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Just installed a fresh copy of Joomla 1.0 (congrats to the developers for getting that out!) on a Windows/Apache/MySQL/PHP computer.  The installation proceeded without errors and the site appears to be working, but I'm unable to login as admin to the administrator pages.  However, I can login as admin to the main part of the site.  Hence, the password seems to be correct.

I found a post here that mentioned a problem with the tmp directory and admin login.  So I added tmp directories all over the place (in the Joomla root, in c:\, in C:\HTML\joomla\administrator), but it did not make a difference.

I also used phpMyAdmin to make sure my admin password was correct.

My main, production sites for Joomla/Mambo run on Linux, but it should run on Windows, too.  Right?

Thanks for any insights.

Jeremy

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Jeremy Butler
http://www.ScreenSite.org
http://www.TVCrit.com

I have this same problem, however, I am running on Windows with IIS with PHP and MySQL.  The "normal" interface works fine, I can log in as Admin there... but when I go to the Administrator login (Main Admin), I enter the username and password, and it just blanks and redisplays the login screen.  I installed on Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP and, of course, it works fine.  However, our "production server" is a Windows Box with IIS (don't blame me, blame the employer!)  Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated!

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- Dr. Bill
Dr. Bill Bailey.NET

I have a similar problem on my newly uploaded live site. For some reason Some logins don't work using IE. It's only when I use Firefox that a user can publish content.

I tried Firefox and IE, but no joy on logging in to the Admin interface.  (The Main one, the "frontpage" login works fine.)

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- Dr. Bill
Dr. Bill Bailey.NET

Wow. I'm having the same problem. I have tried all the fixes I've found so far in the forums (/tmp folder fix, Super Administrator to superadministrator in the MySQL table, complete reinstall) - nothing works. I'm in the same boat as you here. I can login using my correct information if I submit it via the forms on the actual joomla default site (what you call the "frontpage"), but if I go to the admin login site, I simply get redirected back to the same page, as if I had never tried to login.

If I put in a bogus username or pw, it pops up telling me so. When entering the correct information, I can tell it's processing something and barfing somewhere along the line. Apache logs no problems, PHP logs no problems, and I even went into my configuration.php and turned on  logging and debug information to show. That information will show at the bottom of site pages, but not on the admin login screen unfortunately.

At best glimpse, I can see that from the login page (administrator/index.php) it then goes to index2.php right before dropping me back to index.php. I've opened and attempted to edit either of these index*.php files, but nothing appears to be flawed in them (to my limited knowledge of PHP).

I am running Apache 2.0.54 with PHP 5.10PC1 on WinXP Pro, as well as MySQL 5.1.14.

I just upgraded from Mambo 4.5.2.3stable (i've just been recently introduced to this CMS, and have been playing around with it in development, but will later be hosting it from this same machine).

The baffling part is that I previously had Mambo 4.5.2.3 running perfectly on the most recent release of EasyPHP. EasyPHP came with PHP 4.something, Apache, and a lite version of MySQL with phpmyadmin. It gave me problems with some other packages I wanted to run, and would only let me access everything from inside (localhost only), so I dumped it and "rolled my own" server package. It was painful, but I learned plenty. All my other packages work perfectly now, except for Mambo/Joomla. I figured upgrading to Joomla 1.01 would possibly have a fix for what ails me, but apparently the error lies elsewhere.

Upon deleting configuration.php and restoring the /installation directory, *every single item* that the first page looks for checks out perfectly, all green. In continuing through the initial setup, no problems are encountered ever. I create my login, verify that it is typed correctly, and then proceed to the admin login page. Then I get the "admin login loop" error, as it has been dubbed in other posts.

Can anyone shed some light on this problem that I and others are having with the admin login? Thanks in advance. I can provide any other information if needed for troubleshooting.

I'm in a similar boat, setting up a site locally, but using MSAS. Exactly the same problem started happening to me, the 'login loop' but only after installing ZoneAlarm Security Suite tonight. Is that the common denominator here? I've been through the ZoneAlarm forums where there are similar stories about problems with cookies being rejected when localhost is the server. No answers there though, other than running it from 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost. I still get bounced back to the login screen when trying that.

I have to wonder about ZoneAlarm Suite myself, but I personally can say it should not be the culprit (if properly configured).

I say this because my previous configuration using EasyPHP as a server setup worked fine - and I had the exact same ZASuite and ZASuite configuration at that time, when the admin login worked just fine. My problem at that point was that everything was ONLY viewable internally (as localhost), and would simply not show anything to the outside world. Instead I rolled my own Apache/PHP/MySQL/phpmyadmin setup, and everything has worked like a dream.

On this same setup, I run WordPress, Gallery2, eGroupware, and some other non-php pages. Every single page works flawlessly using my current setup, with the exception of the admin login in mambo and joomla (I switched up to a pure, fresh Joomla 1.01 install locally thinking it would fix the problem; it didn't. See my above post for details about that).

The question remains though - can anyone shed some light on this problem? I have spent countless hours trying all the fixes on the forums and verifying line-by-line my config files for both the server and php. Joomla installs fine, and checks out as OK on all facets that it checks before installing. Thanks for helping out, guys. Any suggestions are appreciated.

-Mark

If anyone has found a solution to this I would love to hear it.

I did fresh install of Joomla 1.0.2 + Apache + MySQL + PHP + Win Server2k3. I'm experiencing the same symptoms.

PHP 5.x and MySQL 5.x have multiple compatibility problems with existing applications (not just Joomla).
If you want to run those versions, be prepared to spend time in the PHP and MySQL forums sorting-out the issues.
And perhaps hacking the code to work with these newer versions.

First try running with PHP 4.3.11 or 4.4.0. and MySQL 4.0 or 4.1.
Then if you have some need for the more recent versions, upgrade.
Upgrade after spending the time to become familiar with all the incompatibilities.
These are listed on the PHP and the MySQL web sites.


I run multiple web sites on WinXP with Apache 2.0.52, PHP 4.3.11 and MySQL 4.0.xx - all on a local PC/server.
Just checked - 12 virtual servers in Apache currently.
Joomla 1.0.2, Mambo 4.5.2.x - installed and work flawlessly.
Mambo 4.5.3CVS from 8-11-2005 - installed fine, has the known issues of the dev branch.

It is not always the best policy to install the newest server applications.
Note: Security updates are not included in this.
Until your applications actually need the new features, the newer server apps may just cause unneeded grief.

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Eric,

See this other thread where I ended up posting the results that - at least for me - ended up solving things

http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic ... l#msg66478

It amounted to deleting my php.ini and totally recreating it, because for some reason the sessions were just not operating like they should. I see you're a new user too; try using the search tool and digging around what's already been posted. First, it often helps, and second, you'll avoid drawing the wrath of the veteran users (I know, I've been yelled at before for not searching before asking!). Best of luck in troubleshooting.

-Mark

Thanks for the info....but....

I have moved back to PHP4. Everything else seems to be working fine. I even see session data showing up as I attempt to login. Just does not want to pass me beyond the admin login page.

I've done the simple things like delete cookies and cache....still nothing.

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I should have mentioned these details before:

  OS: trying both Win2k Pro and Win2k3 Server
  Apache: 2.0.54
  PHP: 4.4
  MySQL: 4.1

I found a solution that works for me.

I've made one single change to php.ini that worked on two different systems:
  -Win2k3 Server w/PHP5
  -Win2k w/PHP4.4

Everything else being equal;  Apache 2, MySQL 4, Joomla 1.0.2 distro.

This line in php.ini, as shown with the default value:
session.cookie_path = \

changed this to (and I read through a mountain of discussion at the mambo site + a lot of trial and error):
session.cookie_path = /

All seems well. This was the first time I tried installing joomla/mambo on a local machine. My prior experience was with a web host where everything always worked.

I hope this can save someone some time....

This worked for me!  My system:
WinXP SP2
Apache 2.0.55
PHP 5.1.2
MySQL 5.0.19

Also using phpMyAdmin 2.8.0.2 and Zend 2.1.0

I ended up doing a fresh Joomla install, verifying that the control panel was entirely green before continuing installation, but had the Admin log in loop, so came back here and kept reading. 

This was the change that got me into the Administrator account.

Thanks so much for posting this!

Petie

Hi,

I have just encountered exactly the same problem of not being able to log into my admin back end. I get redirected to: http://www.multimediaworkshop.co.uk/joo ... to%20login

Which basically displays the same screen as the normal log in screen but with with the message You Need to log in at the top in Firefox and nothing in IE.

This happened pretty suddenly, yesterday from one minute to the next, and aplpies to all my joomla sites sun on MY serfver. I do access and administer other joomla sites but they are not hosted on my server and are fine. Unfortunately I can not access (i.e. change) the php installation on my server,as this can only be done by my server company (dsvr.co.uk)

Is ther eanything I can do (other than getting my server company to possibly allow me access to the php files, which I have done already)?

Thanks,
Nik

Where can I find this file? Tks,

Hi waffle_hk,

You should be able to find out from your ISP where this file is kept. My ISP has placed this file in a user (i.e. me) accessible directory. The rest of the php installation is stored elsewhere and I don't ahve access to it.

Nik

Hi all -

FYI, I was having a similar problem on an Apache web server with PHP5. The admin page allowed me to log in, but as soon as I clicked on anything (such as, to manage global configuration, or site templates, or users, etc), I would be immediately redirected to the login page.

Switching from PHP5 back to PHP 4 solved my problem. (Luckily, my web host supports both).

just find it interesting just how many issues the log in as administrator actual seems to have. mine was similar, but the solution was completely different, as it was a case of the web user of my server being full up. Once I increased the quota of this it worked fine again!

nik-c

I had this problem and the solution was to check the size of the folder where the sessions are stored. I checked the #_session table and the sessions were being created, then i went to the servers' admin and she found the /var folder was filled up. So, modifying the size of the folder intended to hold the sessions info worked!

Hope this helps someone!

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