If mod_rewrite module is not enabled on xammp do the following.

Also to note this procedure should be the same for many other modules.

1. Edit the httpd.conf that is located in ..\xampp\apache\conf
2. Search for "mod_rewrite". You should come to a line like this
   
   #LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
    
3. Remove the hash sign (#) from the line. The # indicates the line is not in effect. The changed line should looks like this:
   
   LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
    
4. Stop and restart Apache if required