launchctl: Error unloading: org.apache.httpd

Solution 1:

launchctl: is shown because apachectl is using launchd's control script, launchctl, to start and stop Apache.

Error unloading means the given daemon/service of launchd can not be stopped. This usually happens if the given daemon is already stopped.

org.apache.httpd is the name of the plist file defining how httpd is run by launchd. If you are curious the actual plist is at

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

If the server is merely off just use:

sudo apachectl start

to get it running again.

Otherwise I would check system.log (you can use Console.app) and see if there are any, more informative, error messages.

try running the following command to see more verbosely what errors you're getting

sudo bash -x /usr/sbin/apachectl -k stop