WAMP 403 forbidden from external sources

I have read a ton of threads here and elsewhere but none of the suggestions have worked. I installed the latest version of WAMP 64 bit on a fresh install of Windows Server 2012 R2.

• I created a subdirectory within the www directory called andrew. In that is an index.html file.

• I added the following to the hosts file:

  127.0.0.1 andrew
  ::1 andrew
  

• I added the following to the httpd-vhosts.conf file:

  <VirtualHost *:80>
      DocumentRoot "c:/wamp64/www/andrew"
      ServerName andrew
      <Directory  "c:/wamp64/www/andrew">
          Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
          AllowOverride All
          Require all granted
      </Directory>
  </VirtualHost>
  

• I uncommented the virtual hosts line in httpd.conf

• I stopped and started net dnscache
• I restarted the WAMP services
• I “Put Online” the WAMP server

Regardless, when I access the server from another machine like [server IP address]*/andrew/index.html I get a 403 Forbidden error.

Here is the apache error log (“[SERVER IP]” is really the server’s actual IP):

[Fri Apr 22 17:10:32.628356 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4680:tid 424] AH00422: Parent: Received shutdown signal -- Shutting down the server.
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.656507 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4444:tid 312] AH00364: Child: All worker threads have exited.
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.672087 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4680:tid 424] AH00430: Parent: Child process 4444 exited successfully.
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.921723 2016] [auth_digest:notice] [pid 4724:tid 416] AH01757: generating secret for digest authentication ...
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.952892 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4724:tid 416] AH00455: Apache/2.4.17 (Win64) PHP/5.6.16 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.952892 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4724:tid 416] AH00456: Apache Lounge VC14 Server built: Oct 11 2015 11:49:07
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.952892 2016] [core:notice] [pid 4724:tid 416] AH00094: Command line: 'C:\wamp64\bin\apache\apache2.4.17\bin\httpd.exe -d C:/wamp64/bin/apache/apache2.4.17'
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:34.952892 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4724:tid 416] AH00418: Parent: Created child process 4388
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:35.140157 2016] [auth_digest:notice] [pid 4388:tid 312] AH01757: generating secret for digest authentication ...
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:35.171357 2016] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4388:tid 312] AH00354: Child: Starting 64 worker threads.
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:49.899265 2016] [authz_core:error] [pid 4388:tid 1040] [client 73.82.23.97:57193] AH01630: client denied by server configuration: C:/wamp64/www/andrew/index.html
[Fri Apr 22 17:10:50.055249 2016] [authz_core:error] [pid 4388:tid 1040] [client 73.82.23.97:57193] AH01630: client denied by server configuration: C:/wamp64/www/favicon.ico, referer: http://[SERVER IP]/andrew/index.html

I am now thinking it has to do with some setting on Windows 2012 Server, but I can’t figure it out. Help.

Answer

Because Apache doesn’t know to associate the IP address with your virtual host, it uses the main server settings. Probably you don’t need a virtual host at all, but try this anyway:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "c:/wamp64/www/andrew"
    ServerName andrew
    #of course, enter your IP address here
    ServerAlias 1.2.3.4
    <Directory  "c:/wamp64/www/andrew">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>