I am having trouble installing an update. It has been quite some time since I last performed an update, so things are really outdated. When I tried installing the update, it said there was an error and that I needed to manually download the files to be uploaded to my server in the directory where my community runs. I do not know what this means. I am self-hosted through a company that offers managed servers, meaning that they typically take care of everything for me. My overall knowledge on this is low. However, they aren't sure where to upload the files. During the process, my entire website has become completely unusable. I am now unable to even access my Admin CP. I am very stressed and anxious about this and need help ASAP. Thank you.

Hi @LanaBoards,

I can definitely understand the stress and anxiety this can bring about, but things like this can be fixed.

As always, it is a given that backups of your files and database should be done before installing or upgrading any community.

Please have a read of the following help guide, specifically the steps under Manual Upgrade, and forward it to the host you are dealing with.

@Gary I will forward this to them. In the meantime, I am very nervous about not being able to access my admin CP. When I attempt to go to it at lanaboards.com/admin, only a bunch of text comes up. This is the same case even when you try to view my website homepage now, which is making me very uneasy.

Just as a bit of a background, we were still using PHP 7.4 and I knew the new updates required PHP 8.0 so I migrated to a new server that supported PHP 8 last night. After the migration, my forums were viewable, but nothing was functioning. All of the features were saying [[Template forums/front/global/row is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]] I figured this might be because now that I had updated to PHP 8, my website was so outdated that it could not run under the advanced PHP. I tried moving forward with the update, and ran into this issue where it would not let me complete it automatically and said I had to do so manually, but something during that process following trying to attempt the update following the migration has rendered my entire site unusable as well as accessing the Admin CP. I'm not sure what happened or what to do next.

If you are unable to access your AdminCP, you can follow the help guide below.

This would, however, require some knowledge so perhaps forward this onto your host as well? If you are comfortable doing what is required, then read the information under the heading Recovery Mode (Self hosted only).

Going back to the beginning here, it sounds like you need to do the following before touching recovery mode. Recovery will not work, because you have uploaded files, changed PHP version etc, and havent yet, as far as I can tell, upgraded

From an older version, you would need to

• Back up your site
  Update your PHP version, which it seems you have, however you need to update to PHP 8.1 not 8.0

• Once thats done, use the requirement checker to ensure everything is then met - https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/7046-invision-community-requirements-checker/

• Once thats done, upload the latest files for version 4 (NOT version 5. You need to have upgraded to the latest version 4 first)

• Upgrade from /admin/upgrade

If you are then looking to get to version 5, you can of course do this, and you would do the last 2 item again, but this time upload version 5. Again after backing up

What version were you on and to what version did you try to upgrade to and how did you attempt to perform the upgrade? Also, if you check the Server Error log page, what errors are logged in there most recently?

Edited April 9Apr 9 by Miss_B

21 minutes ago, Miss_B said:

Also, if you check the Server Error log page, what errors are logged in there most recently?

This is probably irrelevant here, as we know he wrong PHP version was being used which would cause errors, and as such the upgrader cant have been run either

17 hours ago, Marc said:

Going back to the beginning here, it sounds like you need to do the following before touching recovery mode. Recovery will not work, because you have uploaded files, changed PHP version etc, and havent yet, as far as I can tell, upgraded

From an older version, you would need to

• Back up your site
  Update your PHP version, which it seems you have, however you need to update to PHP 8.1 not 8.0

• Once thats done, use the requirement checker to ensure everything is then met - https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/7046-invision-community-requirements-checker/

• Once thats done, upload the latest files for version 4 (NOT version 5. You need to have upgraded to the latest version 4 first)

• Upgrade from /admin/upgrade

If you are then looking to get to version 5, you can of course do this, and you would do the last 2 item again, but this time upload version 5. Again after backing up

Right now my host is trying to proceed with the update to the newest 4 version in hopes that this will solve our issues. However, we're running to an issue that they advised me to ask here. They are receiving this error message:
[10-Apr-2025 00:04:55 UTC] PHP Fatal error: <br>The encoded file <b>/home/electric/public_html/admin/manage.php</b> requires a license file.<br>The license file <b>/home/electric/public_html/license.txt</b> has expired. in Unknown on line 0

My Invision license is currently active and does not expire until July, where I will be renewing it for another 6 months as usual. Do you know why they may be running into this error message and what can fix this? They aren't sure how to proceed.

That file is not in any way related to our software. Do you have something else installed in the same location perhaps? If not, I would advise on removing that

Yeah, I'd remove it asap. Invision Community doesn't have encoded files. It's either from another software or maybe a past hacking attempt that left that file on your server. 👀

Just following up and it looks like you've got your community up and running again which is great to see, @LanaBoards. 👌

Did your host investigate what that last error was all about and/or remove it as advised above?

Edited April 10Apr 10 by Gary

@Gary Yes, we're back and very happy about it! No, they never followed up on that despite my asking; however my host wasn't the best about communicating with me throughout this process and kept passing me around from person to person. So, I don't know what that was about.

However, I do have one more question following our update that hopefully you or someone else can answer - my site has been stuck indexing since we finalised our updates on Thursday morning. Checking with the background process, we have over 2000 tasks stuck at 0%, and when I press the "manually run them now" button, it gives me the error: "Sorry, you do not have permission for that!

1S111/1"

Do you know how to fix this so my site can finish indexing? Our members have been struggling without our search feature being in use due to the site still indexing.

11 hours ago, LanaBoards said:

@Gary Yes, we're back and very happy about it! No, they never followed up on that despite my asking; however my host wasn't the best about communicating with me throughout this process and kept passing me around from person to person. So, I don't know what that was about.

However, I do have one more question following our update that hopefully you or someone else can answer - my site has been stuck indexing since we finalised our updates on Thursday morning. Checking with the background process, we have over 2000 tasks stuck at 0%, and when I press the "manually run them now" button, it gives me the error: "Sorry, you do not have permission for that!

1S111/1"

Do you know how to fix this so my site can finish indexing? Our members have been struggling without our search feature being in use due to the site still indexing.

We would need to look further into this for you, however the access details on file appear to be incorrect or missing. Could you please update these details by visiting your client area, selecting the relevant purchase, then clicking "Review/Update Access Information" under the "Stored Access Information" section. 

We look forward to further assisting you. 

13 hours ago, LanaBoards said:

No, they never followed up on that despite my asking; however my host wasn't the best about communicating with me throughout this process and kept passing me around from person to person. So, I don't know what that was about.

If that's the case I would strongly suggest, if I may, that you look for another host that takes support very seriously. Ips itself offers hosting services too, should you be interested. With them you won't have to worry about stuff like this anymore, but concentrate on building and managing your forum worry free. instead

11 hours ago, Marc said:

We would need to look further into this for you, however the access details on file appear to be incorrect or missing. Could you please update these details by visiting your client area, selecting the relevant purchase, then clicking "Review/Update Access Information" under the "Stored Access Information" section. 

We look forward to further assisting you. 

Okay, thank you! I have updated these details and I believe they are correct now. Please let me know if you are able to access successfully!

9 hours ago, Miss_B said:

If that's the case I would strongly suggest, if I may, that you look for another host that takes support very seriously. Ips itself offers hosting services too, should you be interested. With them you won't have to worry about stuff like this anymore, but concentrate on building and managing your forum worry free. instead

I have been strongly considering this. My host used to be amazing, completely above and beyond, until they were aquired by another company a little over a year ago, and their support has really gone down the drain since then. Budget is definitely concern for me when it comes to switching hosts, but I'm also aware that you get what you pay for!

Thank you. I have created a ticket for you on this, so we can get a closer look and resolve the issue