Troubleshooting problems connecting to POPFile's UI can be difficult as there are many reasons why you could fail to connect, ranging from proxies and ad blockers to firewalls.
Although every person's setup will be different, it's generally a good idea to start with the basics and eliminate the obvious issues in a methodical manner. Try stepping thru each of the following to identify the problem on your system:
Make sure POPFile is really running. Check the task manager (ctrl,alt,del) and look for an instance of either wperl (if you are running the background version) or perl (if you are running the foreground version). If you do not find one, then POPFile is not running. Start POPFile and try connecting to the UI after it starts up (allow a minute or so for it to load the corpus and other housekeeping).
Confirm you are using the correct link to access the UI. The correct link for those who have not changed the User Interface Web Port from the default of 8080 is http://127.0.0.1:8080/ (Note that the http:// portion is not optional, you must include it ).
If the above link does not work, try the following alternative link http://localhost:8080/.
Check for other programs using port 8080. Shutdown POPFile, the open a DOS box and issue the netstat command, e.g.,
netstat -an > output.txt start notepad.exe output.txt
Check the output of the netstat command for anything listening on port 8080, for example, the sample netstat output below shows two instances of port 8080.
Active Connections Proto Local Address Foreign Address State TCP 0.0.0.0:25 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:5679 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:106 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:110 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:123 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:8080 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:1417 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:1172 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:1684 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:162 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:5106 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:5107 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 0.0.0.0:5108 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 127.0.0.1:111 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 127.0.0.1:1392 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 127.0.0.1:4473 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 127.0.0.1:8080 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 127.0.0.1:4785 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 192.168.1.2:137 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 192.168.1.2:138 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 192.168.1.2:139 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING UDP 0.0.0.0:123 *:* UDP 0.0.0.0:162 *:* UDP 127.0.0.1:1392 *:* UDP 127.0.0.1:4473 *:* UDP 127.0.0.1:4785 *:* UDP 192.168.1.2:137 *:* UDP 192.168.1.2:138 *:*
If you find that port 8080 is in use, then that's a real good indicator that some other piece of software installed on your machine is already using port 8080. You should change POPFile's port to something other than 8080;
Shutdown POPFile.
Open a DOS box and switch to the POPFile install directory (normally this will be c:\program files\popfile), e.g.,
cd "\program files\popfile"
Start POPFile in the foreground with the special switch ui_port set to the new port you want POPFile to use (like maybe 8088);
perl popfile.pl -ui_port 8088
Now try accessing the UI using the new port in your link, http://127.0.0.1:8088/ (change to the port you selected if not 8088).
Make sure your browser isn't using a proxy. For IE you can check the settings at Tools/Internet Options/Connections Tab/Lan Settings button. If a proxy is being used, make sure that "Bypass proxy for local addresses" is checked.
If you are running a personal firewall, make certain you have configured it to allow perl.exe (or wperl.exe) permission to accesss ports 8080 and 110. See the detailed instructions in POPFile Manual.
Try disabling any virus scanner you may have operating on your machine.
Try disabling or removing any ad blockers you may have operating on your machine.
Obtain Ad-aware from Lavasoft and run it to remove all spyware from your machine. Some spyware causes issues with your TCP/IP stack and may make it impossible to connect to POPFile.
If all of the above troubleshooting does not solve the problem, post to the POPFile Help Forum https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=213100 for further help.
Copyright (C) 2003 Scott W. Leighton
POPFile Utilities are licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Contributed to the POPFile project under the terms of the POPFile License Agreement.