Installation Error Message

Immediately following the installation of the Zen Cart I have the following error message:

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot find save handler files in /home/ibskinc/public_html/shop/includes/functions/sessions.php on line 108

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/ibskinc/public_html/shop/includes/functions/sessions.php:108) in /home/ibskinc/public_html/shop/includes/init_includes/init_templates.php on line 78

Would someone be able to assist me with this error?

Thanks...

Is your public_html/shop/cache folder "writable", as directed during installation? It needs to be world-writable, which is typically CHMOD 777.

DrByte:

Is your public_html/shop/cache folder "writable", as directed during installation? It needs to be world-writable, which is typically CHMOD 777.
Yes, the folder is already set to CHMOD 777.

Please, if anyone can help here, it would be greatly appreciated. I have a client loosing their source of income here...

In your /includes/configure.php file, what are these set to?```
define('STORE_SESSIONS', '');
define('SQL_CACHE_METHOD', '');
define('DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE', '****');

Here is what I have:

define('STORE_SESSIONS', 'db');
define('SQL_CACHE_METHOD', 'none');
define('DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE', '/home/ibskinc/public_html/shop/cache');

If it's set to 'db', then it shouldn't even be trying to save any "files", since it's been directed to use the database.

Were there any warning messages or errors on the System Inspection screen during installation?

What's the URL to your zc_install folder?

No errors during installation that I am aware of.
That zc_install folder is not there. I used the Fantastico Installer via cPanel to install it...

Oh.

Well ... when Fantastico fails, it's best to do a fresh regular install.
It could be that one or more files are corrupted or there is a permissions problem, or something else has gone wrong during the automated installation. We have no quality-control over what fantastico does.

So ... download a fresh copy of Zen Cart, unzip it, and follow the installation instructions in the /docs folder.
You might want to delete the files fantastico installed before you upload yours. Or else upload to a different folder.

Ok, I cleaned out all occurances of Zen Cart per the Fantastico installation. I downloaded the latest release from this site and uploaded it to the server.

Ran the installation routine with no errors and still receive the following error:

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot find save handler files in /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/includes/functions/sessions.php on line 108

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/includes/functions/sessions.php:108) in /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/includes/init_includes/init_templates.php on line 78

Now what?

What is the URL to your zc_install folder?
I want to look at the system-inspection details etc.

http://www.ibskin.com/store/zc_install/

This is likely your problem:

WARNING: "PHP session.use_trans_sid = ON"

How to resolve it?
You can try the following, and/or work with your hosting company for the best way to do it on "their" servers.

PHP Session.use_trans_sid should be disabled.

The session.use_trans_sid setting in your server's PHP.INI file is set to ON.

This could potentially cause you some problems with session handling and possibly even security concerns.

You can sometimes work around this by setting an .htaccess parameter such as described here: http://www.olate.com/articles/252, or you could disable it in your PHP.INI if you have access to it.

For more information on the security risks it imposes, see: http://shh.thathost.com/secadv/2003-05-11-php.txt.

(You may have to create the .htaccess file if you don't already have one.)

OK, I did as you recommended and turned it off, but I am still getting the lines at the top of the page.

Do I need to uninstall it and re-install before it will take effect?

Also, when I attempt to enter the admin area, I receive the flowing errors as follows and then nothing at all below it:

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot find save handler files in /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/includes/functions/sessions.php on line 108

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/includes/functions/sessions.php:108) in /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/admin/includes/init_includes/init_templates.php on line 36

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/includes/functions/sessions.php:108) in /home/ibskinc/public_html/store/admin/includes/functions/general.php on line 34
Everything seems to center around this line 108 in the sessions.php file?

Nitram:

Everything seems to center around this line 108 in the sessions.php file?

That is correct.

That line is part of the driver that tells PHP to activate a "session". A session is used to track everything that happens in your shopping "session" (or admin login "session"). Without a "session", you won't stay logged in, your cart contents will not be remembered from screen to screen, you won't be able to checkout, etc.

It seems your server has something wrong with its PHP configuration as it relates to sessions ... even the custom session manager overrides.

What happens if you change your configure.php files to use this:

define('STORE_SESSIONS', '');
```(ie: blank instead of 'db')

No difference, I am sorry to say...:unsure:

Well, I'm sorry to say ... two things ... first, I've not seen this before -- even with thousands of Zen Cart installs on hundreds of different servers/hosting-companies. Second, I'm going to blame your server's configuration, as I eluded to in my previous post. I'm not sure if it's their PHP configuration or their filesystem permissions configuration, or something else ... or a combination of several things.

I can say with strong certainty that if you were to take this to another host (running a more traditional configuration) you're likely to see it work fine right away. For a list of recommended hosts, click the "hosting" link at the top of this page.

Sorry you're having trouble! Hopefully you'll give Zen Cart a try on another server so that you can enjoy all the benefits it offers you to get your ecommerce business going!

Zend, the authors of PHP, have this on their forum:
http://www.zend.com/support/knowledgebase.php?kbid=144&view_only=1
... it suggests that either the session.save_handler setting in your php.ini file is set to something invalid (make sure there are no spaces inside the quotation marks), or else the session.save_path folder isn't writable.

Zen Cart attempts to override both of these, thus the suggestions I made earlier about alternate methods.

Thanks for the additional information, but guess what? The 'session.save_handler' is already set to 'files'... :unsure: