Topic: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

I am trying to install FrontAccounting on GoDaddy shared hosting using Microsoft IIS 8.5 and the Plesk website admin tool. I am a fairly experienced amateur programmer, pretty good at ASP.NET and C#, but practically no experience in PHP. I would like to use FrontAccounting for my social club, i.e., a very small not-for-profit organization. The initial attempt at FrontAccounting installation resulted in error 500 (without any clues as to its cause). I noticed the instructions near the bottom of the FrontAccounting installation guide under 'Troubleshooting' paragraph 2: it says "At the top of  /includes/session.inc you will find this line :"; but the line itself appears to be missing. When I look at this file, there is no line that could be uncommented near the top except for the copyright notice. What needs to be done?

In the file root/index.php, I tried to insert at the top

$path_to_root=$_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"];

Inserting 'die( ... )' statements here and there showed me that error 500 now occurs a little later in line

    if (!file_exists($path_to_root.'/config_db.php'))
        header("Location:".$path_to_root."/install/index.php");

I tried to insert  $path_to_root=$_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"];  near the top of  /install/index.php  but that did not help.

I really like the concept of doing accounting via a website because it enables participation by several people in our club. Please help me over the initial hurdles of installation! Thanks!

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2 (edited by poncho1234 07/09/2018 05:08:04 pm)

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

I have no experience of IIS, but there are a few posts on the forum:-

Topic - go here 1st
Topic
Last Post in this topic
In the wiki

The FrontAccounting Wiki(Manual, examples, tips, setup info, links to accounting sites, etc) https://frontaccounting.com/fawiki/

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Error 500  will occur, when your directory doesnot have permission to access the files.

You better check godaddy to resolve 500 error. Check with godaddy call center and update us.

Subscription service based on FA
HRM CRM POS batch Themes

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Talked with godaddy help. All they could tell me is that the problem was in the code. They do not provide coding help. I made sure directories are writable, and I made some code modifications in index.php and install/index.php as shown here:
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AvoFL8QrGVaTk26cc1r04RfG_RZL
No more error 500 at the moment, but "This site can't be reached". I don't know where to go from here. Please look at the document at above link and help me further.
Thanks!
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5 (edited by poncho1234 07/10/2018 07:56:40 pm)

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

It also states:-
ERR_UNSAFE_REDIRECT

Have a look at this post

What does phpinfo state?

The FrontAccounting Wiki(Manual, examples, tips, setup info, links to accounting sites, etc) https://frontaccounting.com/fawiki/

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

poncho1234, thanks for your link to https://frontaccounting.com/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=2581, but I was unable to make use of the info there where the complaint was too much redirection whereas I am having trouble getting any redirection.

phpinfo is available here: http://pssafrontacc.rad129.net/phpinfo.php

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Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

I'm sure there is another post here which is very similar to yours, but I cannot find it!

@apmuthu maybe on later/tomorrow he will know more than me

Any clues in error logs?

Your PHP Version     5.4.45 poss a little low..

The FrontAccounting Wiki(Manual, examples, tips, setup info, links to accounting sites, etc) https://frontaccounting.com/fawiki/

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

@ROBERTRACKL - Do this steps and tell us clearly.

1. Enable Debugging mode for FA,if you installed it already, otherwise leave this step.
2. Check the root of FA if it has config.php or config_db.php , if the file is there. rename the files and try again.
3. If you didnt install the FA do this step. Open the index.php and add the below code and get us the errors what you see

error_reporting( E_CORE_ERROR | E_CORE_WARNING | E_COMPILE_ERROR | E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_USER_ERROR | E_USER_WARNING | E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR );
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

4. And also echo the path what you are trying to access. I feel that the path we call the install.php is not including the right path. 

May be this helps to resolve your problem

Subscription service based on FA
HRM CRM POS batch Themes

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Thank you for your instructions, kvvaradha.

1.: I have not yet succeeded with installing, so I cannot do 1.

2.: Root of FA does not have config.php nor config_db.php, so I cannot do 2.

3.: Added the lines near the top of index.php. Details of exact file contents and results are in https://1drv.ms/b/s!AvoFL8QrGVaTk26cc1r04RfG_RZL (Steps 4, 5 and 6). Essentially, there was no change in web site behavior, i.e., PHP did not display any errors.

4.: Please see the echo statements shown in index.php in https://1drv.ms/b/s!AvoFL8QrGVaTk26cc1r04RfG_RZL . I hope that is what you suggested.

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Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Since your FA webroot does not have config.php and config_db.php files, FA has not been installed. It could be a matter of file permissions of the webserver user for the folder in question.

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Directory G:\PleskVhosts\rad129.net\pssafrontacc.rad129.net is the root. These users/groups have full control in the root and all subdirectories: Application pool group, Plesk Domain User. Plesk FTP subaccount can only list the folder contents.

I modified index.php as follows:

<?php
/**********************************************************************
    Copyright (C) FrontAccounting, LLC.
    Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, GPL, 
    as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 
    of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  
    See the License here <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html>.
***********************************************************************/
        error_reporting( E_CORE_ERROR | E_CORE_WARNING | E_COMPILE_ERROR | E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_USER_ERROR | E_USER_WARNING | E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR );
        ini_set('display_errors', 1);

    $path_to_root=$_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"];
        echo "index.php: path_to_root = ".$path_to_root."<br />";

        if(is_writable($path_to_root)){
                echo '&nbsp;&nbsp;It IS writable<br />';
        }else{
                echo '&nbsp;&nbsp;It is NOT writable<br />';
        }

    if (file_exists($path_to_root.'/install.html'))
        echo 'index.php: File '.$path_to_root.'/install.html exists<br />';
    if (!file_exists($path_to_root.'/config_db.php'))
        echo 'index.php: File '.$path_to_root.'/config_db.php does not exist<br />';
/*
     if (!file_exists($path_to_root.'/config_db.php'))
        header("Location:".$path_to_root."/install/index.php");

    $page_security = 'SA_OPEN';
    ini_set('xdebug.auto_trace',1);
    include_once("includes/session.inc");
    add_access_extensions();
    $app = &$_SESSION["App"];
    if (isset($_GET['application']))
        $app->selected_application = $_GET['application'];

    $app->display();
*/
?>

Running the website resulted in:

index.php: path_to_root = G:\PleskVhosts\rad129.net\pssafrontacc.rad129.net
  It IS writable
index.php: File G:\PleskVhosts\rad129.net\pssafrontacc.rad129.net/install.html exists
index.php: File G:\PleskVhosts\rad129.net\pssafrontacc.rad129.net/config_db.php does not exist

Then I modified index.php again by moving the /* down a couple of lines so that the existence of config_db.php would be tested. Running the web site resulted in "This site can't be reached" ... ERR_UNSAFE_REDIRECT

Already a couple of days ago I modified the start of install/index.php as follows:

<?php
/**********************************************************************
    Copyright (C) FrontAccounting, LLC.
...    See the License here <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html>.
***********************************************************************/
$page_security = 'SA_OPEN';
$path_to_root=$_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"];
echo "install/index.php: path_to_root=".$path_to_root."<br>";
die("Dies intentionally in install/index.php");

if (file_exists($path_to_root.'/config_db.php'))
    header("Location: $path_to_root/index.php");
..
..
..

Execution never gets to install/index.php since I have never seen the message 'Dies intentionally in install/index.php'.

What else should I do towards getting the installation going?

By the way, I have another website that is written in PHP and runs well under IIS and GoDaddy:
http://tng11.rad129.net/login.php
I derived it from http://www.tngsitebuilding.com/

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Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Your genealogy site is proprietary that may result in externally processed PHP code obfuscated/encoded code being used.
Your server's PHP can be tested by running a php file having <?php echo "Hello World!";  ?>.

PM the access details to have a look removing and confidential info / resetting passwords to be other than your normally used ones you can revert to later.

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

Following apmuthu's suggestion, I sent a private message to apmuthu on July 12, and another one on July 20. I also sent a private message to poncho1234 on July 24. Because I have not received a reply to any of these, I am wondering whether the messaging system is working ok, or whether I might have done something wrong sending those PMs?

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Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

There is no direct link to the Forum Messaging module in the main menu though the PM links are there in every post. Also the forum message notifications do not work after the version upgrade.

Check your PM now.

Re: Install trouble on shared hosting using Microsoft IIS and Plesk

I just sent a PM to apmuthu.

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