Using mod_wsgi-express start-server was never supported on Windows as I could never get it to work properly as I lacked sufficient knowledge of the Windows platform to get it working. When I say “supported” that means I cannot help you with it. The code sort of half worked, but rather than totally disable it I left it as is with the hope that someone may help to get it fully working, but no one has ever stepped up to do that.
I would be surprised that mod_wsgi as a whole works on Windows any more even when integrated manually into Apache httpd. I personally haven’t built or tested it on Windows in well over 5 years. I would expect that changes in how Python is installed on Windows, as well as how Python virtual environments are constructed on Windows would have broken things by now, as these sorts of things kept changing and fiddles were needed to keep it running. I suspect that this is what you are seeing. Windows has likely changed how virtual environments are setup once again and the Python library DLL (.pyd), is no longer located in the same spot. So there isn’t really anything I can do to help you directly. If you really wanted to get it working I can only suggest digging through the mod_wsgi-express startup script and see if you can work out what needs to change for it to support the latest Python versions and virtual environment layout. Graham > On 18 Mar 2026, at 05:02, Samuel Wickstead <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have been trying to set up mod_wsgi for the first time and have had issues > when attempting to verify my installation with mod_wsgi-express start-server. > When I run it I get the following output: > > Server URL : http://localhost:8000/ > Server Root : > C:/Users/ADMIN~1.DES/AppData/Local/Temp/mod_wsgi-localhost-8000-Admin > Server Conf : > C:/Users/ADMIN~1.DES/AppData/Local/Temp/mod_wsgi-localhost-8000-Admin/httpd.conf > Error Log File : > C:/Users/ADMIN~1.DES/AppData/Local/Temp/mod_wsgi-localhost-8000-Admin/error_log > (warn) > Operating Mode : daemon > Request Capacity : 5 (1 process * 5 threads) > Request Timeout : 60 (seconds) > Startup Timeout : 15 (seconds) > Queue Backlog : 100 (connections) > Queue Timeout : 45 (seconds) > Server Capacity : 20 (event/worker), 20 (prefork) > Server Backlog : 500 (connections) > Locale Setting : en_GB.cp1252 > > WARNING: The ability to use the start-server option on Windows > WARNING: is highly experimental and various things don't quite > WARNING: work properly. If you understand a lot about using > WARNING: Python on Windows and Windows programming in general, > WARNING: and would like to help to get it working properly, then > WARNING: you can ask about Windows support for the start-server > WARNING: option on the mod_wsgi mailing list. > > httpd.exe: Syntax error on line 163 of > C:/Users/Admin.DESKTOP-DC00DVS/AppData/Local/Temp/mod_wsgi-localhost-8000-Admin/httpd.conf: > Cannot load > C:/venvs/.env/Lib/site-packages/mod_wsgi/server/mod_wsgi.cp314-win_amd64.pyd > into server: The specified module could not be found. > > These are the steps I took during installation: > > 1) I downloaded the latest binaries from Apache Lounge (version 2.4.66) into > C:\Apache24 > > 2) I downloaded Python (version 3.14.3) using the install manager and moved > it into C:\Program Files > > 3) I created a virtual environment at C:\venvs\.env > > 4) I ran pip install mod_wsgi within the virtual environment (pip version > 25.3, if it matters) > > The wording on the PyPi page seemed to imply that mod_wsgi-express > start-server was UNIX only, but I couldn't find documentation on how to run > it on Windows. > > Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for your time. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "modwsgi" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/modwsgi/37cfd741-6a5a-4de0-adec-e8a7a43e08c9n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/modwsgi/37cfd741-6a5a-4de0-adec-e8a7a43e08c9n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "modwsgi" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/modwsgi/6ABECDF6-2388-44C6-8FCC-F0D8A4550AE3%40gmail.com.
