wp-admin login does not go to dashboard on localhost

Question:

I recently created a localhost version of W Pon Windows 7 for development purposes:
Using MySQL 5.7.17 which was already installed
Installed Apache 2.4.25 in the root C:\Apache24.
Installed PHP 7.1.3 at C:\PHP and checked for proper function
Installed WordPress 4.7.3 at C:\Apache24\htdocs\wp and generated wp-config.php appropriately.
Logged in to WP for the first time and allowed it to configure the database, etc.

Problem is when I login using http://localhost/wp/wp-login.php in Firefox or IE, I get the normal login screen, enter the correct credentials, and it redirects to view the localhost/wp/wp-admin directory contents. I then need to click on index.php to get to the dashboard.

When I enter http://locahost/wp in the browser, I get the directory contents for C:\Apache24\htdocs\wp.

I have tried all the recommendations at https://codex.wordpress.org/Login_Trouble, but to no avail.

The problem is probably something simple, but I am just not seeing it.

I appreciate any help!
Thanks… LTWert

Answer:

Check your .htaccess file in the WP root. Does it’s access rights allow WP to update it?
A typical WordPress standard section in this file looks like this:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

I.e. also check that mod_rewrite is active in your install. En easy way to check that is by running phpinfo()