Starting the Installer

[spycity]

Hi guys, im new to this and i need some help, please

Recently downloaded and installed zc v1.5 onto new host all went well and im just finished the part of changing the file permissions to 777 as per instructions.

Now trying to start the installer.

if i type in path "mywebsite.com/" i get the Welcome to Zen Cart® Documentation page which is sort of useless as all the links do not work.
if i type in path "mywebsite.com/zc_install" then i get a 403 access denied error.

i didnt create a directory for the upload so i know that the path im using is correct

[DrByte]

if i type in path "mywebsite.com/" i get the Welcome to Zen Cart® Documentation page which is sort of useless as all the links do not work.

What exactly do you mean by "all the links do not work".
They seem to work for me whenever I do a fresh setup.

if i type in path "mywebsite.com/zc_install" then i get a 403 access denied error.

403 means 'forbidden', and that's because the server is telling you that whatever you're trying to access is pointing to something that's set up to be restricted ... and I suspect in your case that's because you've got something uploaded incorrectly and your server's falling back to its next best guess and encountering a permission problem at the fallback.

Two things would help:
a) Your actual URL so we can see it in action ourselves.
b) A call to your hosting company so they can see what's causing the 403 error, and help tell you what you've done wrong, such as uploading stuff to the wrong place, or whatever.

It could also mean that your FTP upload failed and it's missing some files -- that is the most common cause of all problems when setting up websites.

[spycity]

Hi DrByte,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, here is my URL: http://spycity.net.au/

[DrByte]

1. It looks like you uploaded the /docs/index.html file to the root of your site. So now the links to documentation are invalid because they're expecting to find the files in the same folder.
So, delete that index.html file from your root, or move it back to the /docs/ folder instead.

2. Your webserver is not using Apache. It's using Zeus, and Zeus uses different security rules than Apache does (and probably less flexibility).
So, to use Zen Cart on that server you'll need to delete all the .htaccess files, in their various folders, that came with Zen Cart.
And that will expose you to security risks, so you'll need to work with your hosting company (they'll be your closest experts to Zeus requirements) to come up with new replacements for all the various security protections provided in the original .htaccess files that came with Zen Cart. If you don't do that, then you'll be leaving your site vulnerable to phishing and other attacks as well as snooping for data that's not appropriate for outsiders to see or access.

So, to be clear: whatever rules you don't rebuild in a format that works for your specific hosting company's server configuration, will leave you vulnerable to whatever those rules were intended to protect you against. And there may be some that aren't supported by your server's capabilities.

[spycity]

DrBryte,

1. there must have been a index.html file in the root by default as i also found one in the /docs/ folder.
2. i called my host and it turns out that they have apache but run zeus by default, they will now change my account to apache.

i'll reinstall the zencart tomorrow and post the the results here.

thanks.

[spycity]

DrByte,

Host has been re-set to apache and i reinstalled zencart v1.5.
i didnt encounter any issues with the installation at all.

For all reading this thread, make sure your host is set to apache before trying to install zencart, i wasted 2 days on this!

Thanks again to DrByte.