Apache won't start on Windows 11 — error 10061 (connection refused on port)

Support
1

Hi everyone,

I’m facing a blocking issue with LocalWP on Windows: sites using Apache won’t start, and the browser returns a 502 error. When checking the logs, I consistently get this error:

connect() failed (10061: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it) while connecting to upstream, client: ::1, server: test.local, request: “GET / HTTP/1.1”, upstream: “http://127.0.0.1:10005/”, host: “test.local”

My tests

What I’ve tried so far:
Full uninstall + deleted Local’s AppData folders

Always running Local as administrator

Windows Firewall and Defender fully disabled for testing

Clean hosts file with ::1 commented to force IPv4

Checked ports like 10005 with netstat -ano → no apparent conflict

run/{id}/php folder is empty → PHP-FPM not launching?

Connections to 127.0.0.1:10005 stuck in SYN_SENT → Apache never responds

Tried various versions (PHP 8.2, 8.1 / MariaDB 10.4)

Sites using NGINX work fine

System Details

  • Windows 11
  • LocalWP latest version
  • Blank test site: Apache, PHP 8.2.27, MariaDB 10.4.32

Questions

  • Is this a known issue with Apache on Windows recently?
  • Is there a way to force Local to properly reinstall Apache/PHP services?
  • Are there any additional logs for Apache startup that I can check?
2

Hi @Varin!

You could you share your full Local Log with us? There are some different ways to access and share Local Logs. For us to be able to troubleshoot thoroughly, please click the Download Local Logs button from the Support tab in Local. This will generate a zip archive that contains the Local log along with some other diagnostic information to help quickly zero in on any issues that Local is encountering.