Support

Hello,

I've searched the forum for my issue and on the web but I cannot seem to locate any information on how to fix it.

I want to setup my Joomla site on a wamp server. I took the following steps:

1.Installed Wamp
2.Made a database file on Wamp
3.Used Kickstart to restore my backup of my site to the wamp server. I followed all of the steps properly and it all seemed to work well. I used my local database file as my database when asked in JoomlaPack Installer portion of the setup. I also follwed the steps to clean-up afterward by clicking the second link in the Kickstart process.
3. I couldn't view my site until I deleted the .htaccess file.
4. Once that file was deleted I can now view the home page of my site on the wamp server and I can log into the backend of the site (using the same Joomla log-in details as my site online from where I got the Joomlapack backup from).
5. When I go to Wamp and go to my localhost I can see the homepage of my website but when I click the links they don't take me to the rest of my site.
6. When I log into the Joomla backend of my site on the localhost server I can see all of the sections and categories there..however I just can't get to them when I click the links on my homepage.

Did I do something wrong when I restored my site? I would appreciate any help in fixing my problem. I was really pleased to have come this far in learning how to install my restore file on a local server but now I've come to a dead-end because I just can't seem to view my entire site on the Wamp server.

Thanks in advance and regards,
Lisa

Could this be related to my .htaccess file?

As I mentioned, when I delete this file from my wamp folder my homepage loads on my local server. However, when the file is present my page doesn't load.

I've been working on this and trying to find a solution to it for the last 8 hours but just cannot find anything. I did read that you might need to edit the .htaccess file in certain circumstances when you are using either the core SEF or 3rd Party SEF. I am not really sure what an "SEF" is. I used a 3rd party program to build my links to my articles but the core of my template was setup by a developer so I don't know exactly how this is setup so that I can properly edit the .htaccess file.

Can someone help me? I thought that JoomlaPack was supposed to be very easy. To be honest the Backup/Restore seemed to go very well but when I cannot view my site then something hasn't gone the way it should.

If someone could help me I would really appreciate it. I've been working on this all day. :(

Thanks and regards,
Lisa

Lisa,

If you are getting 404 (not found) errors on all but your home page, it is probably an SEF problem (search engine friendly or SEO, search engine optimization). First, go to your Joomla! Global Configuration file, on the Site page and change all three settings in the upper left of the page to "no". That will disable the built in SEF. If that doesn't solve the problem, look at your component menu for anything that has SEF or SEO in the name and let me know.

Disabling the SEF is not a solution, it is a diagnosis step. Yes, this is probably related to your .htaccess file problem. SEF generally uses .htaccess to do it's magic. The .htaccess file is black magic all on it's own. :lol:

Dale

Hi Dale,

Thank you very much for your response! I didn't see your post until this morning. In fact last night while looking at the issue some more I checked the Apache error file and there it mentioned C:/wamp/www/moonbeam/.htaccess: Invalid command 'RewriteEngine. I then went to the tray icon for Wamp and went to Apache--Modules--- and I put a check by "Rewrite Module" and then suddenly it worked.

I don't know if this is the correct solution but once I did that I could see my site even without deleting the .htaccess file and I could also use all of my links.

Kind regards,
Lisa

Lisa,

You skipped the diagnosis and went right to the solution. That's exactly the right answer! I'm glad you got it working. :D

Dale

Hi there!

I have backed up my live site onto Wamp and followed all of the insturctions without a hitch...however, whilst I can log in to the backend of the site, nothing appears on the front end. I'm pretty stumped by this, the 'install.php' and 'install folders' have been deleted, so any advice well and truly appreciated!

Thank you!

bplumb