Problems porting to laptop (local development)

Well, this is strange.

I restored the site to my laptop for the 3rd time without WP CERBER enabled. I deleted the plug-in and re-installed it. When activating WP CERBER, I selected a completely different hidden URL value than my live site, let’s call it /custom-admin. I logged off the admin panel to be greeted by the same, “URL not found on this server” message.

I tried to sign on with /custom-admin, “URL not found on this server”.

I tried to sign on with /wp-admin, AND IT WORKED even though I had previously logged out. Moreover, I wasn’t challenged for my creds. It was as if I never signed off.

Does this make sense? So odd…

Hi!

First of all, the wp-cerber-reset.zip plugin is a kind of disposable piece of software. Once you’ve uploaded it and visit any page of the website (to let it do its job) you have to replace it with the real Cerber plugin. So delete wp-cerber-reset.zip and don’t use it anymore.

You need to inspect the Apache error log file and the plugin Activity tab for relevant error or warning messages.

Don’t forget to reset any caching plugin and add a new Custom login URL to the list of pages not to cache.

Hi –

Thanks for the reply. I can’t visit any page of the web site once I install the wp-cerber.php file from the wp-cerber-reset.zip file (by the way, only that file was in the zip file, there was no folder as the instructions at https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/i-cant-login-im-locked-out-of-my-site/ would indicate.

Since I am locked out of the administration panel, I cannot disable any caching plugins.

Here is what I did, step by step, with pass/fail results at each step. The apache access.log and error.log files aren’t providing any help.

BTW relevant software versions:
PHP 7.1
MYSQL 5.7
Wordpress 4.8.1
WP-CERBER 5.1

Step P/F Description
1 [Pass] Restore the web site without WP-Cerber plug-in active
2 [Pass] Check: Access the web site as a user
3 [Pass] Check: Log-in to WordPress back-end using wp-login.php
4 [Pass] Delete inactive wp-cerber plug-in
5 [Pass] Check: Access the web site as a user
6 [Pass] Check: Log-in to WordPress back-end using wp-login.php
7 [Pass] Using Windows Explorer (file manager), verify wp-cerber folder is not in /wp-plugins folder (it isn’t)
8 [Pass] Download (via “Add-new” plug-in and activate fresh WP-Cerber plug-in, version 5.1
9 [Pass] WP Cerber dashboard, change/verify 2 values:
Custom login UR: https://devsite.com/xyzabc-login
Disable wp-login.php (checked)
10 [Pass] Clear all browser history. Close & re-open browser.
11 [Pass] Check: Access the web site as a user
12 [Fail] Check: Log-in to WordPress back-end using wp-login.php
Log-in form appears under URL.
So, enter credentials anyway.
Error message: Not Found The requested URL /xyzabc-login/ was not found on this server (404)
From Apache access.log:
`127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:54 -0400] “GET /wp-login.php HTTP/1.1” 200 3184
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js?ver=1.12.4 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery-migrate.min.js?ver=1.4.1 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-includes/css/dashicons.min.css?ver=4.8.1 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-admin/css/forms.min.css?ver=4.8.1 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-includes/css/buttons.min.css?ver=4.8.1 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-admin/css/l10n.min.css?ver=4.8.1 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-admin/css/login.min.css?ver=4.8.1 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:29:55 -0400] “GET /wp-admin/images/wordpress-logo.svg?ver=20131107 HTTP/1.1” 304 –
127.0.0.1 – – [13/Sep/2017:16:30:17 -0400] “POST /xyzabc-login/ HTTP/1.1” 404 211`
13 [Fail] Check: Log-in to WordPress back-end using xyzabc-login.php
Error message: Not Found The requested URL /xyzabc-login/ was not found on this server (404)
From Apache access.log:
127.0.0.1 - - [13/Sep/2017:16:28:09 -0400] "GET /xyzabc-login/ HTTP/1.1" 404 211
—-
At this point, I’m locked out of the maintenance on my site with no way to access.
So, following instructions found at https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/i-cant-login-im-locked-out-of-my-site/
—-
14 [Pass] Download wp-cerber-reset.zip, copy wp-cerber.php to /wp-content/plugins/wp-cerber/
15 [Fail] Check: Access the web site as a user. Blank screen.
Apache access.log thinks it was successful:
127.0.0.1 - - [13/Sep/2017:17:07:38 -0400] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 -
16 [Fail] Check: Log-in to WordPress back-end using wp-login.php
Error message on the browser, nothing in the Apache logs:
`Error thrown
Call to undefined function deactivate_plugins()`

Any ideas? I’m locked out. The only way for the log in to work is a complete restore. After running the reset, even the front end doesn’t work.

Thanks

Hi! Sorry, I have no idea what is the cause. Here is what I suppose:

1. Remove the plugin folder to get access to the web site.
2. Log in to the web site as usual.
3. Install Cerber.
4. Deactivate Custom login URL by emptying the custom login setting field.
5. Uncheck Block direct access to wp-login.php and return HTTP 404 Not Found Error
6. Uncheck Immediately block IP after any request to wp-login.php
7. Enjoy the rest of the features with the default wp-login.php (with no Custom login URL)

@onemist8k How is it going?

Hi Gioni,

I had all kinds of problems. I removed the Cerber plug-in altogether, deciding to re-install it when the time comes deploy to production.

It wasn’t too long before I started having problems elsewhere. There are a lot of configuration settings to tweak when working from a local copy. Just when I thought I found all the settings something else would not work. Apache, PHP, Mysql, WordPress, etc all were installed individually, not from any package. It was impacting my development schedule so I just gave up trying to do this locally choosing instead to develop off a hosted service. I took careful notes when trying the local route, so I may go back to try it again in the future when things aren’t time critical.