Failed to start the session, not starting install

[frighten]

Hello all Joomla friends

First, let me apologize for this post as I have seen the same topic for instance here: viewtopic.php?f=810&t=987965&start=30. However, even though I found some good input and tips, this did not give me any solution.

I have tried installing Joomla 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 on the very same web host as I have always used for all previous versions. In this case, used the same server space (same subdomain with the exact same configuration PHP7.4 Apache 2.4 on Unix). I have also tried with other account with other domain. While at it I should also mention I also tried with PHP7.3 and PHP8 with no success, so focusing on PHP7.4.

After uploading files to FTP I go to my domain expecting the installation process to start, but instead get a fancy orange (or is it red?) screen saying: "Sorry, there was a problem we could not recover from.
The server returned a "500 - Whoops, looks like something went wrong."" Same as discussed at the topic linked above.

Now, after reading around on the forum, I took the advise to change the JDEBUG to true, in the file /installation/includes/framework.php

The message I am now presented to is "Failed to start the session". I am not sure what the rest of the page tells me, but one part is highlighted and that is: /public_html/libraries/src/Session/Storage/JoomlaStorage.php (line 305) > parent::start();

Some things for the record.
1. I deleted all the files on the FTP and uploaded files from Joomla_3.9.22-Stable-Full_Package. It works perfectly. I read somewhere that nothing is changed in requirements between 3.9.x and 4.x. And also checking https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements... things should be fine :-)
2. The issue with the 4.X versions appears directly when you arrive to your domain after uploading files, when you expect the installation process to start. This means that there is no configuration.php file yet. Also Database yet not involved.
3. I compared folder/file permissions and they are set to 750/640 for both 3.9.22 and 4.0.3

One diff between 3.9.22 and 4.0.3 packages is that in respective installation folders (first level) we find 20 folders/files in the earlier version and only 14 in the newer... but I only guess this is as should.

I have been using Joomla since before it became Joomla, and never had this issue before. Looking forward to continue using Joomla for forever and a day, but desperate to get passed this issue.

Assuming I am not alone with this issue... did anyone solve it? Advise? What should I do? The web host says I need to solve it with Joomla. They are otherwise usually very helpful.

Thanks for reading all the way.

Humble regards,

[AMurray]

The system requirements definitely have changed.
The minimum PHP for J3 was 5.3.10. The minimum for J4 is 7.2.x

Are you trying to update Joomla 3.9.22 to 4.03? Did you upload J4.x files directly over J3.9.22 files in the attempt to upgrade? You can't do that. (You say you were trying to install J4 in the "same sub-domain" as J3.9.22?

For a clean install, you need a new, separate subdomain or sub-folder (e.g. https://joomla4.yoursite.com or https://yoursite.com/joomla4), not install it in an existing sub-domain or root folder where there's an existing site. If you are trying to migrate to 4.0, then you need to update 3.9.22 to 3.10 first, then migrate to J4.0.x

Those file and folder permissions seem strange - they should be 755 and 644 as recommended by Joomla.org

Have you referred to the documentation for installation/upgrade?
https://docs.joomla.org/Joomla_3.x_to_4 ... _Migration

The latest 3.x series is 3.10.2 - and is the only version that will allow a successful migration to 4.x. You also need to consider (1) your template used in J3.x (likely won't work in J4) and (2) third party extensions will not all be J4-ready or compatible.

J4 works on PHP 8, PHP 7.4 and 7.3 (its minimum PHP requirement is 7.2.x).

It may help if we have further information about your system - please use the FPA and post the report to this thread. https://forumpostassistant.github.io/docs/

[frighten]

Hi
No no. First I tried Joomla 4.0.3 and tried everything I could think of. Then I removed all of the files from the server and and instead uploaded 3.9.22 files to see if that would work, which it did. As stated in my initial post :-)

Then again, removed all of the 3.9.22 files to again try with the 4.0.3 files... I did this to see if I would have the same issue with both versions using the exact same server space. So not a matter of upgrade or migration. Both was clean installs with files for the purpose of clean install.

Also did try with changed permissions for both folders and files... no success.

Simply, I can not get the fresh installation of Joomla 4 to start.

[AMurray]

When selecting the php version, did you check that the "mysqli' driver was enabled (and same for PHP 7.4 or any other PHP you tried).

There are several other forum posts about "failure to start the session" but these point to the idea of incorrect database details, credentials etc; you're saying you can't even get the installer process started to even proceed to the point of entering database details?

Meantime, can you please post the FPA report as requested, it may shed some light on your server information, something that's causing the failure that I haven't identified from the information you have already provided.

Additionally installing WAMPServer (google for it, I can't post the link) on your own PC may help eliminate your web host as the problem - get WAMPServer running then try installing Joomla 4 on it.

If it still fails, then at least we can lean towards the possibility of a bug which should then be posted to https://issues.joomla.org (the Github site where developers are more likely to see your problem).

[Webdongle]

You mean this post? viewtopic.php?f=810&t=987965#p3637215

[Per Yngve Berg]

Is SaveSession_Path writable on the server?

Please post your FPA.

[frighten]

Thanks for the replies. Here comes the FPA. I read that DB credentials are missing... but I do not even get to the step in the installation process to add the credentials. Otherwise there is a DB waiting to be used :-)

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 4.0.3-Stable (Furaha) 12-September-2021
Joomla! Configured :: Not Found

Host Configuration :: OS: FreeBSD | OS Version: 13.0-RELEASE-p4 | Technology: amd64 | Web Server: Apache/2.4.48 (FreeBSD) mpm-itk/2.4.7-04 PHP/7.4.23 | Encoding: gzip, deflate, br | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 41898.24 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 7.4.23 | PHP API: apache2handler | Session Path Writable: No | Display Errors: | Error Reporting: 22517 | Log Errors To: | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Allow url fopen: 1 | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 200M | Max. POST Size: 200M | Max. Input Time: -1 | Max. Execution Time: 180 | Memory Limit: 256M

Database Configuration :: Database Credentials incomplete or not available Nothing to display.
Missing credentials detected: Connection Type missing | Database Name missing |MySQL Host missing | Table Prefix missing | Database Username missing | Database Password missing |User Privileges : Unknown

PHP Extensions :: Core (7.4.23) | date (7.4.23) | libxml (7.4.23) | pcre (7.4.23) | hash (7.4.23) | Reflection (7.4.23) | SPL (7.4.23) | session (7.4.23) | standard (7.4.23) | apache2handler (7.4.23) | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 7.4.23) | bcmath (7.4.23) | calendar (7.4.23) | ctype (7.4.23) | curl (7.4.23) | dom (20031129) | mbstring (7.4.23) | fileinfo (7.4.23) | filter (7.4.23) | ftp (7.4.23) | gd (7.4.23) | gettext (7.4.23) | iconv (7.4.23) | imagick (3.4.4) | intl (7.4.23) | json (7.4.23) | exif (7.4.23) | mysqli (7.4.23) | openssl (7.4.23) | PDO (7.4.23) | zlib (7.4.23) | posix (7.4.23) | SimpleXML (7.4.23) | soap (7.4.23) | sodium (7.4.23) | tidy (7.4.23) | tokenizer (7.4.23) | xml (7.4.23) | xmlwriter (7.4.23) | zip (1.15.6) | Phar (7.4.23) | imap (7.4.23) | pdo_mysql (7.4.23) | redis (5.3.2) | xmlreader (7.4.23) | xsl (7.4.23) | Zend OPcache (7.4.23) | Zend Engine (3.4.0) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

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

Apache Modules :: core | mod_so | http_core | mod_alias | mod_unixd | mod_auth_basic | mod_auth_digest | mod_authn_core | mod_authn_file | mod_authn_anon | mod_authz_core | mod_authz_groupfile | mod_authz_host | mod_authz_user | mod_autoindex | mod_cgi | mod_deflate | mod_dir | mod_env | mod_expires | mod_headers | mod_include | mod_info | mod_log_config | mod_log_forensic | mod_mime_magic | mod_mime | mod_negotiation | mod_rewrite | mod_setenvif | mod_status | mod_unique_id | mod_version | mod_logio | prefork | mpm_itk | mod_php7 | mod_remoteip | Apache/2.4.48 (FreeBSD) mpm-itk/2.4.7-04 PHP/7.4.23 |
Potential Missing Modules :: mod_security | mod_evasive | mod_dosevasive | mod_ssl | mod_qos | mod_userdir |

Core Folders :: images/ (750) | components/ (750) | modules/ (750) | plugins/ (750) | language/ (750) | templates/ (750) | cache/ (750) | logs/ (---) | tmp/ (750) | administrator/components/ (750) | administrator/modules/ (750) | administrator/language/ (750) | administrator/templates/ (750) | administrator/logs/ (750) |

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[Per Yngve Berg]

This is your problem:

Session Path Writable: No

It must be fixed at the server.

[frighten]

Hi

Yes, I saw that. Thanks.
But how could it be that a freshly unzipped and uploaded 3.9.22 package works perfectly, but a freshly unzipped and uploaded to the very same server and space version 4.0.X does not work and get this error?
Are the two versions different in regards of Session path or the issue causing this?

I did previously try J4.X locally using WAMP. It worked, so yes, I guess it is something with the environment. But there also must be something different between the two Joomla versions since the server at the web hosting company behaves this way.

Cheers,

[Per Yngve Berg]

In 3.x you may have set Session Handler to 'database' instead of PHP. For PHP 7.0 and higher, PHP is the recommended session handler.

[djcaptpln880]

Am I right in assuming MAYBE it is too soon to install Joomla 4? Should I wait until more versions come out?

[Per Yngve Berg]

That will not fix it as long as the fault is on your server. You have to fix the server. Contact your host.

[frighten]

In 3.x you may have set Session Handler to 'database' instead of PHP. For PHP 7.0 and higher, PHP is the recommended session handler.

I have been using PHP7.x since it was offered, so based on what you are saying default handler for Joomla prior to J4 was Database? And Now default is PHP for J4? Or do I misunderstand? If this is the case, can I change the handler to Database in Joomla, or maybe that is not an option?

No matter the above, in this case we do not even reach the step where I put in the DB credentials. So DB handler or not... I am confused.

Again repeating, All previous versions to Joomla 4 that I have had (and that is most likely all versions since Joomla 1.0 and even Mambo before that, have worked on this web host. I have some other Joomla 3.9.x sites currently running on the same host with the same server config.

If the issue is Session Path, I will not be able to change it since it is done from php.ini and the web host will not let me do it... Am I really the only one around here having this issue with the long-awaited Joomla 4?

[Per Yngve Berg]

Let your host fix it. If they refuse, change host.

[sozzled]

In J! 3.x and J! 4, the default setting for session handler is "Database".

In J! 3.x you can change the the session handler to the alternative "PHP" setting (which we recommend for PHP 7) as @Per mentioned.

In J! 4 the alternative setting is labelled "Filesystem" which does the same thing.

The default "Database" value may work but I would not recommend it. It's the first thing I change after I install a new J! website!

But this discussion about the recommended setting for session handler would seem to be irrelevant if you cannot even start "the install" as the subject of this topic indicates. The title of this topic sounds wrong to me; I think the topic subject should say "Cannot login to new J! website: failed to start session"

[Per Yngve Berg]

Even if the session is set to database, a small php session is still created with the user data in the database. It has been that way since 3.9.