What access does Apache 2.0 need in Windows Server 2003 in order to start as a service?

Question

Until this morning, I have had Apache 2.0 running as a service using a local account which was configured with appropriate permissions. Sometime yesterday, someone must have changed something, and now Apache 2.0 won't start as a service under this account.

I made the account an Administrator temporarily, and Apache 2.0 starts fine.

I tried following the access listed in the official documentation, but it seems to require more access. Does anyone know what access Apache 2.0 needs to start as a service?

I'm running Apache 2.0.63 with SVN 1.4.6 and mod_auth_sspi for windows domain authentication.

I also checked the syntax of the configuration file from command-line using the -t parameter, but I received the message Syntax OK.

Here's the error I get when starting as a service from command-line:

X:\>net start apache2
The Apache2 service is starting.
The Apache2 service could not be started.

A service specific error occurred: 1.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3547.

Answer 1

Verify that your service still has the "Log on as a Service" user right. If your machine is a part of a domain, it's possible the account permissions or user rights have been reset by a group policy.

Can you do a "Run As" using the Apache account, and run Apache from the command line? This will tell you if there are other permission problems.

Answer 2

Set the "LogLevel" directive to "debug" in the apache configuration file.

Execute Apache from the command-line and use the "-X" argument so that Apache does not fork processes.

Apache should output a bit more information to help debug your problem.