Windows 7 - XAMPP: vhost keeps redirecting - apache

Question

My hosts file. (Win 7 ultimate)
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 efmm.local
My httpd-vhosts.conf (XAMPP 1.7.3)
NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80>
DocumentRoot "C:\xampp\htdocs"
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost efmm.local>
DocumentRoot "C:\xampp\htdocs\EFMM"
ServerName efmm.local
ErrorLog "logs/efmm.localhost-error.log"
CustomLog "logs/efmm.localhost-access.log" combined
<Directory "C:\xampp\htdocs\EFMM">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Problem
When I go to efmm.local , the browser redirects to localhost/EFMM.
I also tried <VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80> instead of <VirtualHost efmm.local>, same result.

Answer 1

Here's how I do it on XP (don't expect it to make any difference in 7)
First, add the virtual host's domain to your HOST (as you did)
I don't put the virtual host webroot under the main htdocs directory. I create a specific webroot next to it, which gives me the following tree:
C:\XAMPP\htdocs
C:\XAMPP\htdocs-seconddomain
C:\XAMPP\htdocs-thirddomain
etc..
So in your case, I would create c:\XAMPP\htdocs-efmm alongside C:\XAMPP\htdocs
Then:
Edit XAMPP's httpd.conf, add and define any Apache options for the new document root, i.e.:
<Directory "C:/XAMPP/htdocs-efmm">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
AllowOverride All
[any extra apache module instructions you may require]
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
Edit XAMPP's httpd-vhosts.conf, adding the virtual host:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName efmm.local
ServerAlias www.efmm.local
DocumentRoot "C:/XAMPP/htdocs-efmm"
ErrorLog "C:/XAMPP/htdocs-efmm/error.log"
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
</VirtualHost>
Restart XAMPP. You may browse your new virtual host now.