Fix when MAMP fails to stop or start
MAMP is a complete software bundle of Apache, MySQL and PHP for Mac OS X. Although Leopard now comes pre-installed with Apache and PHP and is MySQL ready, MAMP is still a hugely popular download because it takes minutes to get sites configured and running. Also, configuring Virtual servers is much simpler so if you are running multiple development sites as we do at Webopius, MAMP makes running them straightforward.
MAMP fails to stop or start
MAMP does have a problem though that causes many users to rip it out and re-install. Every few months, MAMP will appear to stop working and won’t allow you to start the servers or stop them. The MAMP dashboard widget will often show the green lights indicating that all is well but you won’t be able to access your sites or see the MAMP start page.
At this point, the traditional fix was to uninstall MAMP and re-install. Often you’d end up losing data or configuration settings.
The Fix
The fix is surprisingly simple:
1. Find the MAMP application, located in /Applications/MAMP/MAMP.app
2. Start MAMP.app
3. Click the ‘preferences’ button
4. Don’t change any of the preference settings, just click ‘OK’.
The MAMP Apache and MySQL servers should now re-start and you should find everything is back to normal again – including your MAMP dashboard widget.
This is one of the most annoying things about MAMP so far. The first time it happened, I re-installed. The second time, I somehow managed to fiddle with it and happen upon this solution. Thanks for posting!
Comment by Ingrid Alongi — December 4, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
You just saved me hours of labor. Many thanks. (MAMP 1.7.1)
Comment by Breakerjump — May 16, 2011 @ 1:03 am