UI/UX Designer from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Final Solution If MAMP Apache Server won’t start or doesn’t start at all

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Before switching to Mac OSX Lion 10.7 & MAMP 2.0.2, I was using Mac OSX Snow Leopard 10.6.8 with MAMP 1.9.5

After Upgrading to Mac OSX Lion 10.7 and MAMP 2.0.1 or 2.0.2, suddenly everything went wrong. The Apache Server doesn’t start.

For almost the last month, I have been unable to update my website theme offline…

But when I check the folder called ‘log’ inside MAMP’s folder under applications (/Applications/MAMP/logs)

I opened the ‘apache_error.log’ Apache Log file, and there was a reason on my iMac why MAMP’s Apache server was not running.

Error: [Date] [alert] (EAI 8)nodename nor servname provided, or not known: mod_unique_id: unable to find IPv4 address of “000-000-000-000.static.broadbandcompanyname”

So, the Error was related to ‘IPv4’

Then I created a new ‘Location’ inside the ‘Network’ tab, made all services like Ethernet, FireWire, and WiFi Inactive, and BOOM, Apache Server started.

(Make sure you have killed all services of MySQL through Terminal or Activity Monitor before restarting Apache Server or just reboot your system)

So, Problem Solved…

Here is a Different take on it:

Solution 02:
Open the httpd.conf file with a text editor (/Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf)

Search the following line:

LoadModule unique_id_module modules/mod_unique_id.so

& Change it to:

#LoadModule unique_id_module modules/mod_unique_id.so

i.e. Add ‘#’ before that line

So, your Apache server will start to run normally again.

Comments

19 responses to “Final Solution If MAMP Apache Server won’t start or doesn’t start at all”

October 10, 2011

Henry

Great! Thanks for sharing, it working fine! I just have an exactly same problem after upgraded to 10.7

Reply
November 3, 2011

Aly

I used Solution 02 and it worked! Many thanks, it took about 10 different web searches to finally figure it out, and it was so simple.

Reply
March 21, 2012

Tim

Thanks alot. I still have 10.6.8 but solution 2 worked pretty well. It seems it is not a “Lion”-problem 😉

Reply
March 31, 2012

Jon Bolden

This worked for me! Awesome! The weirdest thing was my MAMP setup was working flawlessly until I restarted my machine day. Thank you for figuring this out. I’m on a MAC OS X with Lion 10.7.3, running MAMP 2.0.3.

Reply
April 13, 2012

Gavin

Easier way for method two is to disable the unique_id_module in the main Mamp window. Using Mamp Pro so not sure if Mamp users have the same window:

Open the main MAMP window then:

Server tab > Apache tab

In the “Apache Modules” section, just un-check unique_id_module (just over half way down the list)

Stop and start services and you’re good to go!

Reply
June 15, 2012

Ross

im running OS 10.7.3 with MAMP 1.7.2 and option 2 was already done when i checked it and it’s still not working. Are there any other solutions? I couldn’t really follow option one.

“Then I created new ‘Location’ inside ‘Network’ tab….” where do i find the network tab?

Thanks for the help.

I feel like IM SO CLOSE….ha

Reply
1. June 15, 2012
  
  Mandar Apte
  
  Hi Ross, Please Update your MAMP first then it should work…
  
  Reply
July 19, 2012

jlar

Thanks so much!… I tried so many things. This was the best solution for me. I used the Apache Port: 80 and MySQL: 3306. And changed my file (apache/httpd.conf) to what you said, but I also had to force quit all my mysqld processes, and reboot a few times.

Reply
September 26, 2012

Paul

I found the solution by accident and all the others i found didn’t work for me but i thought id share it as i was pulling my hair out trying to get it working again.

I had changed the apache directory to my own drive.

1. Stop servers
2. Open preferences and change the apache directory back to applications/mamp/htdocs
3. Hit ok and start servers. Should work at this stage.
4. If you want to use your own directory, stop servers and change it back.
5. Start Servers.

If you didn’t have your own directory i would try it and change it to something else anyway to see if it works.

I know there are many problems out there but none of them worked for me.
Hope it helps.

Reply
September 26, 2012

davy hendry

hi there having trouble myself and just starting out with mamp – thanks for the pointers.

In the end I just deleted this line from httpd.conf

#LoadModule unique_id_module modules/mod_unique_id.so ( DELETED)

Servers started normally OS 10.7.4

Reply
September 28, 2012

Beat

Thanks so much; solution 2 solved the problem for me perfectly (MacPorts installation of apache on 10.8.2).

Reply
September 28, 2012

DropTheNerd

Thanks! Solution number 2 worked for me!

Reply
October 17, 2012

Patrick

Thank you so much. This solution worked a treat. Cheers!

Reply
November 8, 2012

Gideon Kimbrell

The first fix worked. The second one is not good because it removes functionality

Reply
November 14, 2012

Scott

Thanks Paul!!

Reply
October 23, 2014

Emery

The new 10.10 Yosemite update affects Apache again :(.

Reply
1. October 26, 2014
  
  Mandar Apte
  
  Update your MAMP installation, it should work…!!!
  
  Reply
November 2, 2014

King

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on mandar. Regards

Reply
February 11, 2015

HwangC

2nd Solution works! Thanks 🙂

Reply