[SOLVED] Apache2 permission denied error on start

Ok I set all permissions back to root as I believe they were before I would like to be sure though, is there a way I can set them to default configuration? -EDIT- Also when I changed permissions back to root "Sudo service apache2 start" still fails even when run as root

Originally Posted by bengalman211 How would I go about setting all the files back to default owner/group? If you don't "have the basic concepts down" (as you wrote in your OP) then maybe a script like this may help. Should I switch everything to root owner/group?

Daemons like the web server start as root and then drop privileges to an unprivileged user account like "httpd", "www", etc, etc (just 'less /etc/passwd' to find out). /etc/apache2, /usr/sbin/apache2ctl and /var/log/apache2 may be owned by "root:root".

Originally Posted by bengalman211 I changed permissions back to root "Sudo service apache2 start" still fails even when run as root

Do post the output like you did before because my ESP is WAY low today.

Originally Posted by unSpawn Daemons like the web server start as root and then drop privileges to an unprivileged user account like "httpd", "www", etc, etc (just 'less /etc/passwd' to find out). /etc/apache2, /usr/sbin/apache2ctl and /var/log/apache2 may be owned by "root:root". Do post the output like you did before because my ESP is WAY low today.

output of $ sudo service apache2 start


* Starting web server apache2
/usr/sbin/apache2ctl: 139: /usr/sbin/apache2ctl: /etc/apache2: Permission denied
Action 'start' failed.
The Apache error log may have more information.
[fail]

Run 'find /etc/apache2 /usr/sbin/apache2ctl /var/log/apache2 -ls' and show us the last 20 or so lines from your Apache error log?