Staying Logged in problems

[JRSofty]

When I first installed SMF I logged in and had it set to stay logged in and it worked quite well, UNTIL

I logged out so that I could test the way things looked to a guest so that I knew that a guest could only post on a certain board and the ones they are not suppose to see can't be seen.

Then I registerd for a new member for testing so I could check to ensure that the different member levels could only see the things that they are suppose to see and not the things that they aren't suppose to see.

All fine and good until I logged back into my original account. NOW I can't seem to stay logged in to the forum. After so many minutes I'm logged out automatically. I've checked my cookies and my cleared them and attempted again and still no luck. I've noticed that the only cookie I have is a session ID are there suppose to be more cookies? How are sessions handled because it may be something with my server's settings that I can adjust to fix the problem.

Mostly it is just annoying to keep constantly having to login again.

[ryanbsoftware]

did you use the quick login or the login page?

if you used the quick login make sure the drop down box has forever selected

if you use the login page make sure you click the check box that says something like always keep me logged in

and make sure you aren't having cookies deleted either.

[JRSofty]

I've used both ways of logging in and have set the "Keep Me Logged In" Check box as well as the dropdown in the quick login box and no luck.

Like I said earlier I've only had one cookie is more than one cookie placed?

[ryanbsoftware]

well if your not on multipule forums cookies should present no challege, id gie the cookie a diffrent name than normal though to be sure.

[JRSofty]

Nope that didn't do it either.

Anyone else have an idea how I can stay logged in?

[JRSofty]

This is just getting weirder.

Ok now when I log in and I then later come back to the site I'm logged out UNTIL I click on the home button in the main menu then I'm logged in again WTF??

[[Unknown]]

You're using different URLs (for example, one with www. and one without.)  Please try subdomain independent cookies.

-[Unknown]

[JRSofty]

Nope that didn't fix the problem either.

I'm only seeing one cookie being placed on my browsers and that is PHPSESSID I don't see the name for my cookie like I do when I come here For example this forum has the cookie SMFCookie10. Now I changed my cookie name in my settings however I don't see that cookie being placed on my browser (using FF 1.0)

It is not killing me to log in all the time but it is really annoying.

[[Unknown]]

By the way, there's no "FoxFire" .  Try Firefox .

What cookie name are you using?  Is it letters and numbers only, starting with a letter?  Can I see a phpinfo?

What is phpinfo.php?

-[Unknown]

[JRSofty]

You can get a php info at this url

http://jrsofty.stinkbugonline.com/phpinfo.php

I checked my cookie name and changed it from JRS_COOKIE04 to JRSCOOKIE04 and still no luck just seeing the PHPSESSID cookie.

Yeah I do that a lot with Firefox mostly from that old Clint Eastwood movie from the 80's 

[JRSofty]

Ok looks like I've done something to get it to keep me logged into the forum (the more important part). Although Now it doesn't read the cookie from the SSI?

[[Unknown]]

Turning on the META redirect resolved it, although it's ugly.  I think this has been changed, slightly, in the 1.0 (preview) version.

-[Unknown]

[JRSofty]

Thanks [Unknown]

I'll look forward to the final release and hope that clears it up.

[DuckFat]

I am hainv the same problem.  I log in and select "forever" then I'll browse somewhere else.  If I click in my bookmark for the forums again it'll prompt for a login and it'll be (or appear to be) in "guest" mode.   However,, if I click on a forum or on "home" it'll have me logged in.  This is really confusing to users.   I've tried the cookies and meta settings in all the permutations and it still doesn't work.  Any more suggestions as to what to do?  It just doesn't seem to be reading the cookie on the return visits until a second function is selected.

[[Unknown]]

I am hainv the same problem.  I log in and select "forever" then I'll browse somewhere else.  If I click in my bookmark for the forums again it'll prompt for a login and it'll be (or appear to be) in "guest" mode.   However,, if I click on a forum or on "home" it'll have me logged in.  This is really confusing to users.   I've tried the cookies and meta settings in all the permutations and it still doesn't work.  Any more suggestions as to what to do?  It just doesn't seem to be reading the cookie on the return visits until a second function is selected.

Turn on subdomain independent cookies, log out, and log back in.  The reason for this is that yor cookie is set for:

www.example.com

And your bookmark goes to:

example.com

(or the reverse, the point is they are different.)

Once you click somewhere, the URL is automatically fixed.... which is why you are then logged in.

-[Unknown]

[DuckFat]

Okay, I did as you said and it shows the proper login in the info area.  However, now the "logout" button does absolutely nothing under FireFox.  I have to turn off the subdomain independent cookies option to allow a user to logout.  Under IE it seems to be okay but FireFox it's borked.

Anyone else seeing problems with login/logout under Firefox?

[[Unknown]]

Clear your cookies...

-[Unknown]

[catfished]

Well I have the same problem and have tried everything suggested in this thread but no luck. I'm using SMF 1.01.  Here's a link to my PHP Info

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[diva_uno]

I and my members were experiencing the same problem. If you logged in and selected forever you would still have to log back in later. Actually I could just click on the "home" button and I would be back in...did not work for everyone. If you closed your window and went to the board you were taken to the login page.

I what Unknown suggested and it seems to be working. Well...it's working for me. I couldn't logout after turning on subdomain independent cookies so I just closed all windows and an cleared my cookies. Then I logged back in  and closed out all windows to test and I was not redirected to the login page anymore.

I'll have to see if everything is working properly for the rest of my members...and then test my own "staying power." But seems to be working fine.

[catfished]

Thank you diva_uno but it does not work for me no matter what I do.  When I turn on subdomain independent cookies, members cannot login, it gives an error message telling them to clear their cookies. Some of the members don't even know what cookies are, they want to eat them with milk.