Cannot run xampp php on localhost to test html email form

Question

I am using xampp (apache) php and want to test my html email form locally. When I use this action in the form tag it works (I get a "thanks for contacting us" confirmation):

<form id="contactus" action="http://www.html-form-guide.com//files/contact-form/simple-form-1-1/contactform.php" novalidate method="post" accept-charset="UTF-8" >

Note: This url used in action was obtained from an a website that guides email form design.

But I cannot code action correctly to get it to run using my local .php file. I've tried all of these (based on suggestions in stackoverflow posts), none have worked:

1. action="contactform.php"
2. action="http://localhost/contactform.php"
3. action="<?php echo site_url('contactform'); ?>"

I have my .php and .html email files in the same folder. The directory path is: c:\xampp\htdocs\contactform.php & c:\xampp\htdocs\Contact us.html

The way I am testing is using Cntrl+O to open the Contact us.html in Chrome. I can see the email form. When I input name, email address and a dummy message it works when I use action="http://www.html-form-guide.com//files/contact-form/simple-form-1-1/contactform.php" but not with 1, 2 and 3 above. Thank you for any help.

Lastly, I have no problem opening the .php file using localhost/contactform.php.

Update: If this helps here's a script from my XAMP Control Panel: 22::37:25 [main] Initializing Control Panel 22::37:25 [main] Windows Version: Windows 8 64-bit 22::37:25 [main] XAMPP Version: 5.6.8 22::37:25 [main] Control Panel Version: 3.2.1 [ Compiled: May 7th 2013 ] 22::37:25 [main] You are not running with administrator rights! This will work for 22::37:25 [main] most application stuff but whenever you do something with services 22::37:25 [main] there will be a security dialogue or things will break! So think 22::37:25 [main] about running this application with administrator rights! 22::37:25 [main] XAMPP Installation Directory: "c:\xampp\" 22::37:25 [main] Checking for prerequisites 22::37:25 [main] All prerequisites found 22::37:25 [main] Initializing Modules 22::37:25 [Apache] Initializing module... 22::37:25 [Apache] Checking for module existence... 22::37:25 [Apache] Checking for required tools... 22::37:25 [Apache] Checking for service (name="Apache2.4"): Service not installed 22::37:25 [Apache] Service Path: Service Not Installed 22::37:25 [Apache] Checking default ports... 22::37:25 [mysql] Initializing module... 22::37:25 [mysql] Checking for module existence... 22::37:25 [mysql] Checking for required tools... 22::37:25 [mysql] Checking for service (name="mysql"): Service not installed 22::37:25 [mysql] Service Path: Service Not Installed 22::37:25 [mysql] Checking default ports... 22::37:25 [filezilla] Initializing module... 22::37:25 [filezilla] Checking for module existence... 22::37:25 [filezilla] Checking for required tools... 22::37:25 [filezilla] Checking for service (name="FileZillaServer"): Service not installed 22::37:25 [filezilla] Service Path: Service Not Installed 22::37:25 [filezilla] Checking default ports... 22::37:25 [mercury] Initializing module... 22::37:25 [mercury] Checking for module existence... 22::37:25 [mercury] Checking for required tools... 22::37:25 [mercury] Checking default ports... 22::37:25 [Tomcat] Initializing module... 22::37:25 [Tomcat] Checking for module existence... 22::37:25 [Tomcat] Checking for required tools... 22::37:25 [Tomcat] Checking for service (name="Tomcat7"): Service not installed 22::37:25 [Tomcat] Service Path: Service Not Installed 22::37:25 [Tomcat] Checking default ports... 22::37:25 [main] Enabling autostart for module "Apache" 22::37:25 [main] Enabling autostart for module "MySQL" 22::37:25 [main] Starting Check-Timer 22::37:25 [main] Control Panel Ready 22::37:26 [Apache] Autostart active: starting... 22::37:26 [Apache] Checking default ports... 22::37:26 [Apache] Attempting to start Apache app... 22::37:26 [Apache] Executing "c:\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe" 22::37:26 [Apache] Return code: 0 22::37:26 [mysql] Autostart active: starting... 22::37:26 [mysql] Checking default ports... 22::37:26 [mysql] Attempting to start MySQL app... 22::37:26 [mysql] Executing ""c:\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe" --defaults-file="c:\xampp\mysql\bin\my.ini" --standalone" 22::37:26 [mysql] Return code: 0 22::37:26 [Apache] Status change detected: running 22::37:26 [mysql] Status change detected: running

Answer 1

1. is your server launched?
2. are you accessing your page using http://localhost?
3. can you access directly to your php file via the browser?
4. if you are using linux, do your apache user have read and execute access right on those file?