client denied by server configuration

For me the following worked which is copied from example in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf:

<Directory /srv/www/default>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Require all granted option is the solution for the first problem example in wiki.apache.org page dedicated for this issue for Apache version 2.4+.

More details about Require option can be found on official apache page for mod_authz module and on this page too. Namely:

Require all granted -> Access is allowed unconditionally.

In my case, I modified directory tag.

From

<Directory "D:/Devel/matysart/matysart_dev1">
  Allow from all
  Order Deny,Allow
</Directory>

To

<Directory "D:/Devel/matysart/matysart_dev1">
  Require local
</Directory>

And it seriously worked. It's seems changed with Apache 2.4.2.

The error "client denied by server configuration" generally means that somewhere in your configuration are Allow from and Deny from directives that are preventing access. Read the mod_authz_host documentation for more details.

You should be able to solve this in your VirtualHost by adding something like:

<Location />
  Allow from all
  Order Deny,Allow
</Location>

Or alternatively with a Directory directive:

<Directory "D:/Devel/matysart/matysart_dev1">
  Allow from all
  Order Deny,Allow
</Directory>

Some investigation of your Apache configuration files will probably turn up default restrictions on the default DocumentRoot.

in my case,

i'm using macOS Mojave (Apache/2.4.34). There was an issue in virtual host settings at /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf file. after adding the required directory tag my problem was gone.

Require all granted

Hope the full virtual host setup structure will save you.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "/Users/vagabond/Sites/MainProjectFolderName/public/"
    ServerName project.loc

    <Directory /Users/vagabond/Sites/MainProjectFolderName/public/>
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog "/Users/vagabond/Sites/logs/MainProjectFolderName.loc-error_log"
    CustomLog "/Users/vagabond/Sites/logs/MainProjectFolderName.loc-access_log" common
</VirtualHost>

all you've to do replace the MainProjectFolderName with your exact ProjectFolderName.