Cannot access admin area, receive a 500 Internal Server Error

[crewgirl]

I downloaded ZenCart today (technically yesterday) so I'm assuming I have the latest version. I followed the download and install instructions to a T. Everything goes well until I attempt to log in to my admin area. I am receiving this:
Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

After receiving it the first time, I deleted all of the zencart files from my server and reinstalled them. After receiving the message again, I did a forum search and followed a suggestion to remove the words "admin" or "login" from the folder name. I made sure to change the directories in the configure.php file as well as the folder name. I have changed the permissions back as well.

I've run out of patience with this. It is really beyond the scope of my knowledge so I have no idea where to start to fix this.
Any help would be appreciated.
Anna

[kobra]

500 errors

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=63

[kuroi]

This problems experienced on a clean installation (folder names won't be causing this) is most likely a clash between the permissions that your files have on your server (if you uploaded them via FTP then your FTPO program's defaults will determine this) and what you server's security setup requires.

The other commonish cause is problems with non-Zen Cart .htaccess files blocking access to Zen Cart files.

Unfortunately, we can't really advise you on either of these scenarios, as both need specific knowledge of your setup. I'd recommend contacting whoever manages your server (which would also cover your for the less likely, but possible, case where your server is misconfigured).

[usr50]

I experienced the identical error when I installed 1.39h in February.
to gain access to the admin I added the following line to the .htaccess file in the renamed (admin) folder

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html

[Kim]

Which host are you using? Is it Linux or Windows?

[crewgirl]

Thank you for your responses. I deleted and reinstalled zencart this afternoon and now I receive a blank page.
I am using windows, but it occurs to me that the server might not be. I'm not sure how to find that info, or even if it matters. I'm going to search the site for more information (perhaps someone else received a blank page as well), but any help you could give in this thread would be appreciated.

[crewgirl]

Sorry for the multiple posts. After reading some other threads I felt I should supply a bit more information.
The website is hosted by solid-hosting.net. I use cPanel to access the administrative area of my website. The URL for the website is www.crewgirlracing.com. The URL to access the store side of ZenCart is www.crewgirlracing.com/store and to access the admin side is www.crewgirlracing.com/store/letmein/. I used Filezilla and Notepad++ as recommended in the set up instructions. I am on my 4th install of ZenCart and have double checked all the changes I was instructed to make. I attempted to use the debugging utility, but was unsucessful. I have heard wonderful things about ZenCart and would really like to use it for the ecommerce portion of my website please help me straighten this out!!!

[usr50]

crewgirl,
no need to install/uninstall. did you add the 'directoryIndex index,php' to the admin area .htaccess ?
.htaccess is folder specific and will tell the admin folder to search and open 'index .php' which is the login page
I see your store side works . the admin side is a config or permissions issue. and if you have a 'cpanel' you're on linux type server

[crewgirl]

Thank you usr50. One more question, where is the htaccess file that I'm supposed to change located. I've found one in store/includes, another in store/letmein/, and in store/letmein/includes. I know that I've made changes in all 3 places during the install process. I'm afraid that making incorrect changes will only make things worse for me in the long run.
Also, while typing this, it occurs to me that I don't exactly know how to add this line of code. I'm going to assume that I will need to open it with Notepad++ but where in the file do I add it, and what should it say exactly (there seems to be a bunch of stuff in capital letters, parentheses, and quotation marks, and I won't even pretend to know why).

I'm sorry if I seem obtuse about this. The sad truth is, I feel like I'm trying to navigate a foreign planet.

[usr50]

assuming you are running on a linux platform -you will find it in the renamed (admin) folder.( store / letmein )
and use notepad and copy and paste the line at the bottom after the last line of text in the .htaccess.

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
then save & upload the .htaccess overwriting the previous .htaccess.

*in the off chance you are running windows server IIS you can see a recent post called 'what have I done' for windows instructions
without actually seeing the install It is difficult to troubleshoot BUT having the same error as you this add to the .htaccess will bring back the admin login.
post your results.