This is most likely a beginner's issue, but I can't seem to find the fix anywhere, and the few posts I found dealing with it are unanswered (e.g. xampp in window 7 cannot access files in subfolder inside C:/xampp/htdocs).
So far I have a working localhost using XAMPP (had to change the port to 8080), located in a custom document root. I can load the index.html, but when I click on a link towards a subdirectoy:
<li><a href="examples/test.html"></a></li>
Service unavailable!
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to
maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.
If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.
Error 503
localhost Apache/2.4.25 (Win32) OpenSSL/1.0.2j PHP/5.6.30
#DocumentRoot "F:/Apps/xampp/htdocs"
DocumentRoot "F:/me/GitWorkDir/myproject_io"
<Directory "F:/me/GitWorkDir/myproject_io">
#
# Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
# or any combination of:
# Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews
#
# Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
# doesn't give it to you.
#
# The Options directive is both complicated and important. Please see
# http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#options
# for more information.
#
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
#
# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.
# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
# AllowOverride FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
#
AllowOverride All
#
# Controls who can get stuff from this server.
#
Require all granted
</Directory>
It turns out the issue was due to an unlucky coincidence preventing a subdirectory to be called, precisely, "examples"... See this page which discusses the issue and proposes a fix.
In short, you can: