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Commonissuesonrestoredsitesandhowtosolvethem
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yourrestoredsite

Commonissuesonrestoredsitesandhowtosolvethem
Youhavetomakesurethattherearenosettingstransferredinfilesfromyouroldserverwhicharenotcompatiblewith
yournewhost.Themostnotableculpritsare .htaccess andlocal php.ini directives.

IfyoursitewasusingAdminTools'.htaccessMaker
IfyouhaveusedAdminTools'.htaccessMakerpleaserememberthatafterrestoringthesitetoadifferentlocationyou
willneedtoreconfigureandcreateanew.htaccess.Logintothebackendofyoursite,gotoComponents,AdminTools,
.htaccessMaker,thenchangethedomainanddirectorynamesatthebottomofthepageandfinallyclickonSave&
Create.htaccess.Thisismandatory,everytimeyoumoveyoursitetoadifferenthost,domainname,subdomainor
directory.

Ican'tlogintomysiteafterIrestoredittoanewlocation
ThisisaverycommonmistakewithJoomla!1.6/1.7andlaterversions.Whatyouprobablynotrememberisthatyou
modifiedthecookiesetupparametersinyoursite'sGlobalConfigurationpage.Thethingis,ifyoumodifythecookie
domainnameand/orpath,it'sverylikelythatyouwillnolongerbeabletologintoyoursiteifthedomainname,
OK, got it!
We use cookies to
subdomainordirectorychangesexactlywhathappenswhenyourestoreasitetoanywhereexceptitsoriginallocation!
ensure you get the
Luckily,theworkaroundisverysimple.Pleaseeditthe
configuration.php fileintherootofyoursiteandfindthelines
best experience on
startingwith
public$cookie_domain
and public$cookie_path .Modifythemsothattheyread:
our website
- show

more information

public$cookie_domain=''
public$cookie_path=''

Savethefile,clearyourbrowser'scookiesandcache,quitandrestartyourbrowserandtryloggingintoyoursite.You
shouldbeabletologinwithoutanyproblemnow.
Anotherthingthatyoushouldbeawareofisthatthesameproblemcouldbecausedbyyour.htaccessfile.It'salwaysa
goodideatoatleasttemporarilyrename.htaccesstosomethingelse(e.g.htaccess.bak)whenyou'retryingto
troubleshootaloginissue.A.htaccessfilemaydefineredirectionswhichgetinthewayduringlogin.

Tip
SinceAkeebaBackup3.4.a1youcanchangetheseparameterswhenrestoringyoursite.Weadvisetoclear
(deletethecontentsof)thesesettingsonmostservers.Infact,ifyouneedtosetthemtosomethingother
thanblank(blankmeans"Joomla!,figureitoutyourself")youwouldhavealreadyknownwhattosetthemto
andwhyyouneedtodothat.

Icannotloginormysitecrasheswithablankpage/InternalServerError500pageassoonasItry
accessingit
Thereisonemorethingwhichhastodowithyourcachingandsessionstorageoptionsinyoursite's
configuration.php file.Ifyouareusingapc,memcache,memcachedandsoonitispossiblethatthesearenot
supportedbyyournewhost.Justtobeonthesafeside,edityour configuration.php fileandchangethefollowing
linestoread:
public$cache_handler='file'
public$caching='0'
public$session_handler='database'

Thefirsttwolinessetthecachehandlertousefilesanddisablescachingwhichaddressesblankpage/500errorwhen
accessingyoursite.Thelatterlinesetsthesessionhandlertothedefault(database)whichaddressesloginissues.

PHPmemoryissues
Ifyouarerestoringtoalocalserver,pleasemakesurethatyourPHPmemorylimitisadequatelyhigh.Onsomelocal
hoststhedefaultsettingis8Mb,whichistoolowforJoomla!.Youcandeterminethisbeeditingyourlocalserver's
php.ini file.Lookforthisline:
memory_limit=8M

Changeitsothatitreads:
memory_limit=64M

Ifyouareonalivehost,pleaseaskyourhostandmakesurethatyourPHPmemorylimitisatleast32M.Ifit'snot,ask
yourhostfortheproperwaytoincreaseit.

.htaccessdirectives
Lookinyoursite's.htaccessfilefordirectivessuchas php_value , php_flag and AddHandler .Trycommenting
themout(puttingahashinfrontoftheline)toseeifithelps.
Usuallytheyhaveaformatlikethis:
AddHandlerapplication/xhttpdphp5.php

Youmostprobablyhavetoremovethoselinesbeginningwith AddHandler ,especiallyifyourproblemisthatyougeta

Youmostprobablyhavetoremovethoselinesbeginningwith AddHandler ,especiallyifyourproblemisthatyougeta

bunchofcode,orthewebbrowserofferstodownloadindex.php,insteadofyoursite'sfrontpage.Youmostcertainly
havetoremovesuchlinesifyouarerestoringonalocalserver.
Youshouldalsotrycommentingoutlines(byplacingasingle#characterinfrontofthem)whichlooksuspicioustoyou,
becauseanyofthosedirectivesmaycausetrouble.Ifindoubt,getafreshJoomla!package,extractthe htaccess.txt
filefromit,renameitto .htaccess anduploadittoyourhost.

Redirectionsin.htaccess
Checkifyouhaveredirectionsinyour .htaccess file,forexampledirectingalltraffictothewwwprefixedsiteortoa
specificdomain,e.g.alltrafficto www.example.com ,evenifitreferenced example.com or example.net intheURL.
Suchproblemsareeasytospotbecauseyouhaveputthiscodeinthe .htaccess fileandyoushouldknowaboutwhat
itdoes.Justremoveitorcommentitout.

RewriteBasein.htaccess
Anotherthingyoushouldlookintoisthe RewriteBase line.Normally,youneedsomething RewriteBase/ ifyoursite
isontherootofthedomain,or RewriteBase/mydirectory ifit'sinsideadirectorynamed mydirectory .
Youshouldnotethatsomeserversdonotaccept .htaccess .Puttingsuchafileonyoursite'srootwillmakethe
serverthrowanHTTPError500:InternalServerErrorassoonasyoutrytoaccessyourserver.Ifthishappens,you
needtohavealittlechatwithyourhost.

EnablingApache'smod_rewrite
Ifyouarerestoringonalocalhost,youhavetomakesurethatyourserverisloadingthemod_rewritemodule,otherwise
youwillmostassuredlygetablankpageora500InternalServerError.
IfyouareusingWAMPserveronWindowsyoumustnotethatmod_rewriteisnotloadedbydefault.Inordertoenableit,
youhavetoclickonWAMPserver'strayicon,Apache,ModulesandmakesurethatRewriteischecked.Ifnot,clickon
itandwaitfortheservertorestart.ThisisrequiredonlythefirsttimeyourestoretoaWAMPserverinstallationandonly
ifyouhaveSEFURLsturnedonandyouareusingJoomla!'s .htaccess file.
Otherlocalservers,likeXAMPP,alsocomewiththemod_rewriteApachemoduledisabled.Theseserversrequireyou
toeditthe httpd.conf orrunothersystemcommands.Pleaseconsultyourserverpackage'sdocumentationformore
informationonenablingmod_rewrite.
SomelivehostsalsodonothaveApache'smod_rewriteenabled.IftryingtouseJoomla!'sstockhtaccess.txtrenamed
to.htaccesscausesanimmediateblankpageorInternalServerError500pageonyoursite,pleaseconsultyourhost.
Wecannothelpyouwiththat.It'salluptoyourhost.

SpecialnoteforGoDaddyusers
GoDaddyuserswillfindoutthatthe .htaccess changesneed1030minutestotakeeffect.Thisisalimitationofyour
host.Normally,thesechangesshouldtakeeffectimmediately,ashappenswithprettymucheveryotherhostincluding
localinstallations.YoucanfeelfreetowriteanemailtoGoDaddyandurgethemtofixthisbrokenbehavior.Please
don'twritetousclaimingthatchangingthe .htaccess bearsnoresult.Weknow!Youjusthavetowait...andwait...
andwaitsomemore.Wecan'tfixtheirbrokenserversandweareasmuchfrustratedwiththeirserviceasyouare.

The$live_sitevariableinconfiguration.php
SometimesyoumightbegettingURLerrors.Forexample,thefirstpagemightdisplaybutclickingonanylinkreturnsa
404error,whilesomeothertimesthefirstpagedisplaysveryweird,liketheCSSandimagesarenotloading.Bothof
thoseissueshavenothingtodowiththerestorationitself,butyourserversetupandaclashwithhowJoomla!works.
Theeasiestwaytoworkarounditisusingthe $live_site variableinyourconfiguration.phpfile,ifyouhaven'talready
setitupinABI'sSiteSetuppage.Editthe configuration.php fileintherootofyoursiteandmodifyitsothattheline
startingwithvar $live_site lookslikethis:

public$live_site="http://www.mysite.com"

or(ifyouhaveinstalledinasubdirectory):
public$live_site="http://www.mysite.com/mypath"

ThiswillletJoomla!figureoutthecorrectURLstoyoursite'sCSSfiles,imagesandlinksandtheseerrorswillgoaway.
Ifyourestoredtoaserverwhichrequiredthe $live_site hack,nexttimedoyourselfafavour:useABI'sfeaturefor
changingthe $live_site variable.Itisavailableinthesecondtolaststepoftherestorationprocedure,justunderthe
textboxeswhereyoudefineyoursite'snameandemaildetails.

RedirectionandSEFcomponentsandplugins
Sometimesrestoredwebsitesredirecttotheoriginalsiteevenwhenthereisnosuchparameterin.htaccessand
$live_siteiscorrectysetintheconfiguration.php.Inthiscase,pleasecheckifyouhaveanySEForredirectionplugins
installed,includinganypluginswhichmightberedirectingnonSSLtoSSLURLsorviceversa.Manysuchpluginsand
componentsstoreabsoluteURLs(URLswhichincludethedomainname)causingwrongredirections.Ifthisisnotthe
case,readfurtherdownthispage.

Problemswithphp.ini
Ifnoneofthishelps,lookforafilenamed php.ini insideyoursite'sroot.Ifitexists,tryrenamingitto php.ini.bak
andretryloadingyoursite.Alsodothesamethinginyoursite'sadministratordirectory.

Thirdpartycomponentswithabsolutepaths/URLs
Asasidenote,wemightalsoaddthatsomethirdpartycomponents,suchasDOCman1.4.xandVirtueMart1.x,store
absolutepathsintheirconfigurationfiles.Ifyourestoredtoadifferentlocation/serverthantheoneyouoriginallyhad
thesiteyoubackedup,tryingtoaccessyournewwebsite'spublicfrontendmightresultinblankpagesorHTTPError
500.Youwillhavetoedittheconfigurationofthosecomponentsandensurethatyouhavechangedthepathstoreflect
thecorrectpathsonyournewserver/location.SpecialnotesforVirtueMartareavailableinthepreviouspageofthis
troubleshooter.
Someothersoftwarestorethedatabasetableprefixofyoursiteintheirconfiguration.Forinstance,SQL2Excelstores
thedatabasetableprefixofyoursiteinsidetheSQLqueriesattachedtoeachworksheet.Ifyouchangedthedatabase
tableprefixwhenrestoringthesiteyoualsohavetochangetheseSQLqueries.Ifunsure,askthedeveloperofthat
specificsoftware.Wecan'tknowhowall6,000+Joomla!extensionslistedontheJoomla!ExtensionsDirectorywork.
Wecanonlyprovidesupportforourownsoftware.
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CommonissuesonrestoredsitesduetoPHP
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