Apache Server on Windows 7 opening up ports?

Question

I have installed Apache 2.2.14 on Windows 7 and can view my web pages using both http://localhost and http://127.0.0.1 but when I try to access the server from another computer on the same router, it fails. It also fails when I use the DynDNS address that I have mapped.

This worked fine under Windows XP before I upgraded to Windows 7.

I suspect the issue is something like port 80 not being opened up for outside access into the computer.

Does anyone know how to open that port up in the Windows Firewall, or if something else is locked down what that is and how to unlock it?

Answer 1

To add a rule in the Windows Firewall for port 80, do the following:

• Go to the Control Panel and launch "Windows Firewall"
• Go to "Advanced Settings"
• Select "Inbound Rules" in the left pane
• Select "New Rule" in the right pane
• In the New Inbound Rule Wizard, select "Port" as Rule Type, then click on "Next"
• Select "TCP and put "80" (and any other ports you want to open) in "Specific local ports", then click on "Next"
• Select "Allow the connection", then click on "Next"
• Select the network location where the rule should apply (select them all if you're not sure), then click on "Next"
• Give a name and an optional description

That should do it.

Answer 2

It seems Windows 7 Firewall has a fear of the 80 port.

It will open those ports if you configure it this way:

Apache server → UDP → all ports.
Apache server → TCP → all ports.

That's bad since Apache usually works with specific ports (I mean 80, some use 8080, and 443), but I didn't find other way to get the Apache firewall rules to work.

Answer 3

I just mine working. I created the exception rule for port 80 on windows firewall. I'm running windows 7 on the laptop and OSX Leopard on my Mac. The exception alone did not fix the problem. I then turned off the Firewall and I was able to connect to the apache on the laptop from my mac. What really solved the problem was in the control panel > network and sharing center. I changed the settings for the active network and set it as the home network. If you check on the win firewall, you should see the Home network(private) connected

Answer 4

sounds like you need to add an exception(port 80) to the windows firewall.

I'm sure this can be accomplished by opening the firewall control panel and clicking around a bit. In XP it was fairly straightforward at least.

The problem could also be that apache is only configured to listen on the loopback interface. You can test that by running netstat or by trying to visit the other address of your machine, like http://192.168.1.101/

Answer 5

Try both opening up the port on your router to your machine and looking at Windows own firewall.

Remember that when you reinstalled Windows, it is possible that you have a different DHCP lease and have a different IP address so the router may not be forwarding it correctly any more.

On top of this, your router needs to support "Nat Loopback" otherwise you simply will fail to connect, however I assume it supports it as you said it previously worked. To check for this, I highly advise you use Hide My Ass or Proxify.

Answer 6

In addition to checking the firewall and checking if apache is listening only to the localhost address, you could/should also check your .htaccess files. The new version you installed may have implemented a more restrictive security policy.

Some tutorials on .htaccess

• Apache 1.3 - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/howto/htaccess.html

• Apache 2.2 - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/htaccess.html

• A perhaps more friendly tutorial - http://wiki.uniformserver.com/index.php/HT

Answer 7

Looks like it is an issue with the Windows 7 firewall. When I turn off the firewall, it works properly. Now I just need to figure out how to have the firewall active but allow port 80 connections.