Problems with access to webpage - Permissions?

17 posts / 0 new
Last post
#1 Sat, 02/12/2011 - 04:46

Problems with access to webpage - Permissions?


I have been trying to install a MOD onto my phpbb sw and I can not run the following php script:

I get this error:


You don't have permission to access /forum/store/mods/Buttons menu 1.1.0/root/install_menu/install.php on this server.

I looked at the permission on the directories and the file - they are set at 755 so I should be able to access it so I am stumped as to why I get this error.

Can anyone help ?


Sat, 02/12/2011 - 08:56

What exactly is in the error logs of that virtual server?

Sat, 02/12/2011 - 09:49

The error logs in $HOME/logs/error_log may indeed help.

Also, everything from "" and under gives me that same error. That may suggest a problem with something in the "store" directory, whether it be a .htaccess file, the permissions of the directory, or something else.


Sat, 02/12/2011 - 11:23


Thanks for your suggestions.

The log file is 34Mb - I can see it with the WebMin->Others->File Manager but can not open it to veiw it.

I looked in the WebMin->System->System Logs but could not see one showing an error for this.

I have just noticed that there is a .htaccess file on that store directory. Could be the problem?

I am using FileZilla and for some reason it does not show hidden files. Thats really anoying and I can not see anyway to change it. So I can not transfer and read the file or delete it with FileZilla

Unless you know how to make it show hidden files ?

Sat, 02/12/2011 - 11:26

you could try winscp(.net) instead of filezilla.

You could/should check the error logs under virtualmin (and the expanding the logs section). Virtualmin will display the logs in your browser window.

PS Yes, the htaccess is a good candidate. Please post the content here

Sat, 02/12/2011 - 12:44


It was the .htaccess

It had "Deny All" in the first line.

I could see it with the File manager as it was a small file.

I ran that install program but it failed with all kinds of missing file errors.

So I decided to reinstall the forum from scratch ( No Posts Yet)

So I deleted the forum database and the /forum directory ( with File Manager)

But now when I look at the server with File Zilla it still shows the forum directory and sub-forums under it. So I tried to delete them with filezilla and they wont delete !!

I restarted the File Manager and see the forum directory is still there and each of the subdirctories has an .htaccess file with this in it:

(Files *) Order Allow,Deny, Deny from All (/Files)

I have not come accross this before.

I had to delete all directories two days ago and start again and I didn't have a problem then - could this be a virus ?

BTW - I sorted it and am nor re-installing.

Sat, 02/12/2011 - 14:18

I have re-installed the whole phpbb system.

It was working fine until I tranferred over some MOD files and tried to run the MOD install.

Now when I try and run the index.prg from the /install directory I get a load of errors starting with this line:

SQL ERROR [ mysqli ]

Table 'forum.MENU_TABLE' doesn't exist [1146]

However when you look at the index script, it has nothing to do with that error.

The browser is finding a file that doesn't exist on the server, not according to filezilla and the WebMin File manager.

Does this mean that a server between my browser and my server is sending old page from its cache ?

I refresh of course but I get the same error !!!

It has been over 30 minuite now so maybe I have some file pointer errors on my server hard drive ?

Any thoughts?


This is the index script:

* @package automod
* @version $Id$
* @copyright (c) 2008 phpBB Group
* @license GNU Public License

* @ignore
define('UMIL_AUTO', true);
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
define('IN_INSTALL', true);
$phpbb_root_path = (defined('PHPBB_ROOT_PATH')) ? PHPBB_ROOT_PATH : '../';

if (!file_exists($phpbb_root_path . 'umil/umil_auto.' . $phpEx))
    trigger_error('Please download the latest UMIL (Unified MOD Install Library) from: <a href=""></a>', E_USER_ERROR);

include($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/functions_mods.'.$phpEx);

// The name of the mod to be displayed during installation.
$mod_name = 'AUTOMOD';

* The name of the config variable which will hold the currently installed version
* You do not need to set this yourself, UMIL will handle setting and updating the version itself.
$version_config_name = 'automod_version';

* The language file which will be included when installing
* Language entries that should exist in the language file for UMIL (replace $mod_name with the mod's name you set to $mod_name above)
* $mod_name
* 'INSTALL_' . $mod_name
* 'INSTALL_' . $mod_name . '_CONFIRM'
* 'UPDATE_' . $mod_name
* 'UPDATE_' . $mod_name . '_CONFIRM'
* 'UNINSTALL_' . $mod_name
* 'UNINSTALL_' . $mod_name . '_CONFIRM'
$language_file = 'acp/mods';

// Logo Image
$logo_image = 'install/automod_logo.png';

// Get version info
include($phpbb_root_path . 'install/install_versions.'.$phpEx);

// Include the UMIF Auto file and everything else will be handled automatically.
include($phpbb_root_path . 'umil/umil_auto.' . $phpEx);

// clear cache
cache_purge('', 0);
cache_purge('auth', 0);

As you can see, it could not produce those error messages.

Sat, 02/12/2011 - 17:53


Your browser may have something cached in it that's causing the problem. You could try clearing your browsers cache to see if that helps.

Or, if you have another browser on your computer, you could try that and see if you get similar results.

However, I do see a bunch of "include" statements in that script you're calling. Any of those included scripts could be generating that error message. Or maybe a script that they included :-)

You can always take a look at your Virtual Server's access log (in $HOME/logs/access_log) to see what pages are being called by your browser.


Sat, 02/12/2011 - 23:58


I tried looking with a different browser and got the same problem.

I am looking at the loogs from the WebMin->System->System Logs

and I see this:

Feb 12 22:47:40 heavyhoster named[1748]: unexpected RCODE (SERVFAIL) resolving '':

Its repeated about 20 times.

I don't know if it has anything to do with it but it doesn't look healthy !

Sun, 02/13/2011 - 00:36

BTW I tried to look at the Virtual Server's access log but as I said before, it is 79Mb. When I try to use the

It appears to go all the way back to 2009 !

How can I add this log to the WebMin->System->System Logs ? There is an option to add a new log.

If I do that I can see just the last 100 lines and search for particular entries.


Sun, 02/13/2011 - 01:03

From that 70Mb log I have found these relevant entries: - - [12/Feb/2011:22:14:56 -0700] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 200 11106 "" "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.00"

and - - [12/Feb/2011:23:20:16 -0700] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 200 11106 "" "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.00"

Does that tell us anything ?


I found the logs under VirtualMin->Logs and Reports->View Log File.

Sun, 02/13/2011 - 18:00

Well, the key would be to note the time, try running the mod -- then review the logs for the exact time of day you tried to run that mod.

However, the logs you're showing appear normal, and just show the correct install.php being called.

If that's the case, you may need to talk to the phpbb folks to figure out what's going wrong :-)


Fri, 02/18/2011 - 03:13 (Reply to #12)

As you may know I have had various problems during the last couple of weeks writing files to the server with FTP clients.

I thought that it was over but it happened again just now.

I tried to overwrite a file on /home/guru54gt5/public_html/forum/includes named functions.php.

When I tried this with FileZilla, the file kept reverting to zero bytes.

So I deleted the file and tried again, got the same result.

I checked the server Using WebMin File Manger, deleted the file.

I closed FileZilla and opened WinSCP.

Tried to upload the file and got this message:

Coping File To Remote Side Failed.

General failure (server should provide error description). Error code: 4 Error message from server: Failure Request code: 6

Any idea what this means and why it might happen ?

The only thing I can think of is that I did use the WebMin File Manager to Change the name of a Subdirectory before I did transfers.

  • it was forum/install, and I changed it to:
  • /forum/install_menu

Could it be that when I use WebMin File Manager it upsets the file location pointers or something ?

Maybe I shouldn't use it, but as I am not very familiar with unix commands, I find the WebMin File Manager an easy to use tool. But if it is gonna mess up my server, obviously I'd rather not. Perhaps this has nothing to do with the problem ?

At the moment my forum won't work cos I can not upload the functions file :(

Thanks for any help.


Fri, 02/18/2011 - 10:35

Using FileZilla or WinSCP, can you successfully upload files into your users home directory, "/home/guru54gt5"?

I'm curious if uploads work some places but not others, or if all uploads break. One possible cause of all uploads breaking could be if your user reached it's disk quota limit.


Sat, 02/19/2011 - 00:37

I think I have got to the bottom of this one.

It seems that when I use WebMin File Manager I am logged in as root. If I create a sub-directory or move files around they are only available to root.

Then when I try and use my FTP client and upload files to that sub-directory it wont work. I usually login as the that domain admin - and the server won't give access even though the directory I created with root is within the domain name directory.

I haven't tried it - but can I login to any of my domains with my server "root" and password? That would allow me to use both software tools.

The reason I use File Manager is that if I want to delete a whole directory and replace it, Webmin does it in a flash - whereas FTP takes ages.

My Dedicated Host provider chaged the user names over for me. I assume that I can do this with VitualMin - can you please tell me how I can check the user for a directory and change it ?

I still have a problem with one directory.



Sat, 02/19/2011 - 09:18


Yeah, whatever user you log into Webmin/Virtualmin with -- that's who will own any files created by the file manager.

So, just log in as the admin account for your Virtual Server, rather than root, and that should solve the issue you're seeing.


Sun, 02/20/2011 - 08:44

OK - I'll do that in the future,

But how do I correct the problem I still have ?

"My Dedicated Host provider changed the user names over for me. I assume that I can do this with VitualMin - can you please tell me how I can check the user for a directory and change it ?

I still have a problem with one directory."