500 Error after enabling 'System > Redirect' Plugin Topic is solved

[PC Medic]

Am rebuilding Joomla 3 site as template is not J4 compatible and does not look like author ever plans to update it.

So have installed XAMMP on my local Windows system and rebuilt the entire site under the default Casiopia template. Everything was great and was all set to move files and database to live server. Decided to check that everything in backend was configured as original site was. All was except the System Redirect Plugin.
When I enabled it both the Admin/Backend and Frontend result in the RED 500 Error page with the message

"Sorry, there was a problem we could not recover from. The server returned a "500 - Whoops, looks like something went wrong."

Noticed that MySQL had stopped running as well so restarted MySQL. but both fronend and backend of site continue to result in the 500 error.

Have tried going through phpMyAdmin and disabling the 'Redirect' extension, but no change. Still 500 error.

Any help / suggestions appreciated.

[Per Yngve Berg]

Enable debug in configuration.php and see where the error originates from and set error reporting to 'maximum'.

[sozzled]

I don't know too much about XAMPP (I prefer to use Wampserver myself) and I haven't encountered this problem with enabling/disabling the System - Redirect plugin with J! 4.2.3.

Although the notes I wrote were written at the time that J! 3.x was in general use, General help: HTTP 500 Internal Server Errors is still relevant today. Read that first, use the FPA report generator and post the results here; there may be a clue in the FPA report.

[PC Medic]

RED Screen 500 Error Backend and Frontend after enabling System Redirect Plugin on localhost test site

Sorry, there was a problem we could not recover from. The server returned a "500 - Whoops, looks like something went wrong."

Have disabled Redirect extension via phpMyAdmin setting value to '0'

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 4.2.3-Stable (Uaminifu) 27-September-2022
Joomla! Configured :: Yes | Writable (666) |
Configuration Options :: Offline: false | SEF: true | SEF Suffix: false | SEF ReWrite: true | .htaccess/web.config: Yes | GZip: false | Cache: false | CacheTime: 15 | CacheHandler: file | CachePlatformPrefix: false | FTP Layer: N/A | Proxy: false | LiveSite: | Session lifetime: 15 | Session handler: database | Shared sessions: false | SSL: 0 | Error Reporting: Maximum | Site Debug: true | Language Debug: false | Default Access: Public | Unicode Slugs: false | dbConnection Type: mysqli | PHP Supports J! 4.2.3: Yes | Database Supports J! 4.2.3: Yes | Database Credentials Present: Password missing |

Host Configuration :: OS: Windows NT | OS Version: 10.0 | Technology: AMD64 | Web Server: Apache/2.4.53 (Win64) OpenSSL/1.1.1n PHP/8.1.6 | Encoding: gzip, deflate, br | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 297.14 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 8.1.6 | PHP API: apache2handler | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: 0 | Error Reporting: 22527 | Log Errors To: C:\xampp\php\logs\php_error_log | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Allow url fopen: 1 | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 40M | Max. POST Size: 40M | Max. Input Time: 60 | Max. Execution Time: 120 | Memory Limit: 512M

Database Configuration :: Version: 10.4.24-MariaDB (Client:mysqlnd 8.1.6) | Database Size: 10.64 MiB | #of Tables with config prefix:  84 | #of other Tables:  0 | User Privileges : GRANT ALL

PHP Extensions :: Core (8.1.6) | bcmath (8.1.6) | calendar (8.1.6) | ctype (8.1.6) | date (8.1.6) | filter (8.1.6) | hash (8.1.6) | iconv (8.1.6) | json (8.1.6) | SPL (8.1.6) | pcre (8.1.6) | readline (8.1.6) | Reflection (8.1.6) | session (8.1.6) | standard (8.1.6) | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 8.1.6) | tokenizer (8.1.6) | zip (1.19.5) | zlib (8.1.6) | libxml (8.1.6) | dom (20031129) | PDO (8.1.6) | bz2 (8.1.6) | SimpleXML (8.1.6) | xml (8.1.6) | xmlreader (8.1.6) | xmlwriter (8.1.6) | apache2handler (8.1.6) | openssl (8.1.6) | curl (8.1.6) | fileinfo (8.1.6) | gettext (8.1.6) | mbstring (8.1.6) | exif (8.1.6) | mysqli (8.1.6) | pdo_mysql (8.1.6) | pdo_sqlite (8.1.6) | Phar (8.1.6) | ftp (8.1.6) | Zend Engine (4.1.6) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment :: PHP CGI: No | Server SU: No | PHP SU: No | Potential Ownership Issues: No

Apache Modules :: core | mod_win32 | mpm_winnt | http_core | mod_so | mod_access_compat | mod_actions | mod_alias | mod_allowmethods | mod_asis | mod_auth_basic | mod_authn_core | mod_authn_file | mod_authz_core | mod_authz_groupfile | mod_authz_host | mod_authz_user | mod_autoindex | mod_cgi | mod_dav_lock | mod_dir | mod_env | mod_headers | mod_include | mod_info | mod_isapi | mod_log_config | mod_cache_disk | mod_mime | mod_negotiation | mod_proxy | mod_proxy_ajp | mod_rewrite | mod_setenvif | mod_socache_shmcb | mod_ssl | mod_status | mod_version | mod_php | Apache/2.4.53 (Win64) OpenSSL/1.1.1n PHP/8.1.6 |
Potential Missing Modules :: mod_expires | mod_deflate |

Core Folders :: images/ (Writable) | components/ (Writable) | modules/ (Writable) | plugins/ (Writable) | language/ (Writable) | templates/ (Writable) | cache/ (Writable) | logs/ (Does Not Exist) | tmp/ (Writable) | administrator/components/ (Writable) | administrator/modules/ (Writable) | administrator/language/ (Writable) | administrator/templates/ (Writable) | administrator/logs/ (Writable) |

Database statistics :: Uptime: 1160 | Threads: 6 | Questions: 94 | Slow queries: 0 | Opens: 120 | Flush tables: 1 | Open tables: 97 | Queries per second avg: 0.081 |

Components :: Site ::
Core ::
3rd Party:: WF_AGGREGATOR_AUDIO_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_AGGREGATOR_DAILYMOTION_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_AGGREGATOR_VIDEO_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_AGGREGATOR_VIMEO_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_AGGREGATOR_[youtube]_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_FILESYSTEM_JOOMLA_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_LINKS_JOOMLALINKS_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_POPUPS_JCEMEDIABOX_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_LINK_SEARCH_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_ANCHOR_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_ARTICLE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_AUTOSAVE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_BROWSER_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_CHARMAP_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_CLEANUP_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_CLIPBOARD_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_CONTEXTMENU_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_DIRECTIONALITY_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_EMOTIONS_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_FONTCOLOR_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_FONTSELECT_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_FONTSIZESELECT_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_FORMATSELECT_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_FULLSCREEN_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_HELP_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_HR_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_IMGMANAGER_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_KITCHENSINK_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_LINK_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_LISTS_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_MEDIA_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_NONBREAKING_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | JCE - Noneditable (1.0.0) ? | WF_PREVIEW_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_PRINT_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_SEARCHREPLACE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_SOURCE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_SPELLCHECKER_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_STYLE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_STYLESELECT_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_TABLE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_TEXTCASE_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_VISUALBLOCKS_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_VISUALCHARS_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_WORDCOUNT_TITLE (2.9.30) ? | WF_XHTMLXTRAS_TITLE (2.9.30) ? |

Components :: Admin ::
Core :: com_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | com_admin (4.0.0) 1 | com_ajax (4.0.0) 1 | com_associations (4.0.0) 1 | com_banners (4.0.0) 1 | com_cache (4.0.0) 1 | com_categories (4.0.0) 1 | com_checkin (4.0.0) 1 | com_config (4.0.0) 1 | com_content (4.0.0) 1 | com_contenthistory (4.0.0) 1 | com_cpanel (4.0.0) 1 | com_fields (4.0.0) 1 | com_finder (4.0.0) 1 | com_installer (4.0.0) 1 | com_joomlaupdate (4.0.3) 1 | com_languages (4.0.0) 1 | com_login (4.0.0) 1 | com_mails (4.0.0) 1 | com_media (3.0.0) 1 | com_menus (4.0.0) 1 | com_messages (4.0.0) 1 | com_modules (4.0.0) 1 | com_newsfeeds (4.0.0) 1 | com_plugins (4.0.0) 1 | com_postinstall (4.0.0) 1 | com_privacy (3.9.0) 1 | com_redirect (4.0.0) 0 | com_scheduler (4.1.0) 1 | com_tags (4.0.0) 1 | com_templates (4.0.0) 1 | com_users (4.0.0) 1 | com_workflow (4.0.0) 1 | com_wrapper (4.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: com_djimageslider (4.4) 1 | COM_JCE (2.9.30) 1 | COM_JEVENTS (3.6.39) 1 |

Modules :: Site ::
Core :: mod_articles_archive (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_categories (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_category (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_news (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_banners (3.0.0) 1 | mod_breadcrumbs (3.0.0) 1 | mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_finder (3.0.0) 1 | mod_footer (3.0.0) 1 | mod_languages (3.5.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_random_image (3.0.0) 1 | mod_related_items (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats (3.0.0) 1 | mod_syndicate (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_popular (3.1.0) 1 | mod_tags_similar (3.1.0) 1 | mod_users_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_whosonline (3.0.0) 1 | mod_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: DJ-ImageSlider (4.4) 1 | MOD_JEV_CALENDAR_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | MOD_JEV_CUSTOM_MODULE_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | MOD_JEV_FILTER_MODULE_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | MOD_JEV_LATEST_EVENTS_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | MOD_JEV_LEGEND_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | MOD_JEV_SWITCH_VIEW_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 |

Modules :: Admin ::
Core :: mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_frontend (4.0.0) 1 | mod_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_latestactions (3.9.0) 1 | mod_logged (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_loginsupport (4.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_messages (4.0.0) 1 | mod_multilangstatus (3.0.0) 1 | mod_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_post_installation_messages (4.0.0) 1 | mod_privacy_dashboard (3.9.0) 1 | mod_privacy_status (4.0.0) 1 | mod_quickicon (3.0.0) 1 | mod_sampledata (3.8.0) 1 | mod_stats_admin (3.0.0) 1 | mod_submenu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_title (3.0.0) 1 | mod_toolbar (3.0.0) 1 | mod_user (4.0.0) 1 | mod_version (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: MOD_JEV_DASHBOARD_MODULE_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 |

Libraries ::
Core ::
3rd Party::

Plugins ::
Core :: plg_actionlog_joomla (3.9.0) 1 | plg_api-authentication_basic (4.0.0) 0 | plg_api-authentication_token (4.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_cookie (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_ldap (3.0.0) 0 | plg_behaviour_taggable (4.0.0) 1 | plg_behaviour_versionable (4.0.0) 1 | plg_captcha_recaptcha (3.4.0) 0 | plg_captcha_recaptcha_invisible (3.8) 0 | plg_content_confirmconsent (3.9.0) 0 | plg_content_emailcloak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_content_finder (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_loadmodule (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_pagenavigation (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_vote (3.0.0) 0 | plg_editors-xtd_article (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_image (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_menu (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_module (3.5.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_readmore (3.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_finder (4.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_extension_namespacemap (4.0.0) 1 | plg_fields_calendar (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_checkboxes (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_color (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_editor (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_imagelist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_integer (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_list (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_media (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_radio (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_sql (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_subform (4.0.0) 1 | plg_fields_text (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_textarea (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_url (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_user (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_usergrouplist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_filesystem_local (4.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_installer_folderinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_override (4.0.0) 1 | plg_installer_packageinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_urlinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_webinstaller (4.0.0) 1 | plg_media-action_crop (4.0.0) 1 | plg_media-action_resize (4.0.0) 1 | plg_media-action_rotate (4.0.0) 1 | plg_multifactorauth_email (4.2.0) 1 | plg_multifactorauth_fixed (4.2.0) 0 | plg_multifactorauth_totp (3.2.0) 1 | plg_multifactorauth_webauthn (4.2.0) 1 | plg_multifactorauth_yubikey (3.2.0) 1 | plg_privacy_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_consents (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_content (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_message (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_user (3.9.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_downloadkey (4.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_extensionupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_overridecheck (4.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_phpversioncheck (3.7.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_privacycheck (3.9.0) 1 | plg_sampledata_multilang (4.0.0) 1 | plg_system_accessibility (4.0.0) 0 | plg_system_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | plg_system_cache (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_debug (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_highlight (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_httpheaders (4.0.0) 1 | plg_system_jooa11y (4.2.0) 1 | plg_system_languagecode (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_languagefilter (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_log (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_logout (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_logrotation (3.9.0) 1 | plg_system_privacyconsent (3.9.0) 0 | plg_system_redirect (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_remember (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_schedulerunner (4.1) 1 | plg_system_sef (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_sessiongc (3.8.6) 1 | plg_system_shortcut (4.2.0) 1 | plg_system_skipto (4.0.0) 1 | plg_system_stats (3.5.0) 0 | plg_system_task_notification (4.1) 1 | plg_system_updatenotification (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_webauthn (4.0.0) 1 | plg_task_check_files (4.1) 1 | plg_task_demo_tasks (4.1) 1 | plg_task_requests (4.1) 1 | plg_task_site_status (4.1) 1 | plg_user_contactcreator (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_profile (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_terms (3.9.0) 0 | plg_user_token (3.9.0) 1 | plg_webservices_banners (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_config (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_content (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_installer (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_languages (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_media (4.1.0) 1 | plg_webservices_menus (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_messages (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_modules (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_newsfeeds (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_plugins (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_privacy (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_redirect (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_tags (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_templates (4.0.0) 1 | plg_webservices_users (4.0.0) 1 | plg_workflow_featuring (4.0.0) 1 | plg_workflow_notification (4.0.0) 1 | plg_workflow_publishing (4.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: JEvents - Action Log (3.6.39) 0 | plg_content_jce (2.9.30) 1 | PLG_JEV_CORE_CONTENT_PLUGIN_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | plg_editors_codemirror (5.65.6) 1 | plg_editors_jce (2.9.30) 1 | plg_editors_tinymce (5.10.5) 1 | plg_extension_jce (2.9.30) 1 | plg_fields_mediajce (2.9.30) 1 | PLG_FINDER_JEVENTS (3.6.39) 1 | plg_installer_jce (2.9.30) 1 | plg_installer_jeventsinstaller (3.6.39) 1 | plg_quickicon_jce (2.9.30) 1 | PLG_JEV_SEARCH_TITLE (3.6.39) 1 | PLG_SYSTEM_GWEJSON (3.6.39) 1 | plg_system_jce (2.9.30) 1 |

Templates :: Site :: cassiopeia (1.0) 1 |
Templates :: Admin :: atum (1.0) 1 |

[PC Medic]

Enable debug in configuration.php and see where the error originates from and set error reporting to 'maximum'.

This was one of the first things I tried. Had to edit config file to accomplish as again Admin and frontend are not accessible and result in 500 Error (red page). I have just posted results from FPA Report hoping it will shed some light. First time using the scripts so hopefully report is complete.

[sozzled]

Database Credentials Present: Password missing

Fix that!

[PC Medic]

Database Credentials Present: Password missing

Fix that!

Not sure how at this point. As I stated in original post site has been working fine, for almost a month actually until I enabled the 'Redirect' plugin and it immediately went to 500 error.

[PC Medic]

Fix that!

Not sure how at this point. As I stated in original post site has been working fine, for almost a month actually until I enabled the 'Redirect' plugin and it immediately went to 500 error.

OK, so have reset the mySQL database PW and the issue no longer shows in FPA report, but still unable to access backend or frontend of site

[sozzled]

Post a new FPA report and let's see what we will see, OK?

(Possible alternative: as a test, disable all the SEF settings in the configuration.php file and rename the .htaccess to htaccess.old. Do you require instructions on how to do that?)

[PC Medic]

Let me check as just noticed 'Missing Password" is back

[sozzled]

My apologies; this may not be an error. If the SQL username (with ALL PRIVS) does not have a password, the FPA report displays "Password missing". I was able to reproduce this on a newly-minted J! 4.2.3 website (see viewtopic.php?f=812&t=996780&start=30#p3672522).

[PC Medic]

My apologies; this may not be an error. If the SQL username (with ALL PRIVS) does not have a password, the FPA report displays "Password missing". I was able to reproduce this on a newly-minted J! 4.2.3 website (see viewtopic.php?f=812&t=996780&start=30#p3672522).

Well now I am really lost. I have since my last post manually backed up the Joomla site files, exported the database and then uninstalled XAMMP. I then reinstalled XAMMP, copied the Joomla site files back to htdocs folder and imported the database. Same issue. XAMMP test page loads fine, but not my site. My best guess is somehow something went south in the database when I enabled the System Redirect plugin. Just have to try and figure out what.

[PC Medic]

My apologies; this may not be an error. If the SQL username (with ALL PRIVS) does not have a password, the FPA report displays "Password missing". I was able to reproduce this on a newly-minted J! 4.2.3 website (see viewtopic.php?f=812&t=996780&start=30#p3672522).

Any thoughts/suggestions as to why Joomla Debug Mode is not showing anything? Would certainly help if I could get a clue as to where it is dieing!

[PC Medic]

OK, why the site (and back-end) both died with the 500 ERROR remains a mystery. However, I did finally get it back online and the continued cause for the 500 ERROR I had issue with is even more of a mystery.

Have been using Joomla for sites for years and rarely have I had an issue. Experience has always told me if you can't get into the Admin/Backend or the site/Frontend, Open the config file, enable DEBUG and set Error Reporting to Maximum. And that was actually the cause of the past 24 hours of headache trying to make sense of something that did not make sense. Checked all my files and were good, checked and re-chhecked database for issues and none found. Turns out looking and comparing different things that when things first went south, setting Error Reporting to Maximum was the issue causing the continued 500 Error. Going back into the config file and changing Error Reporting to 'maximum' and Bingo! Backend and site came back to life.

I never thought having an upper-case M instead of a lower-case m in maximum would knock a site offline. It is even shown with upper-case in the Admin Control Panel drop-down options. Go figure.

Hopefully this post will help someone else in the future.

[Webdongle]

Wamp is better than xampp. With Wamp you can change php versions on the fly.