Trouble installing Joomla Topic is solved

[DKSharman]

I've installed Joomla 3 several times and never had a problem before. This time, I'm missing something. It's my office server so I'm not going via a remote control panel.

1. I created a virtual host, running on Alma 8 (latest update). I have a MySQL server working with phpBB on a different virtual host on the same machine.
2. I created a folder called test on /var/www.
3. I unpacked all the files (as I have done many times before) to the /var/www/test folder.
4. I fire up the browser and enter http://test.mydomain.com and I get the test page.
5. I chmoded chmod -R 755 /var/www/test - no change only the test page
6. I changed this to 777. - no change
7. chown -R apache:apache /var/www/test - no change.

What am I doing wrong?

[Webdongle]

What test page?

[DKSharman]

The Apache test page (and I forgot to mention It's on my office DNS servers. I'm trying to develop a site for a friend. It's a long time since I worked with Joomla and I'm 83, so maybe not quite as sharp as I used to be.

[DKSharman]

I am just thinking. It is an in-house server, my domain has a Let'sEncrypt certificate as does my phpBB site, but this one isn't connected to the outside world. Don't tell me that Joomla is so short-sighted they won't allow in-house installation without an SSL Certificate

[gws]

You do not need an ssl cert to install joomla. Have you considered Wampserver?

[DKSharman]

Why would I want a Wamp server, when I have 3 Proliant servers in the room next door with VMware running on each one?

[gws]

Because it is easy to change permissions,php,mysql on the fly without risk of upsetting a live server,and its free.

[Webdongle]

So your subdomain is mapped to the the main /www folder?

[DKSharman]

Okay, here we go. Many years ago I got a domain name and it was hosted by a hosting company in Canada (and still is). The trouble was I needed security and you don't get that on a hosted server. So, I created a subdomain. office.MydomainName.com. This is hosted on MY servers. My MX record for mail to MyDomain.com is pointed to my mail server here. I have an OPNSense firewall and I have a phpBB system also. When my wife and I were younger we used to develop websites here on these servers and then simply port them to the user's site when finished.

It's not like I've never done this before. The last time I set up a Joomla website was in 2006, (on these very same servers) It's always worked out of the box.

If no one can help me, please say, "we can't help you" and I can start looking for alternative solutions.

[Webdongle]

Without understanding your setup it is doubtful that I can help. But if I can get my head around your custom setup it might be possible. It sounds like a path issue to me. Your steps #3 and #4 seems strange to say it's Joomla if you can't reach the installation. Perhaps start with basics, create a test.html, put it in the folder and point your browser at it. If the test.html can not be reached then you have a path issue.

[DKSharman]

I created a test.html and put it into the /var/www/test folder
I entered the URL yesy.mydomainname.com/test.html and it worked fine.
backspace over the test.html and I get the Apache test page

Everything is owned by Apache and everything 777.

It's either permissions or ownership, NOT path

[Webdongle]

Try a test.php
or/and
Put Joomla in /var/www/test folder not the /var/www/test folder

[gws]

Is the apache test page index.html? if so delete or rename it as that will prevent the joomla php from showing.

[Webdongle]

Is the apache test page index.html? if so delete or rename it as that will prevent the joomla php from showing.

Or edit the .htaccess to read the php first.
Putting Joomla in a folder under var/www is cleaner because if you decide to install another instance of Joomla you don't have to nest it

[DKSharman]

Oh dear, and here I thought I managed it.
I thought I'd made a mistake because when I tried to log in it told me "Wrong username or password."
So, Thinking I'd boobed, I trashed the entire thing and dropped the Joomla.jb database it had created and started over from scratch. This time when It asked me for the real name of the super user. I put in my real name.\ and put it on a sticky note.
Then It wanted a name for the superUser. I guessed it was to get away from the Administrator. Good idea. so I put in a new made-up name and wrote it on a sticky note to be sure I didn't forget.
I created the Superuser password. This time I wrote it on the sticky note and cut and pasted it into the field.
No problem
However, after the install completed. Despite putting in the correct Superuser name and password cut and pasted from the sticky it still tells me it's the incorrect username and password.

I think Linux purveyors and the people who write software for it are trying to make it so difficult to use, everyone flocks back to good old Microsoft.

The damn scroll bars on all the new versions are so thin, that older people who wear specs have one hell of a problem moving around and now we make the software so [ redacted ] complex that you can't get into it, (But it doesn't stop the hackers!)

[toivo]

Please post the results from the Forum Post Assistant (FPA) by following the instructions at https://forumpostassistant.github.io/docs/ so that the configuration can be reviewed.

[Webdongle]

OK so it sounds like you got it working? How did you manage that?
https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F for recovering from lost password

[DKSharman]

A friend of mine who has several successful online shops told me I was wasting my time with Joomla and I should move to WordPress.

I ignored him because we did a lot of successful websites with Joomla 2 and 3 and never had a problem. After five attempts, all were successful, every time I tried to log in, even cutting and pasting, I got the same error, Incorrect username or password.

Eventually, I gave up. Not to be outdone, I restored the previous day's backup of my Alma Linux box and downloaded Joomla 4. Oh wow, this time it installed without a problem, I typed in my SuperUser name and password and then it dawned on me why my friend had suggested I move to WordPress.

After a successful login, I got a blank White screen with a black bar across the stop and the word CASSIOPEIA

Under that The word Home, Under that Main Menu, not even a vestige of anything helpful. I find it hard to believe that developers can make such an appalling mess of a perfectly good working program. It's a JOKE.

Now all I need is a long diatribe telling me I should use a different version of Linux (or XAMP) or a different browser, or that I'm an idiot and don't have a clue what I'm doing. I'm not holding my breath waiting for anything helpful. YOU MESSED IT UP!

[ceford]

After a successful login, I got a blank White screen with a black bar across the stop and the word CASSIOPEIA

Under that The word Home, Under that Main Menu, not even a vestige of anything helpful. I find it hard to believe that developers can make such an appalling mess of a perfectly good working program. It's a JOKE.

Cassiopeia is the frontend template - so you were looking at the default Home page of a completely empty site.

Add /administrator/ to your url to go to the Administrator interface to start creating content.

A bit of reading would help:

https://jdocmanual.org/jdocmanual?manua ... -joomla.md

[JAVesey]

Under that The word Home, Under that Main Menu, not even a vestige of anything helpful. I find it hard to believe that developers can make such an appalling mess of a perfectly good working program. It's a JOKE.

Now all I need is a long diatribe telling me I should use a different version of Linux (or XAMP) or a different browser, or that I'm an idiot and don't have a clue what I'm doing. I'm not holding my breath waiting for anything helpful. YOU MESSED IT UP!

No.

Your “issues” are caused by a lack of understanding. Take a deep breath…

• Make sure that you have chosen a a default menu item to be your homepage.
  Set that default menu item to point to some content that you have on your site.

As @ceford has pointed out, you’re looking at an empty front page whilst using the default Casseopeia template. It is empty because the “home” menu item doesn’t actually have anything to display.

Set the “home” menu item to be “featured articles”, then create a test article and set it to be “featured”. It will them show on your homepage.

We’re here to help you

[toivo]

Under that The word Home, Under that Main Menu, not even a vestige of anything helpful.

It sounds like you are browsing the front end of a standard Joomla 4 installation. Go to the back end and install a few third party extensions from https://extensions.joomla.org and see in practice how flexibile the Joomla CMS can be.

If you would like to get instant examples of articles and menus, go to the Home Dashboard in the backend of Joomla, scroll down to Sample Data and click the Install button next to 'Blog Sample Data'.

A lot depends on your expectations. Alternatively, find a website of one of the Joomla template developers, download a so called quickstart package and copy it into a different virtual host in your server. The installation is expected to produce a working website with some demo content and a few third party extensions for testing and learning use.

[DKSharman]

Jawelnofine. After installation, I have the option to log in. It takes me to the blank page. I've clicked on everything clickable, NOTHING comes up. I have no idea if I'm in the front end or the back end. In the back end, I would expect to see something vaguely reminiscent of Joomla 3, so I must be in the front end. If I can't get into the back end how can I do ANYTHING other than stare at a blank page? Joomla 3 was pretty much intuitive, so far Joomla 4 is anything but intuitive.

Just to help out the doddering old fool. Tell me step by step how to get OUT of a blank page. There's nothing to click that does anything. If I try to log out I get an error message. If I try to log in as anyone else it tells me to get lost. I have to be honest compared to Joomla 3 I'm very underawed.

[toivo]

The backend is at http://your-domain-name/administrator, the same as before in Joomla 3.

The FPA results would help us understand the configuration and advise you better.

[DKSharman]

Are we speaking the same language here? Maybe I'm on another planet. I installed Joomla 5, It asks me for the name of the SuperUser. I entered Wolff1965.
I cut and pasted it to a sticky note. It asked me for a password I entered an 18-character password mixed upper, lower, numbers, #@% and copied and pasted this to the clipboard.
Installation finished I go to the https://xyzzy.myDomain.com/administrator and try to login with my SuperUser name and it REJECTS IT.

Yeah sure a doddering old idiot like me can make typos, but I cut and paste it from the clipboard and the result is exactly the same.

Im thinking of deleting the entire thing and trying Wordpress unless someone can come up with an answer.

[ceford]

Copy / paste from an editor sometimes copies more than you think - white space or formatting at the beginning and or end of the copied item. Did you 'see' the copied password when you pasted it into Joomla?

Delete your site files, empty your database and install it again. It takes 5 minutes - I do it often with lots of different test sites. The last installation page also gives you the option to go directly to the Adminisrator interface.

In addition to the standard admin password recovery methods, there are other tricks you can use to access a site where you don't know the credentials but have access to the file system and database.

[DKSharman]

Great advice. I deleted everything and installed WordPress.

A perfectly good, easy-to-use product RUINED. There are dozens of the same complaints all over the web and not one of the developers has tried to fix it.

IMO Joomla 5 is a DISGRACE. It should still be In Beta

[toivo]

That is a pity. You are entitled to your opinion, of course.

If you copied and pasted both the username and password - ctrl-C and ctrl-V, there was no chance that the entries were incorrect. However, there was a recent topic in this forum, special character / symbols in passwords, according to which @ ^ + ~ “ ‘ / \ | . > , < and spaces are not accepted in password.

The above topic refers to a bug, submitted in September 2023 to the Joomla! Issue Tracker, [#41552] - [4] Password Symbols.

If you would like to set up a new Super User account, follow the instructions in this tutorial: How do you recover or reset your admin password?

[Webdongle]

...
If you copied and pasted both the username and password - ctrl-C and ctrl-V, there was no chance that the entries were incorrect. ...

Did you mean ctrl+shift+v ?

[toivo]

@Webdongle, no - just ctrl-C and ctrl-V, no shift.

[Webdongle]

And that pastes unformatted text?