Question: help me resolve this error in apache

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

error:

There are processes named 'apache2' running which do not match your pid file which are left untouched in the name of safety, Please review the situation by hand.

thanks

Answer: 
Before killing the process, maybe, you would like to check if the pid file path set in 

> 
> /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
> 
> 
> 

equals the one stated in APACHE\_PID\_FILE environment variable exported in the :

> 
> /etc/apache2/envvars
> 
> 
> 

file.

Saving a process snapshot before proceeding to kill, would be helpful :

```
# top -b -n1 > /tmp/process.log

```

Then get the pid of apache2 with :

```
pidof apache2

```

It output the related processes id(s) e.g 4920 4919. Then kill them with :

```
sudo kill -9 pid

```

replacing pid with the process id(s) you got from the previous output.

Finally restart Apache 2 server :

```
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

```

Next time would be helpful letting others know basic things about your OS distro etc.

Hope it helps someone.
none of these answers worked.. this did

```
kill -9 $(pidof apache2)

```