White screen error after moving the site to new server

This is an inherited site so I don't have a lot of background info on its configurations. These are the steps I took to move the site to a new shared server:

  1. Compressed the "forum" folder and moved it to the new server (there were a bunch of other folders and files in the root (public_html) but I assumed not all those files and folders are related to Xenforo so I did not move those.)
  2. I checked "/src/config.php" to find the database the current site is connected to. I exported the SQL dump and imported it in a new database I created on the new server.
  3. Uncompressed the forum package on the new server and edited /src/config.php and connected it to the new database/user.
  4. Now when I browse the site on the new server, I am getting a white screen.
  5. The new site does not have a public domain yet (the current domain is still pointing to the old server). The hosting company suggested editing my host file so I can browse and view the new site. I do get the SSL error when I browse the new site and after bypassing the SSL error, I am able to see the "forum" folder but after clicking it I am getting the white screen.

Any thoughts why this clone is not working properly on this new server? Could it be that it's an old version of Xenforo and not compatible with the new version of PHP?

Thanks
 
What are the versions of XF and PHP?

Did you confirm the server is compatible with XF before installing?

Viewing the page source may show some more details.
 
@Borgan, thank you for the response.

Xenforo v2.1.5
PHP 7.2
I did download/upload the requirements test script and the server passed all the requirements
Page source is completely empty

Thanks
 
Check for a blank index file in the root directory.

Can you navigate directly to and log in to /admin.php?

Try editing the config.php file and add: ini_set('display_errors', true);

If that doesn't show any additional details then check the server error log.

Other than that, try redoing the backup and restore but don't compress the files this time.
 
did you by chance remove any "index.html"? Also you old .htaccess may not be needed on the new server so you may want to try a default one and see if thats causing issues from lightspeed to apache or nginx.
 
Check for a blank index file in the root directory.
There is no blank index file in public_html/forums. There is index.php but it's not blank.
Can you navigate directly to and log in to /admin.php?
No, /forums/admin.php is also blank
Try editing the config.php file and add: ini_set('display_errors', true);
I added this to /forums/src/config.php but no errors displayed and still blank
If that doesn't show any additional details then check the server error log.
If you are refering to error log in cPanel, it says: No recent web server errors exist
Other than that, try redoing the backup and restore but don't compress the files this time.
Did you mean, manually downloading/uploading the FileSystem files?

Thanks
 
you may want to try a default one
What's the default .htaccess file content? I did not remove anything after cloning the site. And are you referring to the .htaccess file in rout or in /src/?

I think not having a proper domain name and SSL to test this cloned site is also a problem. No?
 
The one in /forum
# Mod_security can interfere with uploading of content such as attachments. If you
# cannot attach files, remove the "#" from the lines below.
#<IfModule mod_security.c>
# SecFilterEngine Off
# SecFilterScanPOST Off
#</IfModule>

ErrorDocument 401 default
ErrorDocument 403 default
ErrorDocument 404 default
ErrorDocument 405 default
ErrorDocument 406 default
ErrorDocument 500 default
ErrorDocument 501 default
ErrorDocument 503 default

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On

# If you are having problems with the rewrite rules, remove the "#" from the
# line that begins "RewriteBase" below. You will also have to change the path
# of the rewrite to reflect the path to your XenForo installation.
#RewriteBase /xenforo

# This line may be needed to workaround HTTP Basic auth issues when using PHP as a CGI.
#RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^(data/|js/|styles/|install/|favicon\.ico|crossdomain\.xml|robots\.txt) - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L]
</IfModule>
 
I backed up the old .htaccess file, created a new one with your code and still blank.

Could it be that for some reason the database is not connected properly? I don't understand why though, the username/pass and DB names are correct in /src/config and the user has full privileges.
 
A blank page is usually an indicator that templates can't be processed.

Check the user and permissions of internal_data/code_cache and its subdirectories and files - they must be readable and writable by the user running PHP.
 
Last edited:
IIRC, the default xenforo suggestion is that /data/* and /internal_data/* be 777. Depending how PHP is run, it doesn't have to be, but I'd start there.
 
This is an inherited site so I don't have a lot of background info on its configurations. These are the steps I took to move the site to a new shared server:

  1. Compressed the "forum" folder and moved it to the new server (there were a bunch of other folders and files in the root (public_html) but I assumed not all those files and folders are related to Xenforo so I did not move those.)
  2. I checked "/src/config.php" to find the database the current site is connected to. I exported the SQL dump and imported it in a new database I created on the new server.
  3. Uncompressed the forum package on the new server and edited /src/config.php and connected it to the new database/user.
  4. Now when I browse the site on the new server, I am getting a white screen.
  5. The new site does not have a public domain yet (the current domain is still pointing to the old server). The hosting company suggested editing my host file so I can browse and view the new site. I do get the SSL error when I browse the new site and after bypassing the SSL error, I am able to see the "forum" folder but after clicking it I am getting the white screen.

Any thoughts why this clone is not working properly on this new server? Could it be that it's an old version of Xenforo and not compatible with the new version of PHP?

Thanks
Have you checked the logs on the server/hosting panel?

If you want to PM me the details over to log in, I don’t mind having a look over and seeing if I can find the issue?
 
Thank you all. Can confirm downloading and uploading the physical files manually (via FileZilla) and not compressing/uncompressing the files fixed the issue. The white screen is gone.

This:
Other than that, try redoing the backup and restore but don't compress the files this time.

Thank you, @Brogan
 
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