Transferring a website to a new admin

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repoub
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Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:47 am

Hello,

I am new to Joomla and know very little about website management. I am one of the new members of a student association that have been dormant for a while now. We couldn't find any of the previous members so we asked the university who owns the host to give us access to the website. They gave us the hostname, a username, and password that give us access to server files via FTP and SSH. I noticed that the files were created using Joomla. I tried the address "OurDomainName/administrator/" which directs to the Joomla administration panel but there is no option to recover the admin username and passwords.

How can we solve this issue?

Thank you!

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by effrit » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:03 am

hi.
take configuration.php in root folder.
in this you can get user name, db_name and password to access database (data stored in it).
if you have access to phpMyAdmin - use this data to create damp of database. If not - put script from

Code: Select all

adm iner.org (remove space)
in root folder and make dump.
Copy all files via ftp/ssh and try run your site on local server (so you can be sure you have full working backup).
So now you can "reset admin password in Joomla 3" (google it).
Last edited by effrit on Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:07 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by sozzled » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:04 am

repoub wrote:... but there is no option to recover the admin username and passwords.
That is correct. There is no way to "recover" the administrator username and password; it's a standard security feature. If there was a way to "recover" the administrator username(s) and password(s) then every Joomla website around the world would be at risk of being hijacked.

If you have access to the database tables, you can "reset" the password for the adminstrator account to something that you know. See https://support.managed.com/kb/a12/how- ... sword.aspx

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:36 am

sozzled wrote:
repoub wrote:... but there is no option to recover the admin username and passwords.
That is correct. There is no way to "recover" the administrator username and password; it's a standard security feature. If there was a way to "recover" the administrator username(s) and password(s) then every Joomla website around the world would be at risk of being hijacked.

If you have access to the database tables, you can "reset" the password for the adminstrator account to something that you know. See https://support.managed.com/kb/a12/how- ... sword.aspx
Thanks for replying!

I have access to server files using Filezilla and I have the username and password in the configuration file. Those didn't work for logging in using */administrator page. I also tried */cpanel which was not found. Are there other ways to access control panel?

Thanks!

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by effrit » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:57 am

this username and password are for database access, not to admin panel of site.
read my first post. if you don't understand what you doing you just will destroy your site completely.

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Tue Feb 20, 2018 6:00 am

effrit wrote:this username and password are for database access, not to admin panel of site.
read my first post. if you don't understand what you doing you just will destroy your site completely.

I'm reading this https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F

I am trying to get some basic knowledge before doing anything stupid :)

Thanks!

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by AMurray » Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:31 am

The password and username in configuration.php are for your database. The username and password you're trying to reset according to https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F is for your Administrator user in Joomla itself. they are two separate things and therefore two separate (different) set of details. They should NOT be the same.
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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:42 pm

effrit wrote:hi.
take configuration.php in root folder.
in this you can get user name, db_name and password to access database (data stored in it).
if you have access to phpMyAdmin - use this data to create damp of database. If not - put script from

Code: Select all

adm iner.org (remove space)
in root folder and make dump.
Copy all files via ftp/ssh and try run your site on local server (so you can be sure you have full working backup).
So now you can "reset admin password in Joomla 3" (google it).
Through phpMyAdmin, I accessed the database and edited table _users and assigned new passwords. I couldn't log in. I even defined a new user, but it didn't work either. The Joomla! backend of the site seems to be an old version.

What could be the problem?

Thanks!

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by effrit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:34 pm

did you use the solutions? the password must be encoding by MD5, so it must be like this

Code: Select all

UPDATE `myprefix_users`
SET `password` = MD5('new_password')
WHERE `username` = 'admin'

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:18 pm

effrit wrote:did you use the solutions? the password must be encoding by MD5, so it must be like this

Code: Select all

UPDATE `myprefix_users`
SET `password` = MD5('new_password')
WHERE `username` = 'admin'
Yes, I did. In addition, I used the edit menu of phpMyAdmin to change the password. I tried multiple times. The database is the right one.

I think there is a problem with Joomla!

Can the fact that they used an old version cause this?
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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:22 pm

Is there any way I can make sure (from database or server files) that I'm trying to log in to the correct administrator page?

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by effrit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:55 pm

you can run site on local server, take exactly the same Joomla distributive as your site, overwrite files from 'administrator' folder. and, maybe, rename .htaccess file in root folder.

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by sozzled » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:37 pm

repoub wrote:I am one of the new members of a student association [that has a Joomla website] that [has] been dormant for a while now.
As a matter of curiosity, for how long has this website been dormant? Five years, six years or thereabouts, perhaps?
repoub wrote:I think there is a problem with Joomla! Can the fact that they used an old version cause this?
Who are "they"; the people who created the website a some years ago, perhaps? What version of Joomla are we discussing here? The screenshot you showed in your post is not from J! 3.x. ???
Last edited by sozzled on Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:44 pm

sozzled wrote:
repoub wrote:I think there is a problem with Joomla! Can the fact that they used an old version cause this?
Who are "they"? What version of Joomla are we discussing here? The screenshot you showed in your post is not from J! 3.x. ???
Hi,

The website belongs to a student association. It has been dormant since 2014 and I am a new member who tries to reactivate the committee. I have been trying to contact the previous members (I referred to previous members as "they") but I had no success so far. Through the university, I gained access to the database and server files (FTP, SSH). I looked into the server files and they are created by Joomla!

Now I'm sure that the database I was given corresponds to the website but I'm not sure if I'm using the right admin page to log in to Joomla!

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:51 pm

sozzled wrote:[quote="repoub"I am one of the new members of a student association [that has a Joomla website] that [has] been dormant for a while now.
As a matter of curiosity, for how long has this website been dormant? Five years, six years or thereabouts, perhaps?
repoub wrote:I think there is a problem with Joomla! Can the fact that they used an old version cause this?
Who are "they"; the people who created the website a some years ago, perhaps? What version of Joomla are we discussing here? The screenshot you showed in your post is not from J! 3.x. ???[/quote]


I am not sure bout the version of Joomla! but I think it's 1.5. There is an installation package in server files that is named "Joomla_1.5.14-Stable-Full_Package"

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by sozzled » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:07 pm

Thank you for your replies. The information we've given you was based on the assumptions we've made that the website was based on J! 3.x. If you read the information at the top of the page in https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F you will see that it states
This page is only for Joomla! 2.5 and higher versions. If you are still using Joomla! 1.5 instructions can be found here.
Whether that helps you or not is something I cannot confirm.

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Recovering Admin Password Fails!

Post by repoub » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:24 pm

Hi,

A student committee website has been dormant for about 4 years and we were not able to contact the previous admins. I have access to server files and database via phpMyAdmin (PMA). I tried to change the password to super admin and other admins using PMA (xx_users table). Still, when I try to log in to the back end (websiteaddress/administrator) I get the wrong username or password error. I even added a new user and tried all the methods explained here:
https://docs.joomla.org/Special:MyLangu ... assword%3F

I checked the version of Joomla! that was used in server files and it is: Joomla_1.5.14-Stable

Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments.

Thanks!
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Last edited by toivo on Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: mod note: merged with the current topic, cross posting not allowed - see the forum rules https://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=65

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by effrit » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:17 am

add this to domain, see the data of "version" tag

/language/en-GB/en-GB.xml

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by repoub » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:35 pm

effrit wrote:add this to domain, see the data of "version" tag

/language/en-GB/en-GB.xml
Thanks! The version is 1.5.9. The methods to recover the admin password are the same as those of the version 3.0
I am still struggling!
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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by effrit » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:06 pm

this is so outdated and even not the latest version of 1.5
get site archive, run it locally, take latest 1.5 from here
https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla15
replace all files except configuration.php.

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by sozzled » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:19 pm

To be quite candid, I think it's a lost cause. If it is to be believed that the website is running J! 1.5.9 (or even J! 1.5.14) these versions are so outdated that it will take a good two weeks or more to bring the website up to speed (i.e. up to the latest version of Joomla—J! 3.8.5) that it's probably better to abandon the website and start again.

It may be possible to salvage some of the content but, given the fact that we're discussing J! 1.5.9, perhaps, and that would date the site around the beginning of 2009, it's highly unlikely that the content is relevant to today's situation eight years down the track.

My advice would be to delete the site (i.e. delete the Joomla filesystem and DROP all the tables associated with it), install a fresh copy of J! 3.8.5 and begin from there. For an experienced person, this would take no more than 20 minutes and then you have the beginnings of a new site for your community to use.

It's certainly possible to repair the site but, if you are without experience and hope to rely on a self-help discussion forum to get you out of this mess, then I think you're deluding yourself if you think this will be a quick and easy process. Unless you're able to get into the backend—the administrator site—you're dead in the water at the moment. That's the reality and I think it's time you faced up to it.

I wish you every success in the future but, for now, I don't have any other low-cost practical solution for your dilemma.

For the sake of those who come after you, make notes about what you're doing, write down passwords and other key information about how the site will be managed, and keep the new site updated whenever new versions of software are released.

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Re: Transferring a website to a new admin

Post by Per Yngve Berg » Tue May 22, 2018 9:18 am

Here is the update package to use:

https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla ... format=zip

Unzip the package and upload to the host, overwriting all files.

This should make the site run on php versions up to 5.6.


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