Default Theme Is Wrong - Not Allowed to Access this Section

[D0tcom]

Hi all, let me preface this by saying I have NO real knowledge of how "forum". I basically follow the notices when it tells me to, but I don't really do anything. It's just an old forum for my writing projects, it isn't a popular site people use to purchase items or anything. That being said:

Version - 2.0.13 // Can't get any information on anything else because I can't access it to get it.

Last night I got an e-mail saying GoDaddy was migrating my domain, and there haven't been any changes to the site. So when I hop on today, I get this message: "The default theme's directory is wrong, please correct it by clicking this text."

So I followed the link into wherever it took me, and didn't see any way to fix it. I decided to check for new themes on the side, and installed two while I was sitting around waiting for a friend to answer a text. I swapped over to one I added to see how it looked as applied, and now I'm being told "You are not allowed to access this section."

I searched for the "not allowed" message and I found an old one from 2007 but it doesn't seem like it was ever solved - the user didn't ever respond.

I can't get back into the admin panel. I can log in, I can log out, I can see old posts, but that's about it.

I checked the FAQ list about Default Themes and know that I didn't make any changes to the directory. I haven't installed any mods because I wouldn't know how to, and I didn't go into anywhere and delete or alter any text strings.

I thought about just sucking it up and loading an old backup, which would probably solve whatever I've done, except I can't access the admin panel to even do that.

I tried to link the forum but it wouldn't let me post an external link?

[shadav]

by migrating your domain what does that actually mean? did they move you to a new server? did they change your domain/url?

I would guess try running the Repair Settings tool
and make sure that all the pathways and things are correct

just post the url without the http or www, until you reach a certain post count live links aren't allowed but you can still post the url just without the http or www part as a text and not a link

once you get access again, I highly suggest updating as you are 5 versions behind.

[D0tcom]

angdar.com/nightsomen/index.php [nofollow]

I just checked the e-mail from them and the domain didn't change, nor did anything else. They migrated from "old web hosting linux" to "linux hosting with a cpanel".

I tried to follow the instructions to do the repair, but when it says to navigate with my browser to the specific follow on text (settings.php instead of index.php), I get a 404 error.

I'll upgrade if I ever get access back.

[shadav]

as a side note, there's no smf copyright on the site....
if you want help from here you do kind of need to keep that in the footer....

did you upload the repair_settings.php into your forums root folder (the same place the settings.php is found)?
then visit angdar.com/nightsomen/repair_settings.php

in the migration more than likely they changed your sites root paths and they need to be updated for your forum

[D0tcom]

The new theme I installed removed about 80% of the text off of the forum. I'd love to give you an old screenshot that has the proper information at the bottom but everything is blank for me. I'm happy to supply it when I can get it fixed.

I can't get into settings.php. It also says 404.

Edit: I hit back in my browser about a thousand times and got a screenshot.

[shadav]

I can't get into settings.php. It also says 404.

that's repair_settings.php
not settings.php

did you upload the repair_settings.php into your forums root folder (the same place the settings.php is found)?
then visit angdar.com/nightsomen/repair_settings.php

[Sir Osis of Liver]

GoDaddy.   They're not very good with server migrations.  Not a really good idea to install new themes or mods on a broken forum.  repair_settings should fix it, but if it doesn't you don't need admin access to restore backups, you can do that via cpanel.  You'll still need to run repair_settings if they've moved you to a different server.

[D0tcom]

I can't get into settings.php. It also says 404.

that's repair_settings.php
not settings.php

did you upload the repair_settings.php into your forums root folder (the same place the settings.php is found)?
then visit angdar.com/nightsomen/repair_settings.php [nofollow]

I can't get to the root folder 😬

[D0tcom]

GoDaddy.   They're not very good with server migrations.  Not a really good idea to install new themes or mods on a broken forum.  repair_settings should fix it, but if it doesn't you don't need admin access to restore backups, you can do that via cpanel.  You'll still need to run repair_settings if they've moved you to a different server.

Like I said I'm not very good at any of this. I didn't know it was "broken", so I didn't know I was doing something wrong. I think maybe the repair settings thing would fix whatever the issue and follow on issues are, I just.. Can't get into anything to do them.

Edit to add : the funny part is last time something like this happened I had roommate who was really good with it. I just paid him to fix it. Now my money is no good because I should have been paying attention 😂

[Sir Osis of Liver]

You don't need to get into anything to run repair_settings, it's a standalone script.  Do what shadav told you to do, upload repair_settings.php to angdar.com/nightsomen/ (it's not there now) and run it with direct link (angdar.com/nightsomen/repair_settings.php).

[D0tcom]

Okay, it's clear to me I am not understanding what you both are trying to tell me. I can't access whatever is needed to upload the script. I definitely got it, it's just the in between step I'm missing. I'm sorry if I'm frustrating you, and I do appreciate the help. At least you've made me aware that there IS a fix, so it's not hopeless. I will show your guidance to a tech savvy friend, it will probably make more sense to them. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

After whatever is wrong is fixed I'll upgrade it like shadav suggested.

[KittyGalore]

If i have understood correctly the member is saying he cannot access the file manager section in cpanel to upload the repair settings file,

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Assuming you have repair_settings.php on your computer, you can upload the file to your server via FTP, or lacking that using cpanel file manager. 

[D0tcom]

If i have understood correctly the member is saying he cannot access the file manager section in cpanel to upload the repair settings file,

Yes, this. Sorry I didn't know what it was to phrase it properly. I cannot access the backside at all.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If you don't have access to the host account there's very little you can do.  You'd have to contact the account owner.

[SoftAid]

DOtcom,

Did you ever went into your files by a tool as FileZilla?
That's what Sir Osis is trying to tell you to use to upload the repair_settings.php file and run it from there.

SoftAid

[D0tcom]

If you don't have access to the host account there's very little you can do.  You'd have to contact the account owner.

I am the owner. 

I found a very VERY old e-mail from when I set all this up back in the 00s and managed to login, so I finally see what the heck you have been telling me to look at. Now everything has context and makes WAY more sense. Now I am IN the File Manager, and the Repair_Settings.php is uploaded.

Edit: Image attached. 

EDIT 2: I nuked the theme I uploaded that fudged all of this up, and now text is displaying properly again. It says "Major Security Risk, you have not removed repair_Settings.php"  So at least this is progress. You all got me WAY further than I Was three hours ago.

[D0tcom]

Okay, from here I went back to where this all started and searched the "theme" issue, and I found a fix (reset all themes).

So, a stupid question remains - do I now remove the repair_settings.php?

You all have been great, and I'm sorry for as annoying as this has been, lesson learned - I need to know more about the backside than I did when this started. But not enough to break anything. Just enough to know not to touch anything and come here first.

[shadav]

if everything is back in working order, then yes delete the repair_settings.php

any time you move to a new server, or if you change your domain name, or set up https ... you'll want to to the repair_settings.php back into your forum's root folder and run it again to fix any of the path ways...then once all is fixed and back running again you can delete the file, you don't want to leave it there because it *could* be a security issue, so safer to remove it

it's also helpful if you accidently installed a bad theme and can't access your forum, you can run the repair_setting.php and reset the forum's theme back to default

[D0tcom]

if everything is back in working order, then yes delete the repair_settings.php

any time you move to a new server, or if you change your domain name, or set up https ... you'll want to to the repair_settings.php back into your forum's root folder and run it again to fix any of the path ways...then once all is fixed and back running again you can delete the file, you don't want to leave it there because it *could* be a security issue, so safer to remove it

it's also helpful if you accidently installed a bad theme and can't access your forum, you can run the repair_setting.php and reset the forum's theme back to default

This has been an incredibly enlightening experience. I learned that I absolutely under no circumstances should do anything without having that script ready to go first, and also if I have notices at the top of my board... just come here and don't press buttons.  Thank you all again so much.

My next issue is fixing the attachments directory as it doesn't line up again, but apparently that's a common issue so I found a thread addressing it already. I don't fully understand what they're saying but at least I can see my cpanel this time. I vaguely remember this when GoDaddy moved all my stuff about 4 years ago, but then and I barely remember my own name most days.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

You can delete repair_settings.php using file manager or FTP, it's a security risk to leave it in your forum, thus the warning.  There's also a button at bottom of repair_settings to delete the file when you're done, works on most servers, not all.


GoDaddy.