Repair settings.php

The tool Repair_settings.php is a tool to be used to repair some of the more crucial settings for your forum. Simply download this file and upload it to your forum, putting it in the same directory as your Settings.php file.

As always, it might be a good idea to backup your forum, first. Using this tool shouldn't, ever, cause any problems. But, the internet being the way that it is, you never know. It's always best to be safe, rather than sorry.

Then, navigate with your browser to your usual forum URL. But, instead of "/index.php", point your browser to "/repair_settings.php

For example, if your forum's in the root of your site, and your site is at www.example.com you'd need to navigate to:

http://www.example.com/repair_settings.php

If it's in a sub-directory named, say "forum", you'd need to navigate to:

http://www.example.com/forum/repair_settings.php

This script allows you to change the most important settings such as MySQL information, file paths and urls, and can be used when SMF is not working at all. That is what it is mostly used for: repairing your SMF enough so that an admin user can login and fix any other problems.

Using repair_settings.php is easy: simply upload the file to the root directory of your forum with FTP and then access the page in your browser. Once you have finished the maintenance, remember to delete the file. If you do not delete the file, you will leave your forum vulnerable!

Settings the tool can repair

For more information on each of these settings, please see server settings.

Critical Settings

• Maintenance Mode - You can turn maintenance mode on your forum on and off and also make it completely unusable.
• Language File - Change the language of your forum.
• Cookie Name - Change the name of the cookie that your forum creates for the user's browsers.
• Queryless URLs - Turn the use of queries in the forum's urls on and off ("index.php/topic,1.0.html" vs. "index.php?topic=1.0")
• Output Compression - Can turn output compression on and off.
• Database driven sessions - Can set whether sessions are managed by the database or not.

MySQL Settings

• Includes all of the typical settings that are needed to connect to the database - MySQL server address, MySQL database name, MySQL username, MySQL password, and MySQL table prefix.
• MySQL connection type - Can be set to Persistent or Standard.

Paths & URLs

• Allows you set set the paths for - Forum URL, Forum Directory, Sources Directory, Attachment Directory, Avatar URL, Avatar Directory, Smileys URL, Smileys Directory, Default Theme URL, Default Theme Images URL, and Default Theme Directory.

Please note that this DOES NOT correct the paths for custom themes, because the tool is not updated to locate the names and paths of custom themes. Those paths have to be set in the admin panel, under themes and layout>Theme settings. At the bottom of the page, click "Attempt to reset all themes" and the paths will be updated, automatically. Please note, though, that with the use of this script, and clicking the link to reset your default theme paths, you will set all of your users to the default theme.

If you wish to try out the new "Work in progress" version of this script, to have it fix your custom themes directories and a few other tweaks, download the version here. This updated version of the script will allow you to keep your custom theme as default and NOT reset to the default theme, unless you select the option. Please remember this version is not officially supported by the SMF team, at this time. So, use this at your own risk.

Recommended values

In most cases, SMF can detect the correct value for each of the fields and settings. Underneath many of the settings is a link with with the recommended value. Clicking these links will update the corresponding textbox fields with the recommended value. Be careful though, because SMF will not always guess correctly if the server is configured unusually.

Download

The repair_settings.php modules can be downloaded at the SMF download page: Download > Tools > repair_settings.php