SOLUTION # 1 (IF YOU WANT TO EDIT XML FILE)
I would like you to download Magento 2 zip from magentocommerce.com/download, create new db in phpmyadmin, extract zip in htdocs folder. Install Magento 2 but do not use localhost use 127.0.0.1 in store URL and admin URL. After successful installation DO NOT run magento.
Now we are going to clear / delete caches and sessions of Magento 2. Go to following paths and delete everything:
ROOT > var > cache > *DELETE ALL*
ROOT > var > page_cache > *DELETE ALL*
ROOT > var > session > *DELETE ALL*
When Magento 2 is not in production mode, it will try to create symlinks for some static resources on local server. We have to change that behavior of Magento 2 by going to edit ROOT > app > etc > di.xml file. Open up di.xml in your favorite code editor, find the virtualType name="developerMaterialization" section. In that section below, you will find an item <item name="view_preprocessed" xsi:type="object"> which needs to be modified. You can modify it by changing the following content:
Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Symlink
To:
Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Copy
Now last step, also delete old files generated in ROOT > pub > static > DELETE ALL EXCEPT .HTACCESS
I personally tried it on my localhost using MAMP, EasyPHP DevServer, Xampp and Wampp and successfully installed and using Magento 2.
For further you can check out this link:
Magento 2 CSS and JavaScript not loading from correct folder
SOLUTION # 2
Install Composer. Now I would like you to download Magento 2 zip from magentocommerce.com/download, create new db in phpmyadmin, extract zip in htdocs folder. Install Magento 2 but do not use localhost use 127.0.0.1 in store URL and admin URL. After successful installation DO NOT run magento.
Now we are going to verify Composer installation, Deploy static content, clear / flush Magento cache and reindex the Magento 2 blocks. To perform all above actions, press WINDOWS KEY + R to open RUN dialog and type “cmd” to open Command Prompt.
Type “cd PATH_TO_YOUR_MAGENTO2_FILES” to enter in Magento 2 ROOT directory.
Now to verify Composer installation in above directory, type “composer install”.
If you get any error in this step, please check your Composer
installation
In this step, we are setting up static content to deploy on our Magento store. To perform this, type “php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy”.
If you get any error, check your PHP.EXE and PHP.INI Environment
Variable
Clear / Flush Magento cache by typing “php bin/magento cache:flush” in CMD.
And finally, to Reindex Magento Static Blocks type “php bin/magento indexer:reindex”.
You are done with successful installation of Magento 2.
Best Answer
OSX comes with a version of PHP installed, which can break things.
php --inican tell you if you're running the OSX version of PHP, or the MAMP version of PHP.You can also do
php --infoto double check the PHP version you're running.MAMP comes with several versions of PHP, so you may also need to go into MAMP settings and change to a newer version of PHP.
Also see: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4145667/how-to-override-the-path-of-php-to-use-the-mamp-path