Add subdomains to a XAMPP server on Windows

In this post you’ll learn how to add subdomains to a XAMPP Server.

1. Choose a subdomain. For this example I’ll use test, which will produce the URL test.localhost.com
2. Create a new directory in C:\xampp\htdocs with the name of your subdomain (e.g. C:\xampp\htdocs\test)
3. Create an index.html file in the new directory. This is your subdomain index page
4. Find your root XAMPP directory. This will probably be C:\xampp
5. From your XAMPP root, go to apache\conf\extra (e.g. C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra)

6. Make a copy of httpd-vhosts.conf, as shown below:

   <img class="wp-image-129 size-full" src="/assets/2016/03/xampp.apache.png" alt=Selecting the httpd-vhosts.conf file" width="925" height="421" />

7. Open the original file httpd-vhosts.conf in a text editor

8. Copy the code below, and paste it at the bottom of http-vhosts.conf:

   #main domain
   
   <virtualhost *:80="">
   ServerAdmin webmaster@test.localhost.com
   DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/"
   ServerName localhost
   ServerAlias www.localhost.com
   ErrorLog "logs/localhost.com-error.log"
   CustomLog "logs/localhost.com-access.log" common
   </virtualhost>
   
   #test sub-domain
   
   <virtualhost *:80="">
   ServerAdmin webmaster@test.localhost.com
   DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/test"
   ServerName test.localhost
   ServerAlias www.test.localhost.com
   ErrorLog "logs/test.localhost.com-error.log"
   CustomLog "logs/test.localhost.com-access.log" common
   </virtualhost>
   

9. Replace test with your subdomain name

10. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, as shown below

    

11. Create a copy of hosts

12. At the bottom of the file add the following code:

    127.0.0.1 test.localhost.com
    

13. Replace test with your subdomain name

Congratulations, You’ve created a new subdomain!

Now, restart your server from the XAMPP control panel and visit your new subdomain in your browser to check it’s working.

You can use this technique to add subdomains to a XAMPP Server anytime you want. I’ve got ten at the moment!

Any problems, leave a comment and I’ll try to help.