Thread

Hey all,

I’ve got an update after working with Visualis privately. In almost every case where I see the error message “Site Error: Unable to Load Site Preferences; Invalid Preference Data”, it’s caused by corrupted site preferences in the database. Dan alluded to this previously, but I’m going to go into more detail here to help you fix this yourselves.

Disclaimer: You’ll be working directly against your database to fix this. Please make sure you have a reliable backup of your database before proceeding.

It’s my assumption that everyone here experienced this after upgrading from EE 1.x to EE 2.x.

To perform this fix, you’ll need access to your database pre-upgrade (EE 1.x), access to your database post-upgrade (EE 2.x), and some kind of visual DB tool like PHPMyAdmin or Sequel Pro. If you’ve taken a backup of your database before upgrading, as the upgrade instructions strongly recommend, then you can just restore that backup to a new blank database that you’re not using for your site. It helps to have both the pre-upgrade and post-upgrade databases right next to each other, as it were, so that you can quickly switch between the two. You’ll be copying some data from the pre-upgrade DB to the post-upgrade DB.

1. In your EE 1.x database, navigate to the exp_sites table and find the column site_system_preferences. Copy the data from this column.
2. Use the utility at Online PHP Unserializer to unserialize the data. Copy it into the field, do not check the box labeled base64 decode, and click “Unserialize!”
3. Now on the resulting page, scroll down to the bottom, this time do check the box labeled base64 encode, and click “Re-serialize!”
4. Copy the contents of the box titled “Re-serialized output”.
5. Now open up your EE 2.x database, and navigate to the exp_sites table to find the site_system_preferences field. Paste and save here the data you copied from the box in the previous step. (If you’re running an MSM site with multiple rows in your exp_sites table, you’ll repeat steps 1-5 for each one.)
6. Now log in to your CP and double-check all your settings and preferences, especially things like site URL and forum theme path, etc.

That should take care of it. If you’ve followed the steps above carefully and you’re still not finding any resolution, let us know!

Just started a new thread with the same problem when i saw this.  I followed all the steps above and still not having any resolution. Although this last time when I blew everything up and started over, I got a different error message.

Unable to load requested field type file:  ft.ftype_id_1.php.

Confirm the fieldtype file is located in the expressionengine/third_party/ directory

Hi Justapen,

Were you using Gypsy in your EE 1 installation? If not, what fieldtypes did you have in place in EE 1?

Uh…. not sure I know the answer to that question.  We had a developer build it and my first task here is to try and move it to a local server.  on the exp_ff_fieldtypes table we have the following.
wygwam
ngen_file_field
ff_checkbox
structureframe
ff_select

Does that answer the quesiton?  I’m still learning a lot about SQL so apologies if that isn’t the info you need.

I reserialized the Site preferences from 1.x and insterted them into the 2.4 DB but I am stilll seeing the same error.

Kevin
You say:

it’s caused by corrupted site preferences in the database

Is it also possible to take the site_system_preferences from the 1.72 version (in my case) put it into the php unserializer (without base64 decode) and then re-serialize it for the 1.72 version?

And then do the update for version 2.4

Does this ‘fix’ the corrupted preferencies?

Thanks!

Hi brightsource,

When you re-serialized did you make sure to check the base64 box?

For clarification:
Preferences in 1.x are serialized but not base64 encoded.
Preferences in 2.x are serialized and base64 encoded.

@verveuster,

There’s no guarantee that will work. Testing something like that would require having corrupted preferences. If you attempt that, be sure you have backups all around containing the original values in case you need to roll back.

I look forward to your reply.

Cheers,

Dan,

Yes, I understood the deal with v1 pref not being base64 and v2 prefs needing base64.  I am pretty sure I did that correctly.

Can you possibly take a look at our system?  I am under the gun here.  Our old host is malfunctioning and I need to get the site up on a new host ASAP.

Thanks,

Scott

Hi Dan
I finally did it the way Kevin explained and it worked perfect.

Thanks!

Hello?

Is there any way to get some dedicated support?

Hi brightsource,

I apologize for your delays. We try to respond back within 48hrs on business days. I can get you escalated, but it will be Monday before someone can look into it for you.

Be on the lookout for an email from us.

Thanks for your patience!

Cheers,

Thanks.  When can I expect to be contacted about this?

Hi brightsource,

The email requesting your information was sent on 3/17 to the email address stored with you ExpressionEngine.com username.

Be sure to double check your junk mail filter on that account.

Cheers,

Ok, I filled out the access form.  The message was in my spam filter.

Just posting a note here to let onlookers know that we’re working with brightsource privately on this for the time being. I’ll post an update back here once we have something to share!