XAMPP apache server not using the ports I desire, not certain why - apache

Question

So, I've been setting up this HTTP server for a school project that has to be able to maintain multiple domains through virtual hosts. Using XAMPP I have my server set up, I thought I'd done it properly but perhaps not.
I had heaps of issues with not being able to listen to a port, to solve this I used (in httpd.conf under apache/conf/)
Listen 0.0.0.0:8080
ServerName localhost:8080
If I used 80/81/8080/321/any combination that did not have the prefix 0.0.0.0 it told me the port could not be listened or whatever (sorry, a little rusty with my syntax).
I set up my first virtual host up like so (under apache/conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf):
NameVirtualHost *:8080
<VirtualHost *:8080>
DocumentRoot "H:/xampp2/xampp/htdocs"
ServerName localhost:8080
<Directory "H:/xampp2/xampp/htdocs">
Option Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
I thought this seemed all good and well and I don't believe I've modified anything else. To me, I would expect that this means my Apache server would use port 8080 for the server? However, when I start Apache in XAMPP it states quite clearly
Apache started [Port 80]
Why would this be port 80?
In conjunction, localhost:8080 doesn't navigate me to the documents, but localhost:80 or localhost do. I presume that this just means it's still on port 80. I've tried resetting my computer and XAMPP.
If you need any more information, please let me know. I tried following guides such as this one: http://ailoo.net/2008/07/set-up-multiple-virtual-hosts-on-xampp-for-windows/
Cheers.
Oh, I also edited my Windows HOSTS file; it looks like so:
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 localhost:8080
Edit: New error... Now getting this when I init, doesn't seem to be affecting it though:
ERROR: Status Check Failure [3]
This program must be run from your XAMPP root directory.
It is being run from teh root directory as far as I can tell.

Answer 1

Ok Im not advanced in this area either. However after much playing around with XAMPP and following a few different guides I got mine working.
The Host under drivers seems abit weird. I declared mine as:
127.0.0.1:8080 test.localhost.com
127.0.0.1:8080 test2.localhost.com
Back up you Xampp, then extract a clean install to C: - Just because that Status check failure sounds like bad news.
!Remember to run setup_xampp.bat from the xampp directory and install the apache service!
Then under you httpd.conf add:
ServerRoot C:\xampp\apache
Listen 7070
Listen 8080
Listen 9090
Apache might not like that at first but meh.
The ServerRoot may already be declared above the Listen spot so just double check.
After that head to C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra.
Edit the httpd-vhosts.conf.
Under the section Name-based virtual hosting add:
NameVirtualHost *:7070
NameVirtualHost *:8080
NameVirtualHost *:9090
There will be a couple of examples of virtual hosts below that. Add:
<VirtualHost *:7070>
DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/www/YOURWEBSITEDIR1"
ServerName test.localhost.com
<Directory "C://xampp/www/YOURWEBSITEDIR1">
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:9090>
DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/www/YOURWEBSITEDIR2"
ServerName test2.localhost.com
<Directory "C://xampp/www/YOURWEBSITEDIR2">
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Not the double slash in the Directory tag. Now ensure there is an index.html under each of those directories. Restart the apache (Stop, start).
I cant navigate to the test.localhost.com URLs, probably due to the fact they are terribly wrong in the HOSTs config. Though I can connect to 127.0.0.1:7070, 127.0.0.1:9090 and access the webpages from there.
Also 127.0.0.1:8080 connects me to the xampp welcome panel that localhost used to connect you too.
Hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure that saying 'listening on port 80' is hard-coded into XAMPP, regardless of the port you use. Thus, your code should work fine.
In my .conf file, it just says "listen 80" instead of Listen 0.0.0.0:8080
Cheers.