Moodle in English: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Friday, December 18, 2020, 6:18 PM

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you are all safe and sound! I have just upgraded to 3.9 and now the file manager for selecting the course image will not load. I am using the 3.9 Moove Theme, also just updated.

I've tried using different themes but the results are the same.

I am not a programmer, so I really do not know what to do...

I have taken some screenshots of the affected area and also a debugging outcome that I totally do not understand...

Could someone please lend a hand?

Thank you in advance!

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Saturday, December 19, 2020, 11:16 PM

I don't know if anyone has looked at my post but I have tried with the Classic Theme and after refreshing with the debugger the file manager will load....does anyone know what I need to change in the Boost them to alleviate this problem?

Please help!

Thank you!!!

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Leon Stringer - Sunday, December 20, 2020, 3:40 AM

From the error message "Cannot read property 'EditorPlugin'" the first thing I'd check is whether the site has any additional plugins for whichever editor (Atto or TinyMCE) is being used. From the Plugins overview page click Additional plugins to filter the list, then check under Atto HTML editor / Atto plugins and TinyMCE HTML editor / Plugins. If there are additional plugins listed it's probably best to uninstall these (all the ones marked as "additional" that is) so that you only have the standard ("core") plugins and see if the problem still occurs.

Whilst editor plugins are the first thing I'd check with that error message, if switching to the Classic theme works around this issue then that suggests maybe the cause is something else.

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Sunday, December 20, 2020, 2:06 PM

Thank you Leon!
I've tried looking at these but there wasn't anything extra. It works in Classic but only after F12 and refreshing the page several times...what do you think could be the problem? Actually, my entire server was just recently hacked and maybe this could be causing the damage...do you think I should back up my courses and go for a fresh installation? What would I need to save other than my courses and SCSS, HTML? It seems daunting...is there a way to export registered users and then reimport after a new installation...Thanks again!!!

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Leon Stringer - Sunday, December 20, 2020, 10:19 PM

"I've tried looking at these but there wasn't anything extra"

I've tried to guess your site's URL. If I've guessed it correctly then I see the Atto plugin directory below with additional plugins marked in red:

Directory listing of lib/editor/atto/plugins generated by web server with additional plugins marked.

Assuming I've guessed the site correctly, then either these plugins are installed in which case you need to check again or Moodle is failing to detect them which would indicate another problem with the site.

It's probably worth purging the server-side cache to see if that helps.

It's normally recommended that directory indexes are disabled for security reasons, again assuming this is your site.

"my entire server was just recently hacked"

Did the problem start after this or after the upgrade to 3.9?

"do you think I should back up my courses and go for a fresh installation"

I'd start by ensuring that the site had a verified copy of the Moodle core source code – i.e. as downloaded from moodle.org – with no additional plugins and see if this resolves the problem, obviously any functionality provided by additional plugins will be missing. This would 1) ensure the hack didn't modify source code and 2) eliminate third party source code in additional plugins as a potential cause. If that resolved the issue then add plugins in small groups to see if these resolve the issues.

You can back up courses with users or export users separately (which would lose their enrolments). If you intend to proceed with a fresh installation I'd recommend testing the steps you intend to use to ensure the outcome is what you expect.

Average of ratings:Useful (1)

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Sunday, December 20, 2020, 11:23 PM

Leon,
Many thanks! Good guess....How would I disable my directory index :/

Deleted as many as I could, purged everything for like the hundredth time. The hack was before the upgrade. How would I install the source code?

Same problem...plus, now I cannot back up my main course... seems like it never ends...I have spent the last week totally frustrated trying everything I could think of....which is very limited......

Leon, thank you!!!

Backup course_ DE 4 Prof_ Intr.pdf

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Leon Stringer - Monday, December 21, 2020, 4:02 AM

This post discusses troubleshooting the course backup error in the screenshot. If I've understood correctly (and Ken may be able to confirm) the cause in that case was that topics somehow had the Custom option for section names enabled even though the Section name was blank. Presumably you should check each topic's settings in the course.

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Ken Task - Monday, December 21, 2020, 6:26 AM

Yes, thanks to your assistance in discovery, Leon, found what is probably a bug in a version 3.5.highest at that time.

Noticed the section titles had been set to custom but that field contained no text - blank. So I edited them an put text in the custom text boxes. Problem resolved.

Ops PDF of the errors does show setting_invalid_ui_label and backup_section_task.class.php: call to base_setting_ui->set_label() errors, so guess it could be ... dunno.

So only OP could check that.

However, this 'hacked site' issue and the fact that OP does have a WP (now a version 5.6 me thinks), there could be redirects all over that site.

A curl test of site: https://opssite.org/site/

showed (among other things):

** x-redirect-by: WordPress

and

** server: NuCDN/v2.58.6 **

Not sure why OP would use such a CDN - on purpose.

'SoS', Ken

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Monday, December 21, 2020, 11:15 AM

Thank you, Ken and Leon!

That was the problem with the backup glitch. My server techies did this and it worked:

As a temporary work-around, we have commented the function in the Backup User Interface Settings file located here:
/home/dynamice/public_html/moodlemain/backup/util/ui/backup_ui_setting.class.php
Which calls and checks the Course Labels, namely:
# if ($label === '' || $label !== clean_param($label, PARAM_TEXT)) {
# throw new base_setting_ui_exception('setting_invalid_ui_label');
# }
Meaning that this function is no longer working for the Backup Interface, and the issue is no longer present.
Considering this, we kindly ask you to check the Course Labels and update us here, so we can re-enable the PHP function again to see whether it will resolve the issue.
The work-around we have applied also restored access to the Backup functionality for this specific case, however, it is not ideal, as it required changing the core coding of your Backup tool, which is not the best practice.

So, now I just need to deal with the File Manager thing. Could this be a server security software limitation causing the load problem of the file manager???

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Ken Task - Monday, December 21, 2020, 12:24 PM

Follow the advice the techs suggested. Fix the course(s). Backup courses and download those backups. Have techs restore what was commented out ... first.

One thing at a time ...

"So, now I just need to deal with the File Manager thing. Could this be a server security software limitation causing the load problem of the file manager???"

Now are you absolutely sure your server has recovered from being hacked?

Ask your techs that!

My 2 'sense' ... nope, spelled it right! ;)

'SoS', Ken

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Monday, December 21, 2020, 12:10 PM

Hello again,

It seems that I have found the File Manager problem...I deselected the YUI combo loading option in the Admin area and now it seems to be working fine.

Problem solved??? I will let you know if it breaks again.

Thanks for all the help!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!!

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Ken Task - Sunday, December 20, 2020, 11:59 PM

Pardon intrusion ... but ... "...my entire server was just recently hacked ...". Mind expanding upon that?

Everything I've ever read about a hacked server advises to wipe it out ... start over from scratch (restoring site backups of whatever running but only after inspecting those backups to see if hacks exist in code/data directories and even DB [depending upon the 'hack'].

Are you running any other app on server ... like a WordPress or Joomla CMS?

My 2 cents.

'SoS', Ken

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Monday, December 21, 2020, 2:08 AM

Thanks Ken,

Yeah, every index.html was set to some redirect... 3 weeks of hell!!! I am preparing for a clean swipe as all the code, paranoid, is starting to collapse... I've saved as much as possible, the bricks, at least this time I won't need to make the bricks... I'm really hoping that I will be able to save all work I've done... We'll see... How can I help???

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by Ken Task - Monday, December 21, 2020, 2:53 AM

Ouch! Just index.html files? or is there more you haven't discovered yet? :|

No first hand experience with WP hacked sites (did have more experience than I cared to acquire for Joomla 1.5.x hacked sites for an ISD that had 15 such sites) ... NO FUN AT ALL!

Anyhoo, might look at:

https://www.malcare.com/blog/wordpress-hacked-redirect/

Do make a full site backup of your Moodle - code + DB dump + minimal moodledata/filedir/ and download those backups to get them off server.

Those, if clean, will be what you'll use to restore moodle to a clean server.

'SoS'. Ken

Average of ratings: -

Re: File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

by MarkAnthony Chesner - Monday, December 21, 2020, 12:59 PM

Will do!

Thanks!!!

Average of ratings: -

General help

File manager not functioning in Course Setup...

"I've tried looking at these but there wasn't anything extra"

"my entire server was just recently hacked"

﻿"do you think I should back up my courses and go for a fresh installation"

"do you think I should back up my courses and go for a fresh installation"