Setting up DVWA with XAMPP on virtual Ubuntu - linux

Question

I've followed several sets of instructions, including an online recorded lecture, that show just copying the dvwa folder to /opt/lampp/htdocs and visiting localhost/dvwa in the browser with Xampp services started. I've attempted this, but this is the screen I get (instead of the DVWA page prompting me to log in and set up the database).
What could the problem be? Has anyone run into this before? I've reattempted the instructions on this virtual computer and on my windows 10 host over the past few days and cannot get past this, even the slightest bit of advice would be incredibly appreciated.

Answer 1

Allow the usage of custom virtual hosts
By default, xampp in ubuntu won't use the httpd-vhosts.conf file (the location of the virtual hosts), therefore we need to indicate that this file will be included during the runtime of apache. Open with your favorite code editor the httpd.conf file located tipically in /opt/lampp/etc or just execute the following command in your terminal to open a simple editor:
sudo gedit /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf
Now locate yourself in (about) the line 487 where you probably will find the following lines:
# Virtual hosts
Include etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
As you can see, the Include statement that includes the httpd-vhosts.conf file is commented. Proceed to modify the line uncommenting that line:
# Virtual hosts
Include etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
And you're ready to configure your custom vhost.
Create a custom domain in the hosts file of your system
You need to create a custom domain where our apache virtual host will point to. This domain will be normally an ip (127.0.0.xx based) and a custom name.
To start, edit the hosts file located in /etc using your favorite code editor, or just by executing the following command in the terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/hosts
And proceed to add your custom host. In this example, our ip will be 127.0.0.3 and the domain myawesomeproject. So finally, our hosts file will look like:
Save the file, and now the domain myawesomeproject is an alias for the local address 127.0.0.5.
Create your first virtual host
Tipically, you need to create the virtual host in the httpd-vhosts.conf file located in /opt/lampp/etc/extra. Use your favorite editor to edit that file or just execute the following command to edit it in a terminal:
sudo gedit /opt/lampp/etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
And create your own virtual host in this file. As shown in our custom domain in the vhost file of the system, the port that we are going to use is 127.0.0.5, therefore our virtual host will be:
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.5:80>
DocumentRoot "/opt/lampp/htdocs/my-first-project"
DirectoryIndex index.php
Options All
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
The deep and custom configuration of your VirtualHost is up to you. Save the file, and you're ready to test it.
Test your virtual host
To test it, in the folder /opt/lampp/htdocs/my-first-project, create a simple PHP file
(index.php) that will contain the following PHP code:
Start apache, mysql (entire XAMPP) using the following command (or whatever the way you start apache and the other required services):
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start
Navigate in your favorite browser to http://myawesomeproject/ or http://127.0.0.5/ and you should get as output "Hello World" in the browser.