phpBB 3.3.14 to SMF 2.1.4 - latest of both

[Swiftek]

That path does not look right...
Normally should be a full path like
/var/home/mysite.com/phpbb/

This path would be for a Linux system.

@Caine60 , if you could tell us about your system, we'll know better how to help.

[Caine60]

The system is phpbb3 3.3.14 I have installed smf 2.1.4 locally, I access smf with localhost/smf and the forum with localhost/forum both working, I am using xampp as a local server, if you need anything else just ask

[Caine60]

nothing to do the answer is always the same ..... "Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later."         

[vbgamer45]

It should be  filepath like c:\inetpub\wwwroot\
If you are using windows

[Swiftek]

nothing to do the answer is always the same ..... "Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later."         

Did you verify what I mentioned about database access?

[Caine60]

yes of course, passwords and users are correct

[Swiftek]

yes of course, passwords and users are correct

Well, if both forums are working when you get that error, then the SMF database user doesn't have rights to the phpBB database.  Where/how are you checking those privileges?

[Caine60]

Well, to avoid problems, and also because the root user has no password on xampp and from what I understood the converter will not go forward if you do not give it a password for the database, I created a specific user on Phpmyadmin, I assigned it administration permissions (root) and then I assigned it both databases, I don't know what else I have to grant it, I also tried with php7.2 but it generates an error and does not go forward, with php8 nothing to do as above, the only one that seems to work well is php7.4... but with the problem we are talking about...

[Swiftek]

Well, to avoid problems, and also because the root user has no password on xampp and from what I understood the converter will not go forward if you do not give it a password for the database, I created a specific user on Phpmyadmin, I assigned it administration permissions (root) and then I assigned it both databases, I don't know what else I have to grant it, I also tried with php7.2 but it generates an error and does not go forward, with php8 nothing to do as above, the only one that seems to work well is php7.4... but with the problem we are talking about...

I'm not understanding exactly what you've done, as you're not speaking very precisely.  Personally I need full sentences and absolutely specific detail to help. 

Generally it's best to always set a password on everything, especially root accounts.  Many systems actually block access when no root/admin password is set.  I think you should fix this.

It sounds like you've set up a 3rd user on your MySQL server and given it access to both databases, but that's not the procedure laid out by the converter's instructions.  I think you should fix this.

@vbgamer45 may know different, but here's my understanding:

The only user that matters is the one set in SMF's "Settings.php" file.  That user must have access to both databases.  If it doesn't, you'll get the "unable to connect" error that you're seeing.  IMO, that's what's going on here.

[Swiftek]

Either that, or the path to phpBB is incorrect, as @vbgamer45 mentioned.

[Caine60]

I'll try to explain myself better but consider that I'm using the translator, I don't speak much English and I have to make do.
So for the user I did this, as I said I created a user on phpmyadmin that has all the root privileges with full access to both databases, this user is also admin on both forums and is also the user that I entered in the phpbb and SMF configuration files (see the quote below), this for the user, for the link to the forum it is definitely localhost/forum, if I put this link in the converter box it responds with the message to try again later, any other value I put in it tells me that it is not exact so the link is the right one.

Code Select Expand

$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbport = '';
$dbname = 'XXXXXXXXXXXX';
$dbuser = 'XXXXXXX';
$dbpasswd = 'XXXXXXXXXXXX';
$table_prefix = 'phpbb_';

[Swiftek]

I'll try to explain myself better but consider that I'm using the translator, I don't speak much English and I have to make do.

My apologies.    Thanks for your extra effort. 

is also the user that I entered in the phpbb and SMF configuration files

That's the important bit and that sounds proper. 

the link to the forum it is definitely localhost/forum

OH!  That may be it!    I missed this before, but you showed your phpBB path as "/forum", and mentioned that your SMF install is at "/smf".  Therefore, the path in the converter needs to be:

Code Select Expand

../forum
Try that!

[Caine60]

Bingo You were right it was ../forum, I went forward just one page...but here it stops and doesn't go forward

[Swiftek]

Bingo You were right it was ../forum, I went forward just one page...but here it stops and doesn't go forward

Well done! 

But that error is different than mine.  I need to know more about your system.

• What Operating System (Windows/Linux/Mac)?
• What version of Apache?
• What version of MySQL?
• What version of PHP?

[Caine60]

After trying various versions this is the best solution at the moment...

OS = windows 11 x64

[Swiftek]

After trying various versions this is the best solution at the moment...

OS = windows 11 x64

To move forward, I recommend you change your stack to MySQL 8.2.0 and PHP 8.0.0.

I think that is all we get for now.  Hopefully @vbgamer45 finds something they can fix.  Thanks, @vbgamer45 for all your efforts! 

I think the next step would be to try converting phpBB to SMF 2.0 and then upgrading SMF to 2.1, as that seems to have worked for some people.    I will try that today to see how it goes and let you know!

Still, it would be great to get the SMF 2.1 converter working reliably.

[Caine60]

In the meantime I converted my forum, I installed 2.0.19 and used its converter, the conversion went well for almost everything except the user passwords that were not imported well, some small problems with the quotes but nothing irreparable... after the conversion I updated to 2.1.4 without any problems

[Swiftek]

In the meantime I converted my forum, I installed 2.0.19 and used its converter, the conversion went well for almost everything except the user passwords that were not imported well, some small problems with the quotes but nothing irreparable... after the conversion I updated to 2.1.4 without any problems

That's great!  Well done.

I don't see a converter for phpBB 3.3 in the SMF 2.0 folder.  Am I missing it?
https://github.com/SimpleMachines/converters/tree/master/SMF2.0/phpBB

[Caine60]

I don't see a converter for phpBB 3.3 in the SMF 2.0 folder.  Am I missing it?

is the same of 3.2

[Swiftek]

After trying various versions this is the best solution at the moment...

OS = windows 11 x64

Which version of MySQL did you use for the conversion to SMF 2.0?