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Site Restoration

#37595 installation folder seems incomplete

Posted in ‘Site restoration’
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Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

PHP version
7.4
CMS Type
Joomla!
CMS Version
3.10.11
Backup Tool Version
8.1.10
Kickstart version
7.1.2

Latest post by nicholas on Friday, 26 August 2022 01:25 CDT

Tuesday, 23 August 2022 12:21 CDT

aimlesslady

I have taken a backup of the live site and installed it in a different directory. I extracted it with kickstart. But when I tried to run the installer, I get an error 404 page not found. I looked at the extracted files and I see the index.php file and defines.php and version.php are missing. (see image of file manager).

I have run the backup twice thinking that the first might be corrupted. I moved the backup file via the file manager--not downloading and uploading the backup file.

Please advise.

Wednesday, 24 August 2022 02:50 CDT

nicholas

Your screenshot is very puzzling. The problem is that the files missing have no rhyme or reason.

When you are taking a backup, Akeeba Backup copies the installer files from the special archives in administrator/components/com_akeeba/Master/Installers into the beginning of the backup archive. This is followed by the database dump (the files in the installation/sql directory) and the files of the site being backed up.

Your screenshot looks like some of the installer files were copied, there was no SQL dump and there are site files extracted. This cannot possibly happen. So I am thinking that what I am seeing is not what was backed up but what happened when you tried restoring a partial / corrupt backup archive on top of an existing site.

Can you please ZIP and attach the backup log file? I need this to understand what is being backed up.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Wednesday, 24 August 2022 18:16 CDT

aimlesslady

Thank you for taking a look. BTW, I deleted existing files in that directory before I extracted it with kickstart.

Wednesday, 24 August 2022 18:18 CDT

aimlesslady

I tried to upload the log file that I zipped, but got this error:

This file type is not supported. Warning Error while uploading file Akeeba Backup Debug Log.zip: COM_ATS_ATTACHMENTS_ERR_MEDIAHELPERERROR   So I am going to try uploading the txt file.

Thursday, 25 August 2022 03:33 CDT

nicholas

The files are definitely added to the archive:

DEBUG   |20220823 15:47:22|Kettenrad :: Ticking the domain object
DEBUG   |20220823 15:47:22|  Adding installation/index.php; Next offset:3694
DEBUG   |20220823 15:47:22|-- Adding installation/index.php to archive (virtual data)

I think that the problem may be different. It may be that your host is automatically deleting files. The fact that you are only missing .php files points to that.

Try extracting the archive on a local server (e.g. XAMPP, WAMPServer, MAMP, ...) using Kickstart. I am pretty sure you will see the files in there. Alternatively, since you have a ZIP file, you can extract it locally using 7-Zip. It may complain about CRC errors, ignore them and the files will be extracted.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Thursday, 25 August 2022 14:35 CDT

aimlesslady

I see the files are there. I contacted the host and they extracted the files in a new directory and the files were there. They asked where to move the files and I told them and when I tried to navigate to https://wilsonproperties.com/wilsonbackup/installation/index.php I got a blank page.

I then deleted all the files and folder and re-ran the kickstart installer. It extracted the files but then when I clicked on installer I got a 404 error.

I decided to try extracting the files without kickstart and then I was able to run the installation by just navigating to navigating to https://wilsonproperties.com/wilsonbackup/installation/index.php.

So the culprit sees to be kickstart. However, I used the same kickstart file in another site on the same server and had no issue. Perhaps it got corrupted in the upload??

It is resolved now but I thought you should know about the issue I had.

Thanks for your help and direction.

Ellen

 

 

 

Friday, 26 August 2022 01:25 CDT

nicholas

Kickstart definitely extracts all files from the backup archive. What I suspect happens is that your host is checking the files being created by PHP scripts and possibly auto–removing some files they deem “suspicious”. That's why I want you to try using Kickstart on a local server. It will dispel any doubt that the archive is complete and that Kickstart is working as it should.

If you think that hosts deleting files is outlandish, well, here's a news article on our site from a decade ago describing that exact same thing: The new threat: hosts deleting files without asking. It's nothing we haven't seen before.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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