apache - Accessing localhost (xampp) from another computer over LAN network - how to?

Question

I have just set up a wi-fi network at home. I have all my files on my desktop computer (192.168.1.56) and want to access localhost over there from another computer (192.168.1.2).

On my desktop I can access localhost through the normal http://localhost. Apache is running on port 80 as usual.

Exactly what do I have to do to achieve this? There is documentation on the net but they either don't work or are too fragment and confusing to understand.

I think I have to make changes to my apache's httpd.conf file and the hosts file. Any ideas as to what changes to make?

Answer 1

Localhost is just a name given for the loopback, eg its like referring to yourself as "me" ..

To view it from other computers, chances are you need only do http://192.168.1.56 or http://myPcsName if that doesnt work, there is a chance that there is a firewall running on your computer, or the httpd.conf is only listening on 127.0.0.1