Apache httpd does not start with error "DocumentRoot must be a directory"

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • Apache webserver fails to start on booting, as well as with service httpd restart, with the following error:
# service httpd start 
Starting httpd: Warning: DocumentRoot [/xxx/yyy] does not exist 
Syntax error on line 287 of /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf: 
DocumentRoot must be a directory 
                                                               [FAILED] 

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • httpd Apache Web Server

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