philipe3

Yes, Virtual host. See https://forum.wampserver.com/read.php?2,127757

And from the “Instructions for use” pdf or also called the “Operations Manual” in the right click on the menu tray icon:

(*) VirtualHost
You can see that “localhost” is defined as VirtualHost. Why?
Because, even if you are not aware of it, for all hosts, the sites are in VirtualHost. You don’t see it and don’t know it because these
VirtualHost existed before you installed your website there and it was the host who took care of their creation.
To avoid any problem, it must be the same locally, you must use VirtualHost for your local sites, even for a local transfer of an existing site
already with a host.
If you want to install, locally, CMS such as WordPress or Joomla or any other WEB application, the installation folder and VirtualHost must
exist BEFORE installing the CMS or WEB application.
See: THE NEED for VIRTUALHOST https://forum.wampserver.com/read.php?2,127757
And: WAMPServer 3 Create a Virtual Host, the easy way https://forum.wampserver.com/read.php?2,146746

I think Virtual host refers more to the process and structure than the host name.

But thanks anyway. I finally figured it out with much guessing, trial and error and frustration. I finally turned off all browser checks for cookies, security and privacy. All of them. I was then able to access https://localhost/wordpress though without a valid secure connection (my certificate is rubbish, but works through the mill, yet returns that it is not registered of course). I got a hint at this when thinking through the clean install Firefox browser logs.

Now on to creating the site! Again, thank you. I will try to write up my travails and post them as a lessons’ learned guide.

Philip