When developing PHP with Apache on Windows, changing the way you reach the site using a custom host name can make facilitate easier development and also allow you to point your root site to nested folders within the app, without having to reference those folders in the host name.
Instead of http://localhost:80/mywebsite (which points directly to that folder), you can setup a hostname URL locally that is simpler and points to any folder in your website setup (good for setting up a website in a “public_html” directory when using “src” “vendor”, and other structures like composer.
We’ll setup a URL pattern of mysite.local.site
Using this pattern will support easier setup of https/ssl for your local sites, which is a good initiative to adopt locally as it more closely represents production environments. After the steps below, consider following the https on localhost with apache instructions here.
Step 1: Update the hosts file
Open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc then open the hosts file. Use notepad, or another general editor, and you may be prompted for Admin rights. Add your preferred name
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
## ADD THIS BIT BELOW
127.0.0.1 mysite1.local.site
127.0.0.1 mysite2.local.site
Step 2: Tell Apache Where That Folder Is
Open C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra then open the httpd-vhosts.conf file with Notepad or another general editor
# Virtual Hosts
# add this to the bottom of the file
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName mysite1.local.site
DocumentRoot "C:/XAMPP/htdocs/mysite1/public_html"
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName mysite2.local.site
DocumentRoot "C:/XAMPP/htdocs/mysite2/public_html"
</VirtualHost>
Step 3: Restart Xampp
Stop and start the services, or quit Xampp and re-open.
http://mysite1.local.site
Type in your new domain name. Put the “http://” in front just to make sure that your browser doesn’t start searching the Internet for words.