Going back to absolute basics here. The answers on this page and a little googling have brought me to the following resolution to my issue. Steps to restart the apache service with Xampp installed:-

1. Click the start button and type CMD (if on Windows Vista or later and Apache is installed as a service make sure this is an elevated command prompt)
2. In the command window that appears type cd C:\xampp\apache\bin (the default installation path for Xampp)
3. Then type httpd -k restart

I hope that this is of use to others just starting out with running a local Apache server.

This problem is likely occurring because httpd.exe isn't in your Windows PATH/Path variable(s).

To install a current version of Apache (i.e. Apache 2.4.x) as a service on Windows:

1. Navigate as an Administrator to the folder where httpd.exe resides (typically under the bin folder of your primary Apache installation). To do this:

   • Open the Run... dialog box under the Windows Start menu and type cmd --> Ctrl + Shift + Enter. This will open an administrative command window (i.e with a UAC prompt).

   • Use ex. cd c:\path\to\Apache\bin to navigate to your Apache installation bin folder.

2. Run ex. httpd.exe -k install -n "Apache2.4" to install Apache as a Windows service.

You can then use ex. httpd.exe -k start -n "Apache2.4" to start the Apache service once it is installed (as needed) from the same window.

Caveats

• To avoid issues, you should always use Apach2.4 as the service name unless you have a compelling reason not to.

• You may need to stop any prior Apache service with ex. httpd.exe -k stop -n "Apache2.4".

• You should be able to uninstall an Apache service with ex. httpd.exe -k uninstall -n "Apache2.4".

For further information, see Using Apache HTTP Server on Microsoft Windows.