When I say ‘subdomain’ I am talking about the part that comes before the actual domain.

So the subdomain in this URL log.sbond.co is the part that says log.

You can use subdomains to redirect to a different server which can show different content, but in this post, you will learn how to make a subdomain redirect to a directory in your site. This method will also make the subdomain stay in the address bar.

Before we modify any files in your Apache Web Server, we are going to go to your DNS Records page.

You will want to make a new CNAME record.

Name it what you want your subdomain to be named & change the value to your domain (without subdomain in it).

Note: This step isn’t necessary if you aren’t trying to access the site from the server hosting the site.

Find your hosts file. This should be located here:

# Windows
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

# Linux
/etc/hosts

At the bottom of the hosts file add this, changing the domain to the one you are adding:

127.0.0.1 subdomain.domain.com

With that done, you can save the file and exit it. (If you are unable to save the file, copy it to your desktop, edit it again and save it there. Then move it back and replace the old file with the new one or open your text editor with admin privileges)

Go to where you installed Apache/XAMPP & find the httpd-vhosts.conf. It will be in conf\extra and will look like this on XAMPP:

C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra

Open it up and Copy the code below and paste it at the bottom of the config file.

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerAdmin [email protected]
  DocumentRoot "C:/xampp7/htdocs/"
  ServerName domain.com
  ErrorLog "logs/domain.com-error.log"
  CustomLog "logs/domain.com-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

With the code above pasted at the bottom of the config, you can start editing it.

First, change all domain.com lines of text to your actual domain name.

Second, change the DocumentRoot to the root of your websites directory (NOT THE DIRECTORY FOR YOUR SUBDOMAIN TO POINT TO).

With all of that done, copy and paste your final code below each other.

With the ***second block of code, *** add the subdomain in front of the domain name & change the DocumentRoot to the folder you want the subdomain to point to.

Your config file should look something like this when you are done:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp7/htdocs/"
    ServerName sbond.co
    ErrorLog "logs/sbond.co-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/sbond.co-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp7/htdocs/log"
    ServerName log.sbond.co
    ErrorLog "logs/log.sbond.co-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/log.sbond.co-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

With everything above completed correctly, you are ready to go.