XAMPP installation on Win 8.1 with UAC Warning

Question

I am trying to install Xampp win32-1.8.2 on Windows 8.1. I get a message saying

Because an activated user account User Account on your system some functions of XAMPP are possibly restricted.

I've tried to change the user account control settings but still the warning is there. And the APACHE does not start. I've also disabled my IIS but still, its not working. What should I do? enter image description here

Please consider marking the answer is accepted if it helped you. Thanks. — ivan.sim, Jul 11 '15 at 17:21
Possible duplicate of [Netbeans installation doesn't find JDK](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4914504/netbeans-installation-doesnt-find-jdk) — 1stthomas, Jan 12 '18 at 09:18
Disable the UAC (User Account Control) before installing Xampp. Then install Xampp, ignore the message and continue the instalation. Run Xampp as adminstrator and activate Apache and MySQL ..it should run well ..... then enable UAC again. It works fine with me. Now every time I open Xampp with "Run as dminstrator" and it is ok. I have to add a disclaimer as I am just a regular user. — Gamal Thomas, May 14 '20 at 09:13

score 100 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 24 '22 at 05:55

100

There are two things you need to check:

Ensure that your user account has administrator privilege.
Disable UAC (User Account Control) as it restricts certain administrative function needed to run a web server.

To ensure that your user account has administrator privilege, run lusrmgr.msc from the Windows Start > Run menu to bring up the Local Users and Groups Windows. Double-click on your user account that appears under Users, and verifies that it is a member of Administrators.

To disable UAC (as an administrator), from Control Panel:

Type UAC in the search field in the upper right corner.
Click Change User Account Control settings in the search results.
Drag the slider down to Never notifyand click OK.

open up the User Accounts window from Control Panel. Click on the Turn User Account Control on or off option, and un-check the checkbox.

Alternately, if you don't want to disable UAC, you will have to install XAMPP in a different folder, outside of C:\Program Files (x86), such as C:\xampp.

edited Dec 24 '22 at 05:55

starball

20,030
7
43
238

answered Oct 06 '14 at 01:52

ivan.sim

8,972
8
47
63

14

What is "Turn User Account Control" it is not in the menu, and there is no on/off checkbox, i set the slider thing to never notify but after that I got lost, there is no checkbox. – Nicholas Ramsay Nov 21 '15 at 05:57
It shows `Found Path` in C:\program files and `Expected Path` in C:\xampp – MaYaNk Jul 22 '16 at 12:14
3

My user account is `Administrator` type user account, but, this error will appear.`important because an activated user account control uac on your system some functions of xampp` – moni123 Apr 20 '17 at 14:48
5

@moni123 Try install xampp into a `C:\xampp` instead of `C:\Program Files`. – ivan.sim Apr 20 '17 at 14:55

score 48 · Answer 2 · answered May 27 '16 at 03:01

48

You can solve the issue by

Ignore the warning and Install XAMPP directly under C:/ folder. It will solve your issue
You can deactivate the UAC which i don't recommend. It's makes your PC less secure.

answered May 27 '16 at 03:01

FerdousDev

481
4
4

2

Thanks for this. The warning message from XAMPP was simply not explicit enough about *not installing XAMPP in C:/Program Files*. Your answer clears things up. – Amir Syafrudin Aug 10 '20 at 02:32

Tiago Martins Peres · Answer 3 · 2019-11-13T16:54:19.867

As ivan.sim writes in his answer

Ensure that your user account has administrator privilege.

Disable UAC(User Account Control) as it restricts certain administrative function needed to run a web server.

Install in C://xampp.

Problem with the correct answer is in the explanation of point 2., and magicandre1981 writes more about it

Moving the slider down doesn't completely disable UAC since Windows 8. This is changed compared to Windows 7, because the new Store apps require an active UAC. With UAC off, they no longer run.

How can we then disable UAC and install XAMPP?

Easy. Go to Registry Editor and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Right click EnableLUA and modify the Value data to 0.

Then restart your computer and you're ready to install XAMPP.

I did enable it again after installing XAMPP. To change settings, I had to disable it (restart the computer), change settings in XAMPP, enable it (restart the computer). — Brambor, Jul 31 '22 at 13:53

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 31 '17 at 21:53

To disable UAC (as an administrator), from Control Panel:

Type UAC in the search button in your windows the upper right corner. Click the (Change User Account Control settings) in the search results. Drag the slider down and select Never notify and click OK.it will work.

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 15 '16 at 20:08

2

There's nothing to be worried upon for this. Like other servers, install xampp somewhere outside of the default Program Files folder of Windows. It shall work fine.

I previously had wamp server installed on my machine and i never understood why wamp server installs itself outside of the default directory. Xampp cleared this, now i have both the servers lying outside the Program Files folder and are running fine.

answered Mar 15 '16 at 20:08

Talha Imam

1,046
1
20
22

I am still having that warning come up. This is so annoying! – Tyler Lazenby Oct 23 '18 at 15:51
Have you tried working around UAC like ivan.sim has explained in the accepted answer? – Talha Imam Oct 24 '18 at 09:58

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited May 21 '23 at 17:55

1

I had the same problem and had a different fix than what was listed in the other answer. I did install XAMPP under C:\xampp, and my user is an admin, but there was also something else.

I had to manually go give my user full access to the C:\Users\XAMPP\ directory. By default (at least on my machine) Windows did not give my admin user rights to this new user's directory, but this is where XAMPP stores all of it's config files. Once I gave myself full access to this, everything worked perfectly.

UPDATE

In retrospect, I think that I must have accidentally typed in "C:\Users\XAMPP" as the install folder during the installation process. So I think the most important thing is to make sure that the user you are actually signed into Windows as when you start XAMPP has full access to the folder that it was actually installed to.

edited May 21 '23 at 17:55

desertnaut

57,590
26
140
166

answered Feb 22 '15 at 22:21

Blair Connolly

584
2
7
21

Hi Blair, could you help me resolve this issue on Windows 8.1, am taking the full access to my Xampp folder(D:\xampp) using this link(http://windows.mercenie.com/windows-8/how-to-take-ownership-permission-of-a-file-or-folder-in-windows-8/) but not helpful. – Akshay Apr 08 '15 at 19:29
Which set of directions did you follow on that link? What let my installation work properly is outlined in the second section of your link , "How to change permission of a file or folder in Windows 8". But for full disclosure, I'm pretty sure I did not actually install my XAMPP installation under C:\xampp\, in retrospect I think that I just made a mistake when I was typing in the folder to install in, and actually told it to install to C:\Users\XAMPP\. So make sure that you are changing the permissions for the actual folder that xampp is installed in. – Blair Connolly Apr 14 '15 at 16:10

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 20 '19 at 16:16

1

You can solve this problem by installing xampp in different Drive .Instead of C Drive .

answered Mar 20 '19 at 16:16

Rubel

1,255
14
18

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 18 '19 at 04:18

I have faced the same issue when I tried to install xampp on windows 8.1. The problem in my system was there was no password for the current logged in user account. After creating the password then I tried to install xampp. It installed without any issue. Hope it helps someone in the feature.

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Aug 31 '22 at 11:39

1

Run win+R and type msconfig
Then at tools box launch UAC
Then set it on the lowest level
Then press ok and continue your setup
Finish

edited Aug 31 '22 at 11:39

RusArtM

1,116
3
15
22

answered Aug 21 '22 at 13:08

keywan

11
1

score -1 · Answer 10 · answered May 17 '20 at 10:55

change User Account Control setting via control panel

step 1 -: Go to control panel

step 2-: select 'user Accounts'

step 3-: select 'User Accounts' (Control Panel\User Accounts\User Accounts)

step 4 -: select 'Change User Account Control settings'

step 5 -: Drag the slider down to Never notify and after click ok.

XAMPP installation on Win 8.1 with UAC Warning

10 Answers10

UPDATE

Linked