Trying to install Joomla, can't get past first step (Configuration) never takes me to Database step

[teckel]

I've created database for Joomla and installed Joomla 3.9.5. I visit the web installer and it shows the proper first page with the first step being the Configuration. I enter the site name, email, username, password (twice), and hit Next. The screen flashes the Joomla logo in the center and returns to the form at the same point. It never proceeds to the Database step.

I've tried all kinds of suggestions and nothing works. This server is already running another version of Joomla so I know the PHP/database/etc. is setup correctly. I've also setup Joomla many times before but never had a problem. I'm stuck

Server Info:
Platform Amazon AWS Linux
MySQL Version 5.6.34
PHP Version 5.3.29
Web Server Apache/2.2.31 (Amazon)

[AMurray]

I would first be more concerned that you're running an out of date, obsolete PHP version 5.3.34 (5.3.x reached EOL August 2014.....https://www.php.net/eol.php)

It's recommended you use PHP 7.2 or higher and Joomla 4 when it comes out (at this stage seems like end of 2019), it won't run on less than PHP 7.

Also, as extensions are updated, they will less and less support old PHP versions. If you can change the PHP version from your hosting admin panel, then I strongly suggest you do so.

[teckel]

I would first be more concerned that you're running an out of date, obsolete PHP version 5.3.34 (5.3.x reached EOL August 2014.....https://www.php.net/eol.php)

It's recommended you use PHP 7.2 or higher and Joomla 4 when it comes out (at this stage seems like end of 2019), it won't run on less than PHP 7.

Also, as extensions are updated, they will less and less support old PHP versions. If you can change the PHP version from your hosting admin panel, then I strongly suggest you do so.

It's not that I'm running out of date PHP, it's that the clientis. They have other systems on the server that prevents an upgrade of PHP (I'm sure you're aware of all the PHP v7 code-breaking changes). Also, Joomla 3.9.5 says it supports PHP 5.3.34.

So, no need to state the obvious, and upgrading isn't an option nor should it be based on the Joomla 3.9.5 requirements. So, can you actually help with this question or are you trying to say that Joomla 3.9.5 is incorrect in their minimum requirements?

[Per Yngve Berg]

Can't you change php version in the .htaccess file?

Php 5.3 is special as it needs magick quotes to be turned off

[Webdongle]

If their other systems require old php then those systems are out of date. There i a risk that the server can be hacked. If it is hacked guess who will get the blame.

[teckel]

If their other systems require old php then those systems are out of date. There i a risk that the server can be hacked. If it is hacked guess who will get the blame.

Yawn... So you don't know the answer yet post. And who's to say the latest PHP doesn't have even a more major bug that can be hacked. The blame on a hack will be on the website technical staff, not the web designer. Seriously, just answer or if you don't know what you're talking about, don't post, simple!

Tim

[teckel]

Can't you change php version in the .htaccess file?

Php 5.3 is special as it needs magick quotes to be turned off

The package installer doesn't allow 7.x to be installed if a previous version of PHP is already installed. I would need to uninstall 5.3 first before installing 7.x. So, installing two versions isn't allowed so I can't try selecting the PHP version from .htaccess.

Also, magic quotes are already off, as the server is already running Joomla 3.6.5

[Webdongle]

Doooooooooooooh. The answer is you are running out of date software ... update. Please post the results of viewtopic.php?f=806&t=969442

[teckel]

Tried installing a clean 3.9.5 with the same result. Also tried a clean 3.6.5, just extracted the ZIP, and went to the website. It takes me to the Installation Configuration tab, I fill out the form and hit "Next", it flashes with the waiting Joomla logo and goes straight back to the Configuration tab, never proceeds to the Database tab. If I click on the Database tab, nothing happens.

I tried using Joomla 3.6.5 because that version is already running on the server (different website). But still, same result.

Come on Joomla! I've been trying for almost 2 weeks now! Something is screwed up with your install script! It doesn't throw any errors to the console nor the screen.

[teckel]

Doooooooooooooh. The answer is you are running out of date software ... update. Please post the results of viewtopic.php?f=806&t=969442

Nope, I verified I'm not running anything out of date here: https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements

Also, this isn't my server, it's a client's server which is currently running Joomla 3.6.5 without any issue. Trying to install Joomla 3.6.5 or 3.9.5 without luck, can't get past the first step on either version, even thought Joomla 3.6.5 is running just fine on the server.

[teckel]

Doooooooooooooh. The answer is you are running out of date software ... update. Please post the results of viewtopic.php?f=806&t=969442

Joomla! Instance :: Not Found
Joomla! Configured :: Not Found

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 4.9.27-14.31.amzn1.x86_64 | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: Apache/2.2.34 (Amazon) | Encoding: gzip, deflate | Doc Root: --protected-- | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 4.09 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 5.3.29 | PHP API: apache2handler | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: | Error Reporting: 22527 | Log Errors To: | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 30M | Max. POST Size: 30M | Max. Input Time: 60 | Max. Execution Time: 30 | Memory Limit: 128M

Database Configuration :: Database Credentials incomplete or not available Nothing to display.

PHP Extensions :: Core (5.3.29) | date (5.3.29) | ereg () | libxml () | openssl () | pcre () | zlib (1.1) | bz2 () | calendar () | ctype () | hash (1.0) | filter (0.11.0) | ftp () | gettext () | gmp () | SPL (0.2) | iconv () | Reflection ($Id: 4af6c4c676864b1c0bfa693845af0688645c37cf $) | session () | standard (5.3.29) | shmop () | SimpleXML (0.1) | sockets () | exif (1.4 $Id$) | tokenizer (0.1) | xml () | apache2handler () | apc (3.1.15-dev) | bcmath () | curl () | dom (20031129) | fileinfo (1.0.5-dev) | gd () | json (1.2.1) | mbstring () | mcrypt () | mysql (1.0) | mysqli (0.1) | PDO (1.0.4dev) | pdo_mysql (1.0.2) | pdo_sqlite (1.0.1) | Phar (2.0.1) | posix () | sqlite3 (0.7-dev) | sysvmsg () | sysvsem () | sysvshm () | tidy (2.0) | wddx () | xmlreader (0.1) | xmlwriter (0.1) | xsl (0.1) | zip (1.11.0) | mhash () | Zend Engine (2.3.0) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment (Experimental) :: PHP CGI: No | Server SU: No | PHP SU: No | Custom SU (LiteSpeed/Cloud/Grid): No
Potential Ownership Issues: Maybe

Apache Modules :: core | prefork | http_core | mod_so | mod_auth_basic | mod_auth_digest | mod_authn_file | mod_authn_alias | mod_authn_anon | mod_authn_dbm | mod_authn_default | mod_authz_host | mod_authz_user | mod_authz_owner | mod_authz_groupfile | mod_authz_dbm | mod_authz_default | util_ldap | mod_authnz_ldap | mod_include | mod_log_config | mod_logio | mod_env | mod_ext_filter | mod_mime_magic | mod_expires | mod_deflate | mod_headers | mod_usertrack | mod_setenvif | mod_mime | mod_dav | mod_status | mod_autoindex | mod_info | mod_dav_fs | mod_vhost_alias | mod_negotiation | mod_dir | mod_actions | mod_speling | mod_userdir | mod_alias | mod_substitute | mod_rewrite | mod_proxy | mod_proxy_balancer | mod_proxy_ftp | mod_proxy_http | mod_proxy_ajp | mod_proxy_connect | mod_cache | mod_suexec | mod_disk_cache | mod_cgi | mod_version | mod_security2 | mod_unique_id | mod_perl | mod_php5 | mod_ssl | mod_wsgi | Apache/2.2.34 (Amazon) |
Potential Missing Modules :: mod_security | mod_evasive | mod_dosevasive | mod_qos | mod_userdir |

[teckel]

Doooooooooooooh. The answer is you are running out of date software ... update. Please post the results of viewtopic.php?f=806&t=969442

It doesn't report the MySQL version as the installation never gets to the point of connecting to the database. But, MySQL is v5.5 (mysql 5.5-1.6.amzn1)

[Webdongle]

PHP API: apache2handle ... better f/cgi

[teckel]

PHP API: apache2handle ... better f/cgi

Siwtched to fcgi with the same result (can't get past the Configuration tab). Here's the new Forum Post Assistant dump:

Joomla! Instance :: Not Found
Joomla! Configured :: Not Found

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 4.9.27-14.31.amzn1.x86_64 | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: Apache/2.2.34 (Amazon) | Encoding: gzip, deflate | Doc Root: --protected-- | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 4.09 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 5.3.29 | PHP API: cgi-fcgi | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: | Error Reporting: 22527 | Log Errors To: | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 30M | Max. POST Size: 30M | Max. Input Time: 60 | Max. Execution Time: 30 | Memory Limit: 128M

Database Configuration :: Database Credentials incomplete or not available Nothing to display.

PHP Extensions :: Core (5.3.29) | date (5.3.29) | ereg () | libxml () | openssl () | pcre () | zlib (1.1) | bz2 () | calendar () | ctype () | hash (1.0) | filter (0.11.0) | ftp () | gettext () | gmp () | SPL (0.2) | iconv () | pcntl () | readline () | Reflection ($Id: 4af6c4c676864b1c0bfa693845af0688645c37cf $) | session () | standard (5.3.29) | shmop () | SimpleXML (0.1) | sockets () | exif (1.4 $Id$) | tokenizer (0.1) | xml () | cgi-fcgi () | apc (3.1.15-dev) | bcmath () | curl () | dom (20031129) | fileinfo (1.0.5-dev) | gd () | json (1.2.1) | mbstring () | mcrypt () | mysql (1.0) | mysqli (0.1) | PDO (1.0.4dev) | pdo_mysql (1.0.2) | pdo_sqlite (1.0.1) | Phar (2.0.1) | posix () | sqlite3 (0.7-dev) | sysvmsg () | sysvsem () | sysvshm () | tidy (2.0) | wddx () | xmlreader (0.1) | xmlwriter (0.1) | xsl (0.1) | zip (1.11.0) | mhash () | Zend Engine (2.3.0) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment (Experimental) :: PHP CGI: Yes | Server SU: Yes | PHP SU: Yes | Custom SU (LiteSpeed/Cloud/Grid): No
Potential Ownership Issues: Maybe

[Per Yngve Berg]

As Webdongle have pointed out, probably no write permission to the folders.

[Webdongle]

One thing you could do is make an Akeeba backup of a working site. Use kickstart to restore the files and ANGIE installer (packed in the .jpa backup) will run. That is very verbose and may well tell you the problem with your server setup.

[teckel]

As Webdongle have pointed out, probably no write permission to the folders.

I did a:

Code: Select all

sudo chmod -R 775 websitefolder
sudo chown -R apache websitefolder
sudo chgrp -R apache websitefolder

With the same result. And I even did chmod 777 as a test, same result.

Keep in mind, this same server has a working copy of Joomla 3.6.5 on it, so I know the server setup works with Joomla. So I knew things like changing to fcgi was futile, but I did it anyway to appease the Joomla gurus (although I'll probably switch back to the Apache module as it's faster, the server has plenty of RAM, and static served by a cdn).

[teckel]

One thing you could do is make an Akeeba backup of a working site. Use kickstart to restore the files and ANGIE installer (packed in the .jpa backup) will run. That is very verbose and may well tell you the problem with your server setup.

Honestly, it's not something wrong with the server setup. How could it be when there's another website running Joomla without a problem? The problem is with the Joomla install script. It could even be a JavaScript problem (although no console errors are thrown). Maybe an hashbang/octothorpe problem? (as it goes from "http://website.com/installation/index.php" to "http://website.com/installation/index.php#" when going from Configuration to trying to go to Database.

And really, why no errors? If, for example, it couldn't do something, shouldn't it be reporting back what the problem was, or at least there was some kind of problem. But instead, it does nothing.

I believe we're all looking in the wrong place. I really can't believe it's server related as the server is already running Joomla 3.6.5 without a hitch (even with the apache PHP module). This problem is something totally different, something that Joomla is missing.

How about this... When you go from the Configuration tab to the Database tab, does the URL stay at "/installation/index.php"? Looking at the Network communications in my browser, when I click on Next or Database it goes to index.php but then does a 303 redirect to index.php. Doesn't seem right that it would redirect back to the same file. And I'm guessing it's losing the form data in that redirect. See the last two lines below:



Does it do a redirect like this for others?

[teckel]

One thing you could do is make an Akeeba backup of a working site. Use kickstart to restore the files and ANGIE installer (packed in the .jpa backup) will run. That is very verbose and may well tell you the problem with your server setup.

I could take the existing website and easily get it working as another website (dump the database, add it to another database, copy the files). But then I'd just have a duplicate of another website. I'm making a totally new website for this client, which will not be using the database from the other website. Which is why I'm starting off with a clean Joomla install.

You're still hung up on it's something wrong with the server setup. How could it be when the exact same server is already running Joomla? I'm creating a folder right next to the other working Joomla website. Honestly, it's not a server setup issue, it's something else, which is why I'm posting here.

See my 2 posts above where I provide more information and possibly insight into this problem.

[gws]

It could be your server,your local pc,your Internet supplier or joomla. Now loads of users are having no problem installing joomla so its reasonable to assume it is something else.

[Per Yngve Berg]

Now you have to chown the files to the user that this site is going to use, not the apache user. PHP will run as the user that is owner of the index.php file.

[Webdongle]

...

I could take the existing website and easily get it working as another website (dump the database, add it to another database, copy the files). But then I'd just have a duplicate of another website. ....

You miss the point. The installer in the .jpa backup is more verbose than the Joomla installer. By using Akeeba to create an installable backup will help you locate the problem.

[teckel]

It could be your server,your local pc,your Internet supplier or joomla. Now loads of users are having no problem installing joomla so its reasonable to assume it is something else.

The server is already running Joomla with the same settings, and I'm using the same PC and internet supplier for the site on the same server running Joomla as with the new site. So...

[teckel]

Now you have to chown the files to the user that this site is going to use, not the apache user. PHP will run as the user that is owner of the index.php file.

apache is the user that the site uses. But it also doesn't work if I chmod all files to 777. Please keep in mind that I have another Joomla website on the exact same server which has the exact same folder and file permissions. There's something else which is going on, that's no so obvious as to discount that it's something simple like file permissions. And what about Joomla not giving an error? No error at all?

[teckel]

...

I could take the existing website and easily get it working as another website (dump the database, add it to another database, copy the files). But then I'd just have a duplicate of another website. ....

You miss the point. The installer in the .jpa backup is more verbose than the Joomla installer. By using Akeeba to create an installable backup will help you locate the problem.

I have no idea what that is. I looked up Akeeba Kickstart and it's not at all obvious as to what it is or what it does. It seems to be a file compression utility or something. And I could find no reference to Joomla. And I don't want to restore a website, I'm trying to setup a NEW website. It seems Akeeba Kickstart is some tool to compress and move a website. That's not AT ALL what I'm trying to do. I need to setup a new Joomla website and there's something wrong with the Joomla install process.

[teckel]

...

I could take the existing website and easily get it working as another website (dump the database, add it to another database, copy the files). But then I'd just have a duplicate of another website. ....

You miss the point. The installer in the .jpa backup is more verbose than the Joomla installer. By using Akeeba to create an installable backup will help you locate the problem.

On the Joomla website for the latest release, 3.9.6 and I don't see a .jpa package. Where's this .jpa package for the latest version of Joomla? I'm on this page:

https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla3/3-9-6

If there's a link, please provide it.

[teckel]

So I'll help everyone here. It's not the version of PHP, the PHP API, how it was installed, nor file permissions. The problem is that Joomla is not correctly detecting when sessions are being blocked. While sessions are setup on the server, for security reasons the following is set in php.ini:

Code: Select all

session.cookie_secure = True

The way the Joomla install script is written, if it doesn't see the form data from the configuration tab of the installation script, it just redirects back to index.php instead of throwing an error.

So, the problem was that because I was setting up the website for the first time with a temporary unsecured domain (http not https as it will be once in production). It wasn't saving sessions which Joomla requires (but doesn't state nor doesn't throw an error). Changing the above to "False" allowed the Joomla install script to save the session and move to the database tab.

I'm not the only one with this problem, I found many people having the problem but only one with the answer to it here: https://joomla.stackexchange.com/questi ... 252104673f (second to last one). It only had one positive vote but now it has two.

Thanks for trying to help, now to switch the PHP API back to the faster Apache PHP module and start building the template.

[Webdongle]

...
I have no idea what that is. I looked up Akeeba Kickstart and it's not at all obvious as to what it is or what it does. It seems to be a file compression utility or something. ...

Akeeba backup packs the site files and database (and an installer) into a .jpa file.
kickstart.zip is unzipped and kickstart.php is placed (on the server) the .jpa file.
kickstart.php unpacks (and writes) the files to the server.
The installer (that was packed in the jpa file) then runs. It is more verbose than the Joomla installer. So when it runs it tells you in more detail why it wont install.

Also is the folder you are trying to install in empty? Does the folder you are trying to install in (or any folder above it) have a .htaccess folder.