Moodle in English: Unable to create an admin account during installation

Dear all,

I'm trying to install Moodle 3.10.3 in a IONOS web hosting (DB MySQL 5.7) at moodle.bembus.org.

I uploaded the files via SFTP and used the web-based configuration, associating the database. All went well until I was asked to create an administrator account (see screenshot attached). The problem here is that I can't create an account because there are problems with the page display and I can't enter the password. I've also tried logging in with other browsers, clearing cookies and sessions in moodledate folder and following the instructions listed here https://docs.moodle.org/35/it/FAQ_Installazione#Non_riesco_ad_accedere_-_Sono_rimasto_bloccato_sulla_schermata_di_accesso, but nothing changes.

Could you please help me? Thanks,

Marco

Screenshot.png

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Sunday, 28 March 2021, 6:25 AM

Has a config.php file been created in your code directory?

You should also try manually removing all files/folders in
moodledata/cache/ moodledata/localcache moodledata/muc/
All of those should be rebuilt by moodle as needed.

Do you have command line access to server? (ssh/Terminal)
If so, could try the following to bypass admin account creation via Web:

cd /path/to/moodlecode/admin/cli/
php install.php --adminuser=admin --adminpass='Super$2xgz3!' --adminemail='root@moodle.bembus.org'

Help on install.php shows:
--adminuser=USERNAME Username for the moodle admin account. Default is admin
--adminpass=PASSWORD Password for the moodle admin account,
required in non-interactive mode.
--adminemail=STRING Email address for the moodle admin account.

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Sunday, 28 March 2021, 6:44 AM

Follow up ... since no installation yet ..

Could remove config.php from code root, drop the database and re-create it, then try the entire install via terminal:

See https://docs.moodle.org/310/en/Installing_Moodle

section on command line installer.

You will be prompted for the same things asked in the Web based install, only when creating admin account pasword that would be in clear text with no special restrictions that might be hosting providers.

'SoS', Ken

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Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Sunday, 28 March 2021, 7:20 AM

Dear Ken,

With reference to your first message, I tried removing the indicated files and folders but it didn't work. So I accessed the command line via server (SSH/terminal) and entered what you had written me, but I get this error message:

X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.9
Content-type: text/html
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in /homepages/2/d859838118/htdocs/clickandbuilds/moodle/admin/cli/install.php on line 114

In relation to the second message, I thank you but unfortunately I am not able to use advanced functions with the command line. I looked here and also here but I can't follow because it's too difficult. So I repeated the installation via web but it didn't work.

Is there any solution?

Thanks,

Marco

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Sunday, 28 March 2021, 8:47 AM

Don't sell yourself short ... you can do this!!!!

This error:
X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.9
Content-type: text/html
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in /homepages/2/d859838118/htdocs/clickandbuilds/moodle/admin/cli/install.php on line 114

shows the command php scriptname.php found an old version of PHP 4.4.9 and not php-cli which are two different things. php command found web php version 4.4.9 not the php-cli needed to run php scripts from command line.

So now we explore ...

Access the terminal again, and right after logging on, type:

which php [ENTER]

That will show the default path to the php your system will find when
using just php some.php file.

We need to find where php-cli is on your system and a version that is required to run 3.10.

And ... looks like your provider has a page about that:

https://www.ionos.com/help/hosting/using-php-for-web-projects/executing-php-scripts-in-the-command-line/

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Leon Stringer - Sunday, 28 March 2021, 6:10 PM

Just to add, the web server's headers show X-Powered-By: PHP/7.4.16 which looks like the correct version. A quick search shows some more PHP 4.4 weirdness at the command line with IONOS.

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Tuesday, 30 March 2021, 5:50 AM

Dear all,
thank you for your help. I followed Ken's suggestion and the Ionos tutorial, I confirm that I have PHP 7.4 but the terminal gave me this answer:
clitablesexist

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Leon Stringer - Sunday, 28 March 2021, 5:59 PM

It looks like there's a problem loading files using slash arguments. This isn't uncommon with IONOS. For example when the browser tries to load http://moodle.bembus.org/lib/javascript.php/-1/lib/polyfills/polyfill.js the web server returns 404 Not Found. But the the file does exist, you can see it at http://moodle.bembus.org/lib/polyfills/polyfill.js.

There's some information about configuring this on IONOS in the docs and here's a thread with some other suggestions.

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Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Tuesday, 30 March 2021, 5:53 AM

I also followed the instruction in the Moodle docs for IONOS but the result is still the same. I also looked at this post, but couldn't figure out.

I understand that the problems of Moodle with IONOS are many and it is not easy to solve them....

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Tuesday, 30 March 2021, 6:53 AM

Page you linked to in Spanish so did a translation of a section of that page into English ... here's what it said:

"IMPORTANT: we must make this change with each new update, unless they already incorporate the correction from the original "weblib.php" file."

Page was all about hacking weblib.php file. Hacking of core code never recommended, and like the warning says, if you update or upgrade site you will have to hack again.

IF ... IF ... weblib.php file really an issue, wouldn't we see many folks in these forums saying 'me too'?

I host some sandboxes on RS - CentOS 7 - with compat php and mysql ... no issues installing a 3.10. nor updating. Just updated the other day:

/var/www/html/moodle310/version.php:$release = '3.10.3 (Build: 20210325)

Soooooo ..... if you can't figure out the command line install ... which, each time an install fails, if it did finish populating the tables of the DB, you'll have to drop the database, create a new blank one, then try the CLI install again.

?????

Maybe you could seek an INOS specialist to install for you. :|

'SoS', Ken

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Sunday, 4 April 2021, 2:34 AM

Dear Ken,
thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately, I don't know how to solve the problem and I can't ask for help from IONOS which offers support only for its products and not for third parties. I know that in fact this is a Moodle issue that might affect them directly but the support of this hosting is quite poor and therefore I don't recommend it - or at least this is my personal experience.
I tried to install Moodle from the command line installer, but I stop at the beginning because when I write "chown www-data /path/to/moodle" I get "Action not permitted" (https://docs.moodle.org/310/en/Installing_Moodle#Command_line_installer).
I think I'll use another LMS that comes inside IONOS and installs automatically, although it's of lower quality.
Thanks again for your support,
Marco

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Sunday, 4 April 2021, 3:57 AM

You certainly have options and choices in the LMS 'world'.

https://www.ionos.com/cloud/cloud-apps/elearning#apps
I see:
ABC Learning platform, Canvas, and jupyterLab

Can't seem to find any reviews about ABC Learning nor jupyterLab at elearning review sites.

Clips from IONOS descriptions:

The ABC learning platform is a learning platform that has been developed according to sound pedagogical principles to help teachers create effective online communities for learners.

Canvas LMS is a cloud-based learning management system.

JupyterLab is a web-based interactive development environment for Jupyter notebooks, code, and data.

I assume that since you've tried Moodle install, that the one close to what you want to use is Canvas LMS or ABC Learning.

Can't comment on either one ... no first hand experience.

However, not sure I'd say this is a Moodle issue ... it is a hosting support issue.

Have you checked into https://moodle.com/moodlecloud/ to see if that would meet your needs? No response expected.

'SoS', Ken

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Monday, 5 April 2021, 9:02 PM

I also think it's a problem of the hosting and this makes me fear that also with other LMS there will be problems...

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by AL Rachels - Sunday, 4 April 2021, 4:29 AM

Hi Marco,

Sorry to jump in late on this as I've been rather busy for the past few days trying to do various family member tax filings. Both the outdated Moodle that you can install using IONOS app install, and a regular Moodle install can be done, and upgraded to higher versions of Moodle via git, but it requires some "extra" steps to get it to work.

I have one Moodle site, http://m3x.drachels.com/, that currently is running Moodle 3.9.6+, that started out as Moodle 3.4. A few months after the initial install, I tried in vain to upgrade it with a side loaded git, that always failed. That is, it always failed until I found this forum entry: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=408652#p1649476. Once I completed those four git config changes, git pull, has worked like a charm for the weekly upgrades.

Last week on a "free" day, I decided to see if I could get a Moodle 3.10 install to work the way I did it years ago when Moodle code was much smaller, and a git stall would work. Sin Moodle 3.11 is coming out soon, I wanted to make sure I could at least upgrade to 3.10. I pre-made a database, user, and password and also premade a moodledata folder for the new 3.10 with a htaccess file. I then logged into a terminal window, and got Moodle 3.10 code via instructions here: https://docs.moodle.org/310/en/Git_for_Administrators, with one small change like this:

git clone git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git mynewmoodle

For the install to work you do have to apply the four git config's mentioned above. You also need to have a htaccess file in your moodledata folder:

deny from all
AllowOverride None
AddType x-mapp-php7 .php

I did make my on new config.php and put all the required info in it using my already working one as a guide.

Currently, I do not have https implemented, but plan to when I have some more free time.

I hope you can get yours to work. Gotta go finish my own taxes now.

HTH

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Sunday, 4 April 2021, 5:50 AM

@Al ... for after Taxes ..

This part ... "I pre-made a database, user, and password..." are we talking the initial user for Moodle (default 'admin') or user/password for the moodle DB?

Dunno if OP used a 'cPanel' or not ... nor do we know if hosting provider sets users up an a 'user jail' environment (might be why www-data didn't work) ... like /home/customerlogin/public_html, but I did discover one has also to follow quirks of that environment when cPanel present in setting up a DB ... might have been hosting provider ...

DB name had to have customerlogin_ in front of DB name.

DB user also tied to customerlogin when it came to prev's on DB for the Moodle.

Don't have superuser creds for the DB server ... unless one can find the hidden support files placed there by provider.

Have been into several shared hosting systems and even ones that were moved from shared hosting to a dedicated VPS (cookie cutter copy of users environment). Have learned one thing ... getting a handle on users env very important. From ssh prompt, env [ENTER] one can see and figure out a lot ... but site will never be able to follow official Moodle docs or even typical Community Forum discussions/suggestions - quirks always present.

Anyhoo ... hope Taxes don't drive ya to drinkin! :|

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by AL Rachels - Monday, 5 April 2021, 1:09 AM

@Ken,

... "I pre-made a database, user, and password..." Yes, this was for the Moodle database. I did the admin name and password after the normal first boot up that creates all the Moodle tables.

All the DB details, dbhost, dbname, and dbuser were gleaned from the IONOS database management app. the dataroot I figured out years ago, so don't remember details of what I did. However, since I had a Moodle set up by using the the IONOS app installer, I looked at the config file for that Moodle to verify what I needed to use for the dataroot in the recent Moodle 3.10 install.

One thing I forgot to mention, these Moodles would be frustrating to use for an actual production site mainly due to the fact they limit cron to once per day, week or month. Also, if you have a bunch of traffic, they will send you a nasty email about using too high a percentage of CPU cycles. (voice of experience) So, before I retired, I used my IONOS Moodle just for development and testing and ran my production Moodle on my own, home server. Probably 90% of my IONOS usage is for personal and family email accounts.

Late today, when I'm done with taxes, I plan to see if I can get a Moodle 3.11 set up and working. I will try to remember to keep notes this time.

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Monday, 5 April 2021, 9:21 PM

Thank you for your suggestions. I installed moodle via git, created moodledata and made it writable, then added .htaccess and did the on-screen install. The problem is that the result is always the same: http://moodle.bembus.org/user/editadvanced.php?id=2.
I wrote the 4 gits you mentioned in the terminal, but for the first three nothing happens, for the fourth I get this message "fatal: not in a git directory".

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by AL Rachels - Monday, 5 April 2021, 11:16 PM

Hi Marco,
Sorry you still are having problems. Did you do the four gits in a terminal window and in the root directory of your newmoodle folder?
The reason those steps look like nothing is happening is that you are just adding information to the git configuration file which happens VERY quickly.
If you send me an email drachels at drachels dot com, I will give you access to my latest notes on adding a Moodle 3.11 to IONOS.
Yesterday I did discover those four steps have to be done prior to the last git step in the Moodle directions, so the order would be this to create a Moodle 3.11 in a folder named moodle311:

cd /path/to/your/webroot
git clone git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git moodle311
cd moodle311
git branch -a
git branch --track MOODLE_311_STABLE origin/MOODLE_311_STABLE

git config --global pack.windowMemory "100m"
git config --global pack.packSizeLimit "100m"
git config --global pack.threads "1"
git config core.preloadIndex false

git checkout MOODLE_311_STABLE

I have also learned when running the Moodle install.php file, that when it gets to the confirm paths page, to just manually create the Moodle config.php, and place it in the new Moodle code folder. Once that's done, refresh the confirm paths page and it should start installing all the Moodle DB tables, followed by setting up the admin account.

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 12:24 AM

Hi AL Rachels,
First of all many thanks for your reply. I followed the procedure you showed me on the terminal and did not encounter any error messages. However, I'm not sure how to proceed with the last lines you wrote (I have also learned when running the Moodle install.php file, that when it gets to the confirm paths page, to just manually create the Moodle config.php, and place it in the new Moodle code folder. Once that's done, refresh the confirm paths page and it should start installing all the Moodle DB tables, followed by setting up the admin account.). What do I write inside the config.php that I create? Where do I find the information? Thanks!

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 1:19 AM

Pardon intrusion ... but ... I don't understand ... Marco, you are doing everything via command line in acquiring code/set up of DB and storage (moodledata), but then turning to web based install and getting stuck on setup of admin user password. If I am not incorrect, all the tables for the database have been created and the very last step is setup of the admin user for accessing site.

Have you tried (with a fresh database) and no config.php file in code root using CLI to do the install?

cd /path/to/moodlecode/admin/cli/

php install.php

Assuming php above will find a compat version of PHP's php cli ... which isn't the same as the PHP used for web.

That cli only install.php script takes web service out of the loop and it's just compat php-cli talking to the DB server/database for the Moodle.

You will be prompted for all the things web based install would prompt for including admin user and password. Only using CLI install, there won't be the special protections for the admin password entry ... that you can enter in clear text ... ie, you can see what you are entering ... and since not using web interface no special web protections exist.

The CLI based install, once all parameters are given correctly, including the admin user name and password, then creates all the tables and inserts a row in mdl_user table for the admin user (login and password).

That's not to say above is in-secure - it gets the job done (at least where I host and in hosting providers other than where you host).

Comment: am not going to claim that you will not have issues with password protected forms once moodle is installed in hosting provider that does not appear to be Moodle friendly, but at least you are beyond a blocker right now and can then truely evaluate IF current hosting will suffice.

My 2 cents ...

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 1:58 AM

Rats! Above posting timed out! Grrrr! Just one last thing ...
CLI install will tag config.php file the CLI install created. You might have to change permissions on config.php file so that all users (others) in the globe (internet) can read it:

in moodle code directory, issue:
chmod ugo+r config.php

Then list the config.php flle to check:

ls -l config.php
should show something like:
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 730 Apr 5 12:42 config.php
yours might say www-data www-data but the first column is the important item here.
rw means read/write ... the second set of 3 is group permissions - r means read.
And most importantly, the last set of 3, the last r-- means all others (internet) can read the file.

Without making that minor adjustment access to moodle via browser will show a blank screen so make that minor adjustment to permissions before attempting login to the moodle.

Again ... my 2 cents.
'SoS', Ken

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 1:32 AM

Dear Ken,
First of all thank you for your reply and I can tell you that we finally solved the problem!
With reference to your message, at the end of the various attempts, when it was not possible to proceed on screen I always repeated the installation via command line according to the instructions you gave me here: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=420233#p1693628. But the problem is that it still didn't work and the same error message appeared...

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Nurbek Tentiev - Tuesday, 30 March 2021, 1:33 PM

From what I have understood from looking at the links, IONOS hosting doesn't support slasharguments and that code does the replacement of 'slasharguments' method to a relative path method.

To be honest I don't like solutions by changing code of scripts. You might want to consider changing hosting provider to another that supports slasharguments.

btw... I have no experience with IONOS... what is your web server - apache or nginx?

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Sunday, 4 April 2021, 2:36 AM

Dear Nurbek,
it's Apache but, as I was writing to Ken, I think I'm going to use another LMS because I don't know how to use the Command line installer and the IONOS support is pretty much like it's not there.
Thanks,
Marco

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Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Nurbek Tentiev - Sunday, 4 April 2021, 3:34 PM

A way of installation has nothing to do with web server configuration.

I don't think that Command line installation will help to resolve the issue with using slash arguments feature. I don't see any connections between these two things.

After having googled a bit I found some tips in the internet on how to enable slash arguments on 1and1 Ionos hosting. The solution might be to set the php directive cgi.fix_pathinfo to "0".

1) First, check its current value. Create a file, for example, testphp.php with the following lines:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

2) Upload the file to your web server folder, for example, to the root folder.

3) Open it in the browser: mymoodleurl/testphp.php

4) cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1?

5) create a php.ini file in the moodle folder with the following content:
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0

6) Check again the mymoodleurl/testphp.php to see if cgi.fix_pathinfo has changed to 0.

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Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Monday, 5 April 2021, 9:01 PM

Dear Nurbek,

Thanks for your help. I did what you told me and changed the cgi.fix_pathinfo parameter to 0, as you can see here: http://moodle.bembus.org/testphp.php, but unfortunately the problem remains the same: during installation I find the same screenshot that I attached in the first message of this conversation and I cannot enter the password of the administrator account.

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Nurbek Tentiev - Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 7:03 PM

OK. It means that that tip is not applicable to IONOS hosting anymore.

I was trying to explain you that the problem is in hosting. In order for Moodle to work correctly you have to enable slash arguments support on the web server.

Moodle accesses files via PHP, i.e. like ... type="text/css" href="loadfile.php/AAA/mystyle.css" which means that mystyle.css file in AAA folder has to be loaded by loadfile.php script. Because of non-functioning slasharguments, your moodle cannot load any external files including all css, images and so on.

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 11:15 PM

My only purpose in suggesting command line install is to get by the password entry box for the admin user. With that one hurdle out of the way, OP can/should be able to move forward, even though this ...

cd /path/to/moodlecode/admin/cli/
issue:
php cfg.php |grep slash
Will see:
slasharguments #
where # is either a 1 - which means on
or a 0 = which means off

Then in config.php add a line:

$CFG->slasharguments='0';
or 1

Just above the last line of config.php

require_once(__DIR__ . '/lib/setup.php');

In the Admin GUI of a 310 site setting is found in:
https://site/admin/settings.php?section=http
and has this comment:

Slash arguments' (using PATH_INFO) is required for SCORM packages and multiple-file resources to display correctly. If your web server doesn't support 'slash arguments' and you are unable to configure it, this setting can be disabled, though it will result in things not working.
Note: The use of 'slash arguments' will be required in future versions of Moodle.

So if acceptable to OP, then their choice ... but OP should make note or the 'note' above.

Bottom line ... current hosting isn't a Moodle friendly place to host a moodle and OP should seek another hosting provider - IMHO!

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Nurbek Tentiev - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 12:19 AM

Setting 'slasharguments' on server and setting 'slasharguments' in Moodle are different things. By default it is on.

I am not sure if it's turned off on newly installed Moodle (but at the stage as Marco is referring to), it will help to complete the installation (= create admin account via web page). I never tried that myself but Marco could give a try to change Moodle's 'slash arguments' setting to 0.

You can do disabling the option in moodle even easier - by changing the 'slasharguments' field in mdl_config table of the database. If you have something like Phpmyadmin, it won't take you a really long time.

Anyway, if it will help and admin user will be created... it will be still needed to enable slash arguments on the server as Moodle works only partially without it. I assume that at least uploading/accessing files via PHP will not be working.

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Matt T - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 12:53 AM

If I were OP, I don't think I'd continue the install with this provider if I couldn't get slash arguments working.

OP - can you:
1. Recreate a phpinfo file
2. Load http://yoursite.com/phpinfo.php/test (note trailing bit)
3. Have a look at what is being populated in the following variables - look under the 'PHP Variables' section at the bottom of the page:
$_SERVER['PATH_INFO']

$_SERVER['ORIG_PATH_INFO'] (if it exists, it may not)

If you actually see /test in the first one that's good, if not, that's bad. The second one is an oddity, sometimes it's populated, but Moodle doesn't support reading from it without core patches (see here - note the reference to 1&1 in there, ie, IONOS - looks like this has been a long-standing problem).

I wouldn't recommend patching the core code yourself, which is what they appear to suggest on that Spanish page you linked. That will make upgrading difficult in the future, and there's no guarantee the patch will work on later versions of Moodle.

4. If (3) was successful, move the PHP file level up to the /theme directory and load it there, repeat from (1), and see if you get the same results.

I think that if $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] is not being populated even when cgi_fixpathinfo = 1, contact your server host and ask them why it's not working. As I mentioned earlier, it seems this is a long-standing problem with IONOS. If their response is unsatisfactory 'jump ship' by finding a better host.

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Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Marco Sartor - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 1:36 AM

Dear all,
I did as Ken said, then deleted everything and re-installed from scratch following Matt. Unfortunately neither of them changed the problem with the screen for creating an administrator account but... I found the solution in another thread! Here: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=392962#p1655912.
I'm sorry I didn't notice this message earlier because the title of the conversation wasn't very revealing and I didn't understand that that user had the same problem as me (and the same IONOS hosting).
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and help!

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Matt T - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 1:43 AM

Glad it's working and that's a pretty interesting workaround. Just make sure you reapply it whenever you upgrade Moodle - and save the snippet somewhere!

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 2:21 AM

Thanks for providing solution ... and congrats on being persistent.

So ... hoping the acquisition of was done via command line git which would mean an update of moodle code could be 'pulled' into your site from git repo of Moodle. Your code + the php.ini's that are symlinked would remain as is and only new code/changed code/removed code etc. would be pulled in.

If not, the directions for updating/upgrading your Moodle will involve moving current code directory to another name, then acquire the new code via wget or ftp down/ftp up ... which means all those php.ini files in various directories will have to be known and copied back into (like config.php file and any plugins) the newly acquired code.

Suggest you keep your own documentation about your setup to refer to when you do an update or upgrade to your site.

IF ... IF ... there is any issue with the next update/upgrade you perform and you come back to community forums to ask, be sure to include all information about your site ... including this work-around.

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Ri: Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Ken Task - Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 4:48 AM

Just to follow up with one more though ... adding a plugin to your Moodle will have to be performed with a process to fit hosting requirements of those 2 symlinks being in every subdirectory.

Process would be unique to your setup and if coming back to forums for issues in installing plugins, please disclose your set up.

The other item mentioned the link that described how to accomplish this feat, said: "file quota limit AND a disk space quota limit" issues followed later.

Affects not only install of a plugin, but could affect your ability to backup code directory if plugin installed is 'heavy' (lots of folders and files).

Document what those limits are. Affects course backups and full site backups.

Sure hope the quality of the hosting service after all this is out of sight, for your sake!

'SoS', Ken

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Re: Unable to create an admin account during installation

by Nurbek Tentiev - Monday, 29 March 2021, 5:52 PM

It looks like to be a problem with using slash arguments in web server configuration. The first sign of this is the inability to load the CSS stylesheets.

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