how to create virtual host on XAMPP

Step 1) C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\ Open the "hosts" file :

127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.0.1       test.com
127.0.0.1       example.com

Step 2) xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot C:/xampp/htdocs/test/
    ServerName www.test.com
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot C:/xampp/htdocs/example/
    ServerName www.example.com
</VirtualHost>

Step 3) C:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf. Scroll down to the Supplemental configuration section at the end, and locate the following section (around line 500), Remove the # from the beginning of the second line so the section now looks like this:

#Virtual hosts
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Step 4) Restart XAMPP and now run in your browser :

www.example.com or www.test.com

I see two errors:

<VirtualHost *:80> -> Fix to :8081, your POrt the server runs on
    ServerName comm-app.local
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/CommunicationApp/public"
    SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV "development"
    <Directory "C:/xampp/htdocs/CommunicationApp/public" -> This is probably why it crashes, missing >
        DirectoryIndex index.php
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
 -> MIssing close container: </VirtualHost> 

Fixed version:

<VirtualHost *:8081>
    ServerName comm-app.local
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/CommunicationApp/public"
    SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV "development"
    <Directory "C:/xampp/htdocs/CommunicationApp/public">
        DirectoryIndex index.php
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

One thing to mention:

You can always try and run command:

service apache2 configtest

This will tell you when you got a malformed configuration and maybe even can tell you where the problem is.

Furthermore it helps avoid unavailability in a LIVE system:

service apache2 restart

will shutdown and then fail to start, this configtest you know beforehand "oops I did something wrong, I should fix this first" but the apache itself is still running with old configuration. :)