See my other post "Turn editing on button missing" for the origin of this problem.
As admin, under Site Administration block, the Frontpage link is missing. I am running 1.9.
I took a 3 wk hiatus because I thought my work was done until I received further information. Prior to this, all was working well. Nothing missing. I
I come back and I cannot edit the frontpage because the Turn editing on button and breadcrumbs bar is missing as well as the Frontpage block/module/link - whatever it's called.
I am the only admin. No one else has access to this moodle yet. Production date is set for Aug 5.
I have spent 8 hrs searching the forums for a solution. Haven't found one yet.
I read somewhere that the Frontpage module was in moodledata/1 ; that file is empty for me.
Since I have a deadline looming, any help would be appreciated.
I realize this is obvious, but are you logged in? I only ask that because you mentioned in your other post that you had recently swapped computers, so you would no longer have any cookies to log you in automatically.
Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm new to Moodle.
Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm new to Moodle.
(LOL!! Thanks David, I needed the laugh!) 
Yes, I'm logged in as admin.
Yes, I'm logged in as admin.
Myrrh,
A lot can happen in 3 weeks!
I know you are the only administrator, but are there users (staff) who have the Front Page role of Teacher?
A 'Front Page' Teacher can edit your page in just the same way as editing any other course. Since it is, as you have read, course 1.
So once you get back what you want, go and review front page roles.
Similarly, consider very carefully whether anyone (except Admin) needs to have a site-wide role (i.e. in Assign System Roles).
It is certainly of concern that moodledata/1 is empty. If you add any image file or resource into your Front Page (aside from entries into Theme directories), this would appear in .../1.
But more importantly, as soon as the first backup of this page is created, it would appear in .../1/backupdata.
So I think you may not have set up the cron script schedule! Again, once you've got your page back, see...
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Cron
As for getting things back you may need:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=102141
or you may even need Ray Lawrence' response to a similar problem, here...
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=102001
...
Hope these help.
Regards,
John
A lot can happen in 3 weeks!
I know you are the only administrator, but are there users (staff) who have the Front Page role of Teacher?
A 'Front Page' Teacher can edit your page in just the same way as editing any other course. Since it is, as you have read, course 1.
So once you get back what you want, go and review front page roles.
Similarly, consider very carefully whether anyone (except Admin) needs to have a site-wide role (i.e. in Assign System Roles).
It is certainly of concern that moodledata/1 is empty. If you add any image file or resource into your Front Page (aside from entries into Theme directories), this would appear in .../1.
But more importantly, as soon as the first backup of this page is created, it would appear in .../1/backupdata.
So I think you may not have set up the cron script schedule! Again, once you've got your page back, see...
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Cron
As for getting things back you may need:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=102141
or you may even need Ray Lawrence' response to a similar problem, here...
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=102001
...
Hope these help.
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Thanks for responding.
No one else has access to this site yet. It has not made it to production. I am the only admin; in fact, the web address hasn't even been revealed. So, I am confident that no one else has tampered with my site. I have also set the permissions so that I am the only one with full admin privileges. No teacher roles have frontpage privileges.
I have just tried each of the suggestions in the links you provided. Neither of them worked.
Specifically, after I log in as admin, the frontpage comes up. (normal)
(Abnormal) - The breadcrumbs bar at the top is missing from the left and the Turn Editing On button is missing on the right.
Under Site Admin I cannot find the frontpage link that take me to the page where I set the frontpage appearance.
I have looked under every topic/category/link under site administration block (I don't know the proper name for these) to no avail.
I thought it was located under site admin/appearance/frontpage - it's not there. If I am looking in the wrong place, please let me know.
I have made backups of the site using crontab and, like you, the empty moodledata/1 troubles me. Not sure what to do about that either. Taking it one problem at a time.
I have uploaded and installed a fresh version 1.9.2 - changed nothing; no warnings or error messages in the notifications. Still no frontpage link (thus, no frontpage page to edit), breadcrumbs or turn editing on button.
I'm beginning to question my sanity at this point. Would someone spell out the exact location of the frontpage links and files for me, please. Just so I can make sure I am checking all the right places.
Thanks
Myrrh
Thanks for responding.
No one else has access to this site yet. It has not made it to production. I am the only admin; in fact, the web address hasn't even been revealed. So, I am confident that no one else has tampered with my site. I have also set the permissions so that I am the only one with full admin privileges. No teacher roles have frontpage privileges.
I have just tried each of the suggestions in the links you provided. Neither of them worked.
Specifically, after I log in as admin, the frontpage comes up. (normal)
(Abnormal) - The breadcrumbs bar at the top is missing from the left and the Turn Editing On button is missing on the right.
Under Site Admin I cannot find the frontpage link that take me to the page where I set the frontpage appearance.
I have looked under every topic/category/link under site administration block (I don't know the proper name for these) to no avail.
I thought it was located under site admin/appearance/frontpage - it's not there. If I am looking in the wrong place, please let me know.
I have made backups of the site using crontab and, like you, the empty moodledata/1 troubles me. Not sure what to do about that either. Taking it one problem at a time.
I have uploaded and installed a fresh version 1.9.2 - changed nothing; no warnings or error messages in the notifications. Still no frontpage link (thus, no frontpage page to edit), breadcrumbs or turn editing on button.
I'm beginning to question my sanity at this point. Would someone spell out the exact location of the frontpage links and files for me, please. Just so I can make sure I am checking all the right places.
Thanks
Myrrh
Myrrh,
If at all possible you have to back-track and consider things that have changed.
Elsewhere you mention Vista...
Have you tried viewing the site from a non-Vista machine?
Have you got cookies disabled?
Have you tried more than one browser?
...Firefox, IE and Safari all create wobblies sometimes!
Have you changed themes? (Try Standard White)
Have you changed the Administrators role settings (the long list of capabilites)?
Have you tidied up available modules or altered Appearance or Front Page settings?
Check which courses have backups in their numbered directories
(e.g. the first course you created was moodledata/2, and so on)
Attached is what Site Administration should look like!
Which ones have you got???
Report back.
John
If at all possible you have to back-track and consider things that have changed.
Elsewhere you mention Vista...
Have you tried viewing the site from a non-Vista machine?
Have you got cookies disabled?
Have you tried more than one browser?
...Firefox, IE and Safari all create wobblies sometimes!
Have you changed themes? (Try Standard White)
Have you changed the Administrators role settings (the long list of capabilites)?
Have you tidied up available modules or altered Appearance or Front Page settings?
Check which courses have backups in their numbered directories
(e.g. the first course you created was moodledata/2, and so on)
Attached is what Site Administration should look like!
Which ones have you got???
Report back.
John
OK, one by one, here we go ....
Non-Vista machine - accessed site on win98 computer - same problem
Cookies - activated until they expire on both machines
Browsers - IE7 & Firefox 3.0.1 - same problem
Themes - using custom corners, tried standard white - same problem
Admin role - set to default
Appearance - changed theme, rest left alone
Front page - is MISSING
This is what I have under Site Administration block (I would give screen shot, but I don't know how):
Notifications
Users
Courses
Grades
Location
Language
Module
Security
Appearance
Server
Networking
Reports
Miscellaneous
Non-Vista machine - accessed site on win98 computer - same problem
Cookies - activated until they expire on both machines
Browsers - IE7 & Firefox 3.0.1 - same problem
Themes - using custom corners, tried standard white - same problem
Admin role - set to default
Appearance - changed theme, rest left alone
Front page - is MISSING
This is what I have under Site Administration block (I would give screen shot, but I don't know how):
Notifications
Users
Courses
Grades
Location
Language
Module
Security
Appearance
Server
Networking
Reports
Miscellaneous
Aaaahhh!
It thinks you are still in Installation mode!
In Site Administration, click Notifications.
Does anything happen???
Report again.
Regards,
John
PS: Screenshots...
On a PC: CTRL-ALT-PrtScn [print screen],
then open any graphics program, CTRL-V to paste in.
Use program's Crop Tool to crop to bit you want.
Save (i.e. export) as a jpeg file (.jpg).
In your forum post, click Browse to find the file,
Save Changes
It thinks you are still in Installation mode!
In Site Administration, click Notifications.
Does anything happen???
Report again.
Regards,
John
PS: Screenshots...
On a PC: CTRL-ALT-PrtScn [print screen],
then open any graphics program, CTRL-V to paste in.
Use program's Crop Tool to crop to bit you want.
Save (i.e. export) as a jpeg file (.jpg).
In your forum post, click Browse to find the file,
Save Changes
Just as a point of information, in case those using FrontPage do not know, Microsoft has abandonded support of FrontPage. Many Webhosting services no longer support it either. I have had to migrate to Nvu, which is a free, open source web building tool.
But Clint, I think there we're talking about two entirely different 'front pages'.
Regards,
John
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Sorry to take so long getting back. Internet service was down in my area today. The only thing under notifications is a reminder to run crontab (which I have suspended until I figure this out.)
It's like the whole module or folder or whatever it's called doesn't exist. I have tried to re-install the 1.9.2 update to see if it was just a bad install. That didn't work.
Short of uninstalling, dumping the databases and starting all over again, I don't know what to do.
Aug 5th is getting closer and I'm a bit worried. Thanks for helping me.
Myrrh
Sorry to take so long getting back. Internet service was down in my area today. The only thing under notifications is a reminder to run crontab (which I have suspended until I figure this out.)
It's like the whole module or folder or whatever it's called doesn't exist. I have tried to re-install the 1.9.2 update to see if it was just a bad install. That didn't work.
Short of uninstalling, dumping the databases and starting all over again, I don't know what to do.
Aug 5th is getting closer and I'm a bit worried. Thanks for helping me.
Myrrh
Hi John,
Everything is fixed! But honestly, I don't know what worked. I have been up all night experimenting with the permissions in the MySQL databases. I had to go there because I eventually succeeded in locking myself out of my site as admin all together.
I did this by accident. Under Assign roles, I was attempting to move a dummy student from the potential list to the existing list when I accidentally clicked on the admin name instead. Being tired, I clicked add before I knew what I had done. **Maybe there should be an extra warning when attempting to move the admin to a lower role for those of us working 30hr days.
The fix began when I accessed the database mdl_config and changed nodefaultuserrolelists 0 to defaultuserrolelists 1 so I could at least have admin privilege as a guest. (I didn't have this line for some reason. It is in my other moodle database. After I did this, - and after I got admin privs back, I found a message under notifications telling me to add nodefaultuserrolelists to the database.)
From there, I began tinkering with all the databases related to roles. Under mdl_role_capabilities, I changed permissions from -1, -1000 to 1 on all the items I thought might work. Plus, I jockeyed the roleid #s on a few items.
Bottom line, there were some permissions that were cancelling each other out, resulting in 0's,or lower, thus messing things up.
Sorry, I can't explain it any better. Maybe you can replicate the problem somehow and describe the fix better than I can since we now know it has to do with permissions in the database.
At any rate, it works now and I appreciate all the time and effort you afforded me. You're an example of what makes Moodle different from all the other LCMs out there.
Many thanks,
Myrrh
Everything is fixed! But honestly, I don't know what worked. I have been up all night experimenting with the permissions in the MySQL databases. I had to go there because I eventually succeeded in locking myself out of my site as admin all together.
I did this by accident. Under Assign roles, I was attempting to move a dummy student from the potential list to the existing list when I accidentally clicked on the admin name instead. Being tired, I clicked add before I knew what I had done. **Maybe there should be an extra warning when attempting to move the admin to a lower role for those of us working 30hr days.
The fix began when I accessed the database mdl_config and changed nodefaultuserrolelists 0 to defaultuserrolelists 1 so I could at least have admin privilege as a guest. (I didn't have this line for some reason. It is in my other moodle database. After I did this, - and after I got admin privs back, I found a message under notifications telling me to add nodefaultuserrolelists to the database.)
From there, I began tinkering with all the databases related to roles. Under mdl_role_capabilities, I changed permissions from -1, -1000 to 1 on all the items I thought might work. Plus, I jockeyed the roleid #s on a few items.
Bottom line, there were some permissions that were cancelling each other out, resulting in 0's,or lower, thus messing things up.
Sorry, I can't explain it any better. Maybe you can replicate the problem somehow and describe the fix better than I can since we now know it has to do with permissions in the database.
At any rate, it works now and I appreciate all the time and effort you afforded me. You're an example of what makes Moodle different from all the other LCMs out there.
Many thanks,
Myrrh
Myrrh,
Well done!
I wonder how it ever got in that state - perhaps we will never know.
Changing the -1's (must mean Prevent) and -1000's (must mean Prohibit) to 1's (Allow) was slick, and I'm glad you've got it all back.
I think you were sitting on a failed upgrade, and somehow you've forced its completion!
I looked at the file that generates the Admin settings for Front Page (/admin/settings/frontpage.php), and its the only one that is prefaced with...
if (getsite()) ...
In other words, the front page settings cant appear in the list if you are in an upgrading state.
That's why I suggested Notifications, which amongst other things is supposed to complete an upgrade.
But whether that had any effect I cant tell.
Take care now,
John
Well done!
I wonder how it ever got in that state - perhaps we will never know.
Changing the -1's (must mean Prevent) and -1000's (must mean Prohibit) to 1's (Allow) was slick, and I'm glad you've got it all back.
I think you were sitting on a failed upgrade, and somehow you've forced its completion!
I looked at the file that generates the Admin settings for Front Page (/admin/settings/frontpage.php), and its the only one that is prefaced with...
if (getsite()) ...
In other words, the front page settings cant appear in the list if you are in an upgrading state.
That's why I suggested Notifications, which amongst other things is supposed to complete an upgrade.
But whether that had any effect I cant tell.
Take care now,
John
I had the same issue. I spent days trawling the forums, etc.
In the end, having seen the issue revolved around the database and permissions, I simply changed every option for Student, guest and Authenticated user to the defaults.
The menu item was back!
If I get brave, and can find the time, I will change items one at a time until the fault returns and let you know.
Meanwhile, surely there must be a list of what changes what somewhere?
Phil Benson
This topic may be a little old,,, but FYI, I had the same problem,,,
history: I wanted to disable all forum posting, blog, image uploading, and all that extra jazz I didn't want users to have access to (in response to an article I read about SPAM users importing porn into their profile) and somehow I turned something off in the privileges that also turned off my "Front Page Settings" under the Administration block
and the funny thing was, it wasn't under the administrator role, it was under the guest role that did it for me,,, I'm still green with Moodle, so I am comfortable with a few mistakes like this,, but as the previous poster put, restoring roles to default fixed it,,, whew,,, launch in 2 days!
history: I wanted to disable all forum posting, blog, image uploading, and all that extra jazz I didn't want users to have access to (in response to an article I read about SPAM users importing porn into their profile) and somehow I turned something off in the privileges that also turned off my "Front Page Settings" under the Administration block
and the funny thing was, it wasn't under the administrator role, it was under the guest role that did it for me,,, I'm still green with Moodle, so I am comfortable with a few mistakes like this,, but as the previous poster put, restoring roles to default fixed it,,, whew,,, launch in 2 days!
The reason why the Guest role affected the front page is because every logged in user is essentially a legacy Guest user while on the front page. The legacy logged in Guest role now refers to the Authenticated User role. If you altered the Authenticated User role then you in return altered the Guest role, or so it appeared.
Hi Myrrh Lynn if you are still having the admin rights try checking the site administration just check weather u still have the rights allowed on changing site configuration and allowed to do averything are on Thanks hope it helps
- Administration
- / ► Users
- / ► Permissions
- / ► Define roles