Changed Server Password, can't get into Admin Panel

I changed my HostGator password, opened my ftp client, browsed to my site/includes/configure.php file, and from there I exported that configure.php file changed the old server password to my new password, then I changed permissions and uploaded that file again, but I still can't get into my Zen admin panel. it just reverts to my website.

Obviously, I'm missing something, but don't know what. Can someone advise me. Everything I've Googled doesn't give me specific information,

Thanks to whoever answers this, I really appreciate it.

You need to make the same changes to your /your-renamed-admin-folder/includes/configure.php file too.

Thank you so much for helping me.

strugglingnovice:

Thank you so much for helping me.

Your SERVER password is not the same thing as your DATABASE password...

Usually, these are very different.

If you change your LOGIN to hostgator, there is NO NEED to touch your configure.php files.

UNLESS of course, your database password is somehow CONNECTED to your server password.

I wasn't the one that changed it, Schoolboy. HostGator security actually were the ones that changed it. But when I try to access my Admin Panel, it just reverts to my homepage. I'm not going to work on it until this weekend, as I am always nervous that I will take my site down. Should I do what the previous poster told me to do? When I look in my configure.php file, my previous HostGator password is there.

strugglingnovice:

I wasn't the one that changed it, Schoolboy. HostGator security actually were the ones that changed it. But when I try to access my Admin Panel, it just reverts to my homepage. I'm not going to work on it until this weekend, as I am always nervous that I will take my site down. Should I do what the previous poster told me to do? When I look in my configure.php file, my previous HostGator password is there.

In general there are THREE passwords that are used.

1. When you set up hosting with a company, they provide you with a username and password to access your hosting account. This is long before you install zencart.

2 a. BEFORE zencart is installed, it needs to be connected to a database. The database is created on the server before zencart gets anywhere near it, and one of the steps in creating a database is to give it a username and password. (THESE are the user and passw settings in configure.php)

2 b. DURING the zencart installation, you are asked firstly for the username and password for the DATABASE... This "connects" your zencart FILES to the DATABASE.

3. THEN you are asked to set a username and password for zencart admin.

While it is possible that all three can be "the same" it is very unusual for that to be the case.

My Zen Cart been up and running for a couple of years now, but because of security concerns, HostGator's security team changed my HostGator password, and of course now when I log into my HostGator admin panel, I access it with same username and the new password.

But since they changed it, I'm not able to access Zen Cart with the password we set up originally when we changed it from ADMIN to the new name, when I type that in, it just reverts to my website homepage. I understand that my ADMIN name has nothing to do with my HostGator password.

I'll work with it this weekend, and see what I can do. I appreciate your help SchoolBoy, you're always so good to help us straighten things out.

strugglingnovice:

My Zen Cart been up and running for a couple of years now, but because of security concerns, HostGator's security team changed my HostGator password, and of course now when I log into my HostGator admin panel, I access it with same username and the new password.

That is quite a common action with hosts - but it should have no effect on your zencart admin login, because THAT password is stored in the zencart database, and is relevant ONLY for the database.

strugglingnovice:

But since they changed it, I'm not able to access Zen Cart with the password we set up originally when we changed it from ADMIN to the new name, when I type that in, it just reverts to my website homepage. I understand that my ADMIN name has nothing to do with my HostGator password.

This is the bit I can't understand... I do not see why changing your CPANEL login should have any effect on your Zencart ADMIN login... the two are completely unrelated.

The GOOD NEWS is that it IS POSSIBLE to re-set the ZC Admin password - in one of TWO ways.

1. When you visit your ZC admin login, is there a "forgotten password " link. If there is, click this and it should email you a reset code.

2. Using phpMyAdmin, "manually" alter the password field. (This requires specialist knowledge, and you have to be careful when working in phpMyAdmin - but it is a very quick procedure).

strugglingnovice:

But since they changed it, I'm not able to access Zen Cart with the password we set up originally when we changed it from ADMIN to the new name, when I type that in, it just reverts to my website homepage. I understand that my ADMIN name has nothing to do with my HostGator password.
I'm wondering whether when you say "ADMIN name" you're actually referring to the URL you type into your browser's address bar in order to "get to" your admin login page?

YES, that's exactly what I'm talking about. My previous URL no longer works.

I'm not going to work on this until in the morning, in case I have complications and my site goes down. I tried going into my includes/configure.php file and changing my old hostgator password to my new one, but then when i reuploaded it to my server i got a zen cart error, so i put it back the way it was. I'm just hoping that I have good luck tomorrow, because I need to get back into my Zen Cart administrative area. Thanks so much for helping me.

That's got nothing to do with passwords.

Changing the /includes/configure.php file contents won't have any effect on your admin URL, nor will it magically "give" you your admin URL. See below ...

TO DETERMINE YOUR ADMIN URL WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU NAMED IT

Look at all the folders in your Zen Cart directory on your server. Apparently your admin folder name has been changed ... which is common for security reasons. Your admin folder will be there ... you just need to determine its name by process of elimination.
(Whoever did the rename should have been able to tell you what they renamed it to)
(If all this has happened as a result of someone doing an upgrade, the you should really be talking to whoever did the upgrade, because it seems you're too far out of the loop of what's been done.)

Zen Cart contains the following folders:
/admin ---- often renamed to something else ... so read on to the rest of the list, and then whatever isn't on the rest of this list might be your admin folder:
/cache
/dbencdata (this might not be present)
/docs
/download
/editors
/email
/extras (this might not be present)
/images
/includes
/logs
/media
/pub
/zc_install (this might not be present, since it must be removed before the store will work, because it is only used for initial setup)

Whatever's not in this list has come either from an addon or is your admin folder.
Inside your admin folder will be another "includes" folder and a "graphs" and "backup" folder. That's how you can identify it.
Then use that foldername in your store's admin URL: 'www.your_site.com/your_admin_foldername'

Update: I'm back into the Admin Panel. :P I went to my Admin folder (which is not admin, but my username) then I went to the Includes folder that is in the tree underneath the Username folder, then to the configure.php file in the Includes folder and from there, all I had to do was to change my Server Password in that configure.php file, and reupload that file.

My problem was I was trying to do this from the Includes folder that was in my main root, I wasn't drilling down far enough to find that Includes folder within my username folder.

Thanks to all who helped me with this. I just couldn't figure this out on my own. Your support is so appreciated!

strugglingnovice:

...all I had to do was to change my Server Password in that configure.php file, and reupload that file.

It may be a case of you calling your passwords by the incorrect name(s), but the password in the configure.php file is NOT your server password... it is the DATABASE password.

Now it COULD BE that your server password and database password are the SAME... but it is very unusual for that to be the case.

Oh Schoolboy, I am so uneducated, as you realize. They aren't the same, but it works. It's a miracle, that "somehow" it works. Sorry I'm so dense, and thank you SO much for your patience and help. It's much appreciated.

How did you resolve this? I am now having the same problem, and no matter how many of these threads I read, I never see any final resolution, no "here is what worked" info. I went into my files on the server and made the password changes to /includes/configure.php, and my server literally will not save the edit...going nuts here.

I cannot access my zencart admin, the site is down. Trying to log in just gives me this:
0 DB_ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED
in:
[select * from project_version WHERE project_version_key = 'Zen-Cart Database' ]
If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you left no blank fields.

Trying to access the site as a customer would gives me a Connection Error. /nddbc.html

I am starting to think that my server has gone off its rails, awardspace.com. They went south when I reported a server-related PCI compliance problem, and it all went downhill from there....but having access to my site again is my first urgent problem here! Help!

OK, turns out I was doing everything correctly, and trying to reset my password on the configure.php files in both my public cart and my private login areas, but my host server had my ability to edit and save temporarily locked out while they work on solving their own internal security issues. Lovely way to waste my time. Now I am giving serious consideration to moving to a zencart hosting service! :huh:

I've got the opposite problem. I can log into the Admin panel.

But the front end site is down with the "There seems to be a problem connecting to our database" Error.

The configure.php file appears to have everything correct.

Where else should I look besides the configure.php file for db connection settings for the front end of the site?

It seems to me if I can log into the Admin backend that the front end of the site should also be able to log into the db but I am far from an expert. Could there be a redirect on the host or in another file that is triggering this error?

Able:

I've got the opposite problem. I can log into the Admin panel.

But the front end site is down with the "There seems to be a problem connecting to our database" Error.

The configure.php file appears to have everything correct.

Where else should I look besides the configure.php file for db connection settings for the front end of the site?

It seems to me if I can log into the Admin backend that the front end of the site should also be able to log into the db but I am far from an expert. Could there be a redirect on the host or in another file that is triggering this error?

A...
We have experienced this problem when the development software fails to upload files or overwrite existing files it believes are already 'sync'd'. The correction has been to erase a non-important file on the server, close and restart the software then upload the file. This usually clears the cache and rewrites the sync list.

B...
This issue has also been related to daylight savings time updates on the server side fileset. Often we are warned the file on the server has changed when only the timestamp is mismatched.

C...
Using a ***file comparison program *vs your eyes to compare files when looking for potentially dot sized syntax errors. Did you see the one in this sentence?

There may be other solutions...

Thank you Twitch for your reply, but I found the problem.

For other people's reference, here is how i found the problem:

In the Admin, under Tools I used the "developers toolkit" to search for the old password in all the .php files, and there I found a file 'configure.php' in the main includes file. This is a different file than the one that is found in the renamed-admin-folder.

Just changed the db password on that file and now it works fine. So for future reference to other searchers, there are 2 different configure.php files that need to be updated when the db password changes. One is in the main includes folder, the other is in the includes sub folder inside the renamed-admin-folder.

Good luck to all.