Apache won't start on OSX. "httpd (pid 80) already running"

Question

Last week my local Apache stopped working with no messages in error.log...

Checking system.log I see this:

com.apple.xpd.launchd: (org.apache.httpd) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out every 10 seconds.

After some googling I ran sudo /usr/sbin/httpd -k start -e Debug -E /dev/stdout

This gives me a list of loaded modules followed by a message about httpd already running:

...
[Wed Sep 30 22:01:04.344972 2015] [so:debug] [pid 8657] mod_so.c(266): AH01575: loaded module alias_module from /usr/libexec/apache2/mod_alias.so
[Wed Sep 30 22:01:04.345183 2015] [so:debug] [pid 8657] mod_so.c(266): AH01575: loaded module hfs_apple_module from /usr/libexec/apache2/mod_hfs_apple.so
httpd (pid 80) already running

I get the same result even if I first run sudo apachectl stop

Running ps aux | grep [h]ttpd shows that httpd is not running.

Help appreciated!

Answer 1

I know this question is 5 years old, but this is how I resolved my instance.

1. First I located my log files. In the apache config folder I did -

   grep "ErrorLog" httpd.conf

2. I noticed The following error: pid file /usr/local/var/run/httpd/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?

So I removed httpd.pid and restarted apache. This resolved the issue for me.

It may not be the same issue, but the error logs are extremely useful for diagnosing the proble,

Answer 2

Problem you are having is may be due Skype(if installed) or similar applications that is running on your system which uses default port 80).
If you have Skype running on your system, then following steps may solve your problem

1. Go to Skype -> Tools -> Options -> Advance Settings -> Connections

2. uncheck " use port 80 and 443 for additional incoming connections "

3. Save settings and re-start your Apache and Skype

I hope this will solve your problem, please let us know if it didn't work

Note: I have answer in regards to Windows machine, but I believe if skype is the problem it should work on other platform as well.

Cheers,
🍻