392] AH00418: Parent: Created child process 3700
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:21.108600 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 3700:tid 268] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:21.274609 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 3700:tid 268] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Thu Jun 05 15:41:21.296610 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 3700:tid 268] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.
Yesterday, I managed to get rid of the [ssl:warn] [pid 3700:tid 268] AH01909, but that wasn't the problem.
In my windows event viewer, there is no change, nothing was reported at same time of the restart.
Note : I've uninstall my current antivirus (I now it's not recommanded) and my Windows firewall does't seesm to block the connection to localhost.

Answer 4

Ok I've done what RiggsFolly told me. I delete my hosts file and create a new one. I restart my dmscache service. After, that I decide to create a virtual host for my localhost. In my httpd.conf, I checked if the Virtual hosts were inlucde
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
and in my httpd-vhosts.conf I wrote :
<Directory "/xampp/htdocs">
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName localhost
ServerAdmin webmaster#das.com
DocumentRoot /xampp/htdocs/
<Directory "/xampp/htdocs/">
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Now everything seems to work, I can create other virtual hosts with custom name in my hosts file.