How to change the URL from "localhost" to something else, on a local system using wampserver?

Question

On a Windows machine, there's a system running on the local wampserver, but while the application is running on localhost, the URL says otherwise.

While I would expect the URL to be like this based on the directory structure:

http://localhost/pro/include/db_report.php

The developer has managed to do this:

http://ap-mispro/pro/include/db_report.php

So instead of localhost, the URL says ap-mispro.

And both URLs work fine.

How is the second URL made? I tried checking out the wampmanager.ini and wampmanager.tpl but maybe I didn't know what to look for?

score 62 · Answer 1 · answered May 29 '14 at 12:23

62

WINDOWS + WAMP solution

Step 1
Go to C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.17\conf\
open httpd.conf file and change
#Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
to
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
i.e. uncomment the line so that it can includes the virtual hosts file.

Step 2
Go to C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.17\conf\extra
and open httpd-vhosts.conf file and add the following code

<VirtualHost myWebsite.local>
    DocumentRoot "C:/wamp/www/myWebsite/"
    ServerName myWebsite.local
    ServerAlias myWebsite.local
    <Directory "C:/wamp/www/myWebsite/">
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

change myWebsite.local and C:/wamp/www/myWebsite/ as per your requirements.

Step 3
Open hosts file in C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/ and add the following line ( Don't delete anything )

127.0.0.1 myWebsite.local

change myWebsite.local as per your name requirements

Step 4
restart your server. That's it

WINDOWS + XAMPP solution

Same steps as that of WAMP just change the paths according to XAMPP which corresponds to path in WAMP

answered May 29 '14 at 12:23

Abhishek Goel

18,785
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Is there any short method to do this for all project in www folder – Bugfixer Jun 11 '15 at 12:20
Messing up with a quite old answer here, but can't resist. On later versions of Wamp and Windows, You may have to [enable mod rewrite](http://www.webdevdoor.com/php/mod_rewrite-windows-apache-url-rewriting/) – Manish Kr. Shukla Oct 13 '15 at 07:41
Thanks a lot! Very useful! – Isma Haro Jan 15 '16 at 14:55
Easier way is https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47839362/virtual-host-using-wamp-is-not-working/47863472#47863472 – soldy Feb 14 '19 at 14:49
Good explanation!. But I am not able to access the website on my local network. Is there any way to do this? – Hkachhia Jun 20 '19 at 06:20
@Hkachhia disable your internet and try, sometimes dns problem – Abhishek Goel May 12 '20 at 11:51
What would happen if I rename it is as mywebsite.com? – AD-1 Mar 27 '21 at 20:21

score 28 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 08 '20 at 14:57

28

Copy the hosts file and add 127.0.0.1 and name which you want to show or run at the browser link. For example:

127.0.0.1   abc

Then run abc/ as a local host in the browser.

edited Dec 08 '20 at 14:57

Smart Manoj

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answered Apr 13 '16 at 14:15

ADEEL AHMAD

281
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2

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '13 at 17:14

They are probably using a virtual host (http://www.keanei.com/2011/07/14/creating-virtual-hosts-with-wamp/)

You can go into your Apache configuration file (httpd.conf) or your virtual host configuration file (recommended) and add something like:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot /www/ap-mispro
    ServerName ap-mispro

    # Other directives here
</VirtualHost>

And when you call up http://ap-mispro/ you would see whatever is in C:/wamp/www/ap-mispro (assuming default directory structure). The ServerName and DocumentRoot do no have to have the same name at all. Other factors needed to make this work:

You have to make sure httpd-vhosts.conf is included by httpd.conf for your changes in that file to take effect.
When you make changes to either file, you have to restart Apache to see your changes.
You have to change your hosts file http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file) for your computer to know where to go when you type http://ap-mispro into your browser. This change to your hosts file will only apply to your computer - not that it sounds like you are trying from anyone else's.

There are plenty more things to know about virtual hosts but this should get you started.

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 21 '15 at 05:31

3

please refer http://complete-concrete-concise.com/web-tools/how-to-change-localhost-to-a-domain-name

this is best solution ever

answered Feb 21 '15 at 05:31

Karan

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6
17

4

Hey, as it stands, this is a [link-only answer and is susceptible to rot](http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/8259/174440). Please consider adding relevant text from the linked resource into your answer. – bPratik Jul 09 '15 at 17:15

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 16 '16 at 08:28

for new version of Wamp

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName domain.local
  DocumentRoot C:/wamp/www/domain/
  <Directory "C:/wamp/www/domain/">
      Options +Indexes +FollowSymLinks +MultiViews
      AllowOverride All
      Require local
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 04 '17 at 15:17

After another hour or two I can actually answer my own question.

Someone on another forum mentioned that you need to keep a mention of plain ol' localhost in the httpd-vhost.conf file, so here's what I ended up with in there:

ServerName localhost

DocumentRoot "c:/wamp/www/"

DocumentRoot "C:/wamp/www/pocket/"
ServerName pocket.clickng.com
ServerAlias pocket.clickng.com
ErrorLog "logs/pocket.clickng.com-error.log"
CustomLog "logs/pocket.clickng.com-access.log" common
<Directory "C:/wamp/www/pocket/">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

Exit WAMP, restart - good to go. Hope this helps someone else :)

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 05 '18 at 05:51

go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and open hosts file and add this

127.0.0.1    example.com
127.0.0.1    www.example.com

then go to C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra open httpd-ajp.conf file and add

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/pojectroot"
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    <Directory "C:/xampp/htdocs/projectroot">
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

asbelar · Answer 8 · 2020-04-02T22:39:45.047

WINDOWS + MAMP solution

Step 1
Go to S:\MAMPenter code here \bin\apache\conf\
open httpd.conf file and change
#Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
to
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
i.e. uncomment the line so that it can includes the virtual hosts file.

Step 2
Go to S:\MAMP\bin\apache\conf\extra
and open httpd-vhosts.conf file and add the following code

<VirtualHost myWebsite.local>
    DocumentRoot "S:\MAMP\htdocs/myWebsite/"
    ServerName myWebsite.local
    ServerAlias myWebsite.local
    <Directory "S:\MAMP\htdocsmyWebsite/">
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

change myWebsite.local and S:\MAMP\htdocs/myWebsite/ as per your requirements.

Step 3
Open hosts file in C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/ and add the following line ( Don't delete anything )

127.0.0.1 myWebsite.local

change myWebsite.local as per your name requirements

Step 4
restart your server. That's it

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 19 '19 at 11:54

This method will work for xamp/wamp/lamp

1st go to your server directory, for example, C:\xamp
2nd go to apache/conf/extra and open httpd-vhosts.conf
3rd add following code to this file

 <VirtualHost myWebsite.local>
        DocumentRoot "C:/wamp/www/php-bugs/"
        ServerName php-bugs.local
        ServerAlias php-bugs.local
        <Directory "C:/wamp/www/php-bugs/">
            Order allow,deny
            Allow from all
        </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>

For DocumentRoot and Directory add your local directory For ServerName and ServerAlias give your server a name

Finally go to C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc and open hosts file
add 127.0.0.1 php-bugs.local and nothing else
For the finishing touch restart your server

For Multile local domain add another section of code into httpd-vhosts.conf

 <VirtualHost myWebsite.local>
        DocumentRoot "C:/wamp/www/php-bugs2/"
        ServerName php-bugs.local2
        ServerAlias php-bugs.local2
        <Directory "C:/wamp/www/php-bugs2/">
            Order allow,deny
            Allow from all
        </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>

and add your host into host file 127.0.0.1 php-bugs.local2

How to change the URL from "localhost" to something else, on a local system using wampserver?

9 Answers9

WINDOWS + WAMP solution

WINDOWS + XAMPP solution

WINDOWS + MAMP solution

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