Support

I am having an issue when setting up a site that was packaged with Akeeba Backup. I create multiple packages and maintain them for the different sites I create. When I need a particular package I either set it up locally or on my server so I dont have to start a site from scratch.

Beginning a month or so ago I started experiencing an issue when after I installed a package and clicked to go to the administrator, I would just be redirected to the home page. I have Admin Tools setup with just the bare basics that are configured on install. So nothing there has changed since before it worked. Now I have to go into the Admin Tools plugin and set the main.php to disabled in order to get to the administrator.

Because I thought this was an issue with an older copy of Joomla that I just patched, starting with 3.4.8 I created a new package thinking that might be the problem. This issue happens regardless if I am loading it up on my XAMPP localhost, or uploading it to the server. I have CloudLinux installed and have tried all the versions of PHP thinking maybe I could find a reason for this but no luck, it happens in all versions of PHP.

Has this been reported and I just missed the post, or is this something where I was just being stupid and missed a parameter in either Akeeba Backup or Admin Tools that is the reason for my problem? If there is no solution the only thing I can do is not install Admin Tools until I have the site ready to publish.

NOTE: I have not found this to happen if I run a restore in Akeeba Backup. It only happens if I am using the kickstart file and setting up a new site somewhere.

The fact that renaming main.php gets you access to the back end says that it's Admin Tools' WAF that is causing the problem. There should be a reason in the Security Exceptions Log that tells us why you can't log in when you first restore. The next step is to check that log on a new restore and see what it tells us.

On a fresh setup the log shows the following:

2016-01-07 03:52:43 ::1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/index.php?option=com_admintools
2016-01-07 03:50:53 127.0.0.1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/
2016-01-07 03:50:41 127.0.0.1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/
2016-01-07 00:20:42 ::1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/
2016-01-07 00:11:37 ::1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/
2016-01-07 00:11:27 ::1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/
2016-01-06 18:31:11 ::1 Admin Query String http://localhost/kazda/administrator/index.php

This lead me to find that when I installed Admin Tools there was an entry added for the "Administrator secret URL parameter". Why does this add anything here on a clean install of Admin Tools? However, removing the content of that table I am no longer having any issues.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

The First Run Wizard will add a secret URL parameter. The wizard is great for folks who need a little help getting started with Admin Tools but it has locked a lot of people out of their sites because they missed that setting.

I'm glad you got it working!

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