XAMPP does not work on Windows XP SP2!
Right! But here, Microsoft has released a new firewall. This firewall blocks the ports 80 (http) and 443 (https) and the server will not boot (more). A quick solution: Turn off the Microsoft firewall with the toolbar and try to start XAMPP again. Of course everyone can define their own exceptions to the firewall in the Security Center. The following ports are required for basic operation:
http 80 (HTTP)
https 443 (SSL)
mysql 3306
And XAMPP for other services: ...
