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? Thanks.

Answer 1

There are two things you need to check:

1. Ensure that your user account has administrator privilege.
2. 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:

1. Type UAC in the search field in the upper right corner.
2. Click Change User Account Control settings in the search results.
3. 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.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You can solve the issue by

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

Answer 3

As ivan.sim writes in his answer

1. Ensure that your user account has administrator privilege.
2. Disable UAC(User Account Control) as it restricts certain administrative function needed to run a web server.
3. 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.

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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.