Support

Hello Karen,

I think that what you are experiencing is a typical case of ownership/permissions issue. You can work around this issue by using Kickstart's FTP mode. The full instructions are provided in our troubleshooter, but let me repeat them here for you:

First, upload kickstart.php and the archive file(s) to your server. Before starting Kickstart, you will have to do some preparatory work. Using your FTP client application, create a directory named kicktemp inside the same directory kickstart.php is in. For example, if kickstart.php is in public_html directory you have to create the kicktemp directory inside the public_html directory. Using your FTP client application give that directory 0777 permissions (read, write and browse/execute to owner, group and others). Don't worry, we will get rid of that directory later.

When Kickstart starts, set the Write to files option to Use FTP. In the fields which appear below you have to supply your FTP host name (usually it's localhost, 127.0.0.1 or the FTP hostname provided to you by your host), the FTP username and password provided by your host and the FTP directory.

In order to determine the proper FTP directory, do this. Connect to your site using FileZilla. Navigate inside the folder Joomla! is installed in. Usually it's a directory named public_html, htdocs, www or something similar. If unsure don't ask us, ask your host. Now, on the right-hand pane you will find the FTP path. Most likely it will look something like /public_html. Copy this and paste it into the FTP Directory text box in Kickstart.

In the Temporary Directory box you see that there is already something written in it. Append (do not replace!) /kicktemp to it. For example, if it was reading /home/users/myuser/public_html it should now read /home/users/myuser/public_html/kicktemp. Click on the Check button next to it. It should tell you that the directory is readable. If not, retry the above procedure and don't skip any steps. Then click on the Test FTP Connection button. It should tell you that the FTP connection was established. If not, ask your host if they do support sites writing to themselves using FTP. If they don't you'll have to manually extract the archive locally (e.g. using Akeeba eXtract Wizard) and upload the files manually. In this case, please consult the Quick Start Guide for further instructions.

Some hosts do not allow you to upload files named .htaccess or php.ini. This can cause an extraction issue despite following the advice above. To test that, try uploading a file named .htaccess from your PC to your server. Alternatively, upload a plain text file (create one in Notepad, gEdit, TextEdit, etc) and try renaming it to .htaccess through your favourite FTP program. Try the same thing with a file named php.ini for good measure. If that fails, you can't use Kickstart on that server. Moreover, restoring a site on that server would be insecure. In this case, we strongly advise you to switch to a decent host.

If these instructions do not help you, please let me know. In this case you can send me a Personal Message with your site's FTP information and the URL to your site so that I can personally take a look and let you know what you need to do to restore your site in the future. If you do need to send me a PM, please include a link back to this thread so that I can easily find our conversation and help you more efficiently.

You're welcome! Let me know if that worked :)