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Bearsampp runs its core components — Apache, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Memcached, Mailpit, and Xlight — as Windows services managed through the Windows Service Control Manager (SCM). You control all of them from the system tray icon without opening a terminal or editing any files.
All service operations require Administrator privileges. Launch Bearsampp by right-clicking bearsampp.exe and selecting Run as administrator, or configure it to always run as administrator from its file properties.

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Start, stop, and restart all services

To act on every enabled service at once, right-click the tray icon and choose one of:
ActionMenu itemWhat it does
Start allStart all servicesStarts every enabled service in dependency order
Stop allStop all servicesStops every running service cleanly
Restart allRestart all servicesStops all services, then starts them again in the correct order
Bearsampp shows a progress window while the operation runs and closes it automatically when complete.

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Control individual services

To start, stop, or restart a single module, right-click the tray icon, hover over the module name (for example Apache), and choose:
  • Start service — starts only this module’s service
  • Stop service — stops only this module’s service
  • Restart service — stops and restarts only this module’s service
This is useful when you change a config file and need to apply it to one service without affecting the rest of your stack.

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Install and remove services

Bearsampp registers each module with the Windows SCM so Windows can manage the service lifecycle. You can do this manually per module:
  • Install Service — tray → [Module] → Install Service — registers the service with Windows SCM so it can be started, stopped, and monitored by Windows
  • Remove Service — tray → [Module] → Remove Service — unregisters the service from Windows SCM
Removing a service does not delete any files or data. It only unregisters it from Windows. You can reinstall it at any time using Install Service.

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Online and offline mode

Bearsampp can switch between online and offline mode without stopping services:
  • Put Online — tray → Put Online — Apache serves your projects normally
  • Put Offline — tray → Put Offline — Apache displays a maintenance page instead of your projects
Use offline mode when you need to block browser access to your local sites temporarily while keeping the service running.

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Launch on Windows startup

To start Bearsampp automatically when you log in to Windows:
  1. Right-click the tray icon and go to Settings.
  2. Enable Launch on Windows startup.
Bearsampp will launch and start all enabled services each time Windows starts, without requiring you to open it manually.

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Reload

To reload Bearsampp’s internal configuration without restarting any services, right-click the tray icon and choose Reload. This re-reads the configuration files and refreshes the tray menu, which is useful after manually editing config files or moving the Bearsampp folder.