Can't access the ZenCart admin area after update

Hi guys,

I have a ZenCart 1.3.7 site that i want to update to 1.3.9.

I created a dummy site and followed the instructions. I was a little confused during the Database update in the zc_install procedure because it showed me the admin-include-configure file was not found. This is actually because my admin folder is called otherwise, not "admin" so I updated regardless of this.

Everything went fine and the site displays correctly, but I can't access the ZenCart admin area.

Is there some kind of different procedure or steps to be made when the "admin" folder is named differently?

Thanks,

Vlad

Can you access the Admin if you use the right URL to your admin directory?

Nah. It just gives me the same error. I reported this to my host. They said:

"This is definitely a script-side error. You can successfully run scripts out of that folder:

http://68.171.213.72/~blissful/store/admin-folder-name/test.php

but not your ZenCart. It's now returning a blank page to me, which indicates catastrophic errors with the Zen Cart script."

Now, I read somewhere that all the modules and add-ons have to be removed before upgrading. I didn't do that. Could this be a reason?

Thanks..

Was this an upgrade?

If I go to your shop I get a bad connection to the database ...

Yes, it was. I'm trying it again. So I'll let you know when I finish setting up, so you can take a look.

Thanks.

Ok. I've did it all again.

I've used the dummy site and setup the original shop running on 1.3.7 and the corresponding DB.

Now, before I make an upgrade I need to know the following:

Do I have to change the admin folder name back to default (admin) because it's currently set as a custom name? I ask this because when upgrading the ZenCart to 1.3.9 it shows me that it can't access the admin folder because it doesn't exist. And it is understandable since it's called differently. So do I have to change back the name to "admin" or can I just ignore it and move on with the upgrade?

Also, do I have to uninstall all the modules and the add-ons before I upgrade it to 1.3.9 and then install them again?

Please let me know

Thanks,
Vlad

vladimir_vulic:

Do I have to change the admin folder name back to default (admin) because it's currently set as a custom name? I ask this because when upgrading the ZenCart to 1.3.9 it shows me that it can't access the admin folder because it doesn't exist. And it is understandable since it's called differently. So do I have to change back the name to "admin" or can I just ignore it and move on with the upgrade?
Short answer: no, you do not need to rename the admin folder back to "admin" just to do the upgrade.
But, naturally you will still have to compare files in all folders, substituting your admin folder name vs the distribution files' folder name.

vladimir_vulic:

Also, do I have to uninstall all the modules and the add-ons before I upgrade it to 1.3.9 and then install them again?
As per the upgrade documentation found in your /docs/ folder, the answer is yes, you need to uninstall your payment/shipping modules and re-install them.
As for addons, that always depends on each addon individually. That's why you do the upgrade in a temporary copy of your site first.

vladimir_vulic:

Do I have to change the admin folder name back to default (admin) because it's currently set as a custom name?

Not if your current Admin config file contains the correct information.

So do I have to change back the name to "admin" or can I just ignore it and move on with the upgrade?

Only if the above is not true. But then you will have to manually edit the file afterwards, to reflect the new Admin dir. name.

Also, do I have to uninstall all the modules and the add-ons before I upgrade it to 1.3.9 and then install them again?

Only for all the Payment and Shipping modules. Even though they are provided by default, best to un-install then re-install. Any 3rd party modules should work but no guarantees.

Thanks guys for all your help, I finally managed to pull it off.

I have just one more concern. Everything is working perfectly, however some of the things displayed on the pages are little screwed up like the color of the sideboxes header - they are in green instead of blue. One of the sideboxes doesn't have the contents it should etc. Nothing big, but still annoying.

I guess it has to do something with the template and css files, because I customized the new ones that comes with 1.3.9 instead of just replacing them. So my question is can I just upload the css and templates files from the old site?

Thanks

You can customize the templates and css files however you see fit for your unique needs.