I need HELP

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Contents


MoWeS Portable

[Note: find general instructions for download, installation, running, backing up and restoring, configuring, tweaking, troubleshooting checklist ... where?]


MoWeS and different sticks

I have information that MoWeS does not work properly on the following sticks:

  • Sony sticks
  • IPods
  • some U3 sticks (if MoWeS does not work on your U3 stick, you can try to reformat it)

Step-by-step Installation

The MoWeS Mixer process on the website will build a custom WosPortable.Zip file containing the options you requested. An installer program named MoWeS.EXE will be in that file, along with a series of .MoWeS package files that contain the optional components.

  • Select MediaWiki, ImageMagick, and the SE versions of Apache, PHP4 & 5, MySQL. PHPMyAdmin is recommended as well, because it provides an easy web-interface for managing the Wiki data (backups, restores, exports, etc).

When it is finished downloading double-click the zip file to open it.

Select all the files and copy them to the USB drive (copying them out of the .zip file).

Double-click the MoWeS.EXE now visible on the USB drive (not in the .zip file).

Agree to license requirements. The MoWeS installer will now extract, create, and configure the fully standalone Wiki-on-a-stick automatically.

  • Note: the installer will pause after each part is installed (apache, mediawiki, etc) and wait for a click on the OK button.
  • Note: the installation process can take a long time, be patient and do not assume it is stuck or broken because there is no apparent activity.

When installation completes, the MoWeS Portable page will open in the default browser. Choose MediaWiki to access the Wiki.

The Wiki can also be started directly by going to http://localhost/mediawiki

Making the USB Autostart

Use Notepad to create to create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the USB drive with the following content: 

[autorun]
open=mowes.exe
icon=mowes.exe
label=Wiki On A Stick
  • Check after saving the file that the name really is AUTORUN.INF. Windows Notepad will automatically add .TXT to the end of any filename.

Problems

old.dir is not writable

Problem

On some systems MoWeS alerts that the old.dir file is not writable. We were not yet able the fix that since we couldn't reproduce it.

Solution

  • Go in the Windows Explorer to x:\path\to\mowes\mowes. Select the old.dir with a right click and and choose properties.
  • Check the box "Archive" select OK
  • Start MoWeS, have fun.

The ABOVE will NOT fix it. there are for some reason two '\\' in old. dir file not just one (eg c:\\ instead of c:\  !!!) and Mysql import loops during the installation.... (???)

Try the following: Fix the path in the old.dir manually, save it and start MoWeS. What happens?

P.S.: This problem could occur using XP Home Edition, perhaps due to insufficient means of changing user rights within this OS. Possible solution: Log in as an administrator, edit old.dir with the Windows Editor, copy everything in it. Then just delete the file, create it again with Editor, insert clipboard, save. Should work!

Possible fix? I noticed this problem on my Windows 2000 machine. When hunting around in the permissions, I found that it had set the owner of the file to the group "Administrators", and not to the user I was running as. I setup a fresh MoWeS II directory, changed the owner of old.dir from Administrators to the user I was running as, and everything worked fine. Perhaps others could try doing this and see if it helps?

Another Possible Fix On my Windows XP computer I was trying MoWeS and I got the old.dir unwrittable error. So I opened up old.dir in notepad to see what was in there, for me all it said was C:/ I knew that would cause problems so I replaced C:/ with the exact location of the old.dir Example I am running MoWeS out of a folder on my desktop called mowes so I replaced C:/ with C:\Documents and Settings\Some User\Desktop\mowes\mowes

MoWeS crashes after the start with a runtime-error 50003 (applies to version 1.x.x)

This error can have two reasons and is caused by a bug of Microsoft:

1. Your PC is running with a color depth less than 32 bit.

Solution:

Please set your color depth to 32 bit. Do the following steps:

Click right on a free place of your desktop. Choose "Properties" in the context menu.

In the following dialog choose "Settings" and select in the combo box color depth 32 bit. And press confirm.


2. You do not have installed the newest VB 6 Runtimes.

Solution:

Download the newest VB 6 Runtimes from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=BF9A24F9-B5C5-48F4-8EDD-CDF2D29A79D5&displaylang=en and install them.

MoWeS crashs with a blue screen under Windows Vista

Well, it's been a while using MoWeS Portable II... A few days ago I upgraded my system to a Windows Vista OS, and I found the MoWeS crashed (BSOD) just when it was starting the servers. I tested the same files in my XP boot in the same PC and it worked perfectly, so I tested the obvious solution:

  1. Start Windows Vista
  2. Go to the MoWeS directory
  3. Right click on mowes.exe and click on Properties
  4. Go to the Compatibility tab, and mark "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
  5. Accept.

If it still crashes, do the same with the file httpd.exe in the apache2/bin directory of the mowes root.

With this the MoWeS Portable II works perfectly in Windows Vista. I've tested this in Vista Business and Vista Home Premium, so I suppose it will work in the other versions too.

I can not access webpages from other computers

This is not a bug it is a feature! Since we designed MoWeS as local testing platform we wanted to make sure that your files did not get accessed from outside. But it's easy to solve.

  1. Choose options from the menu
  2. Disable only allow access from localhost
  3. Add the ip addresses you want to give access below
  4. Select the right order (deny or allow first!?)

or to open MoWeS completly to the world (THIS OPENS YOUR WEBPAGES FOR EVERYONE IN THE WORLD! THIS CAN BE A REAL SECURITY ISSUE! SO MAKE SURE YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING)

  1. Choose options from the menu
  2. Disable only allow access from localhost
  3. Enabled "do not touch the htaccess"
  4. Delete the .htaccess from the www folder

If you are using a router you have to configure it that it routes port 80 through

MoWeS X

When I try to start the RC server, MoWeS X crashes

This comes mostly from the fact that you do not have installed the latest VB runtimes or the "mswinsck.ocx" is not available or not correctly installed.

  1. Download the mswinsck.ocx and copy it into the same directory where the mowesx.exe is
  2. Install the latest VB Runtimes http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=BF9A24F9-B5C5-48F4-8EDD-CDF2D29A79D5&displaylang=en


MoWeS X crashes: "Could not activate profiling. Shuting down MoWeS to avoid loss of data"

This comes mostly from the fact that you did not do a proper update or you had opened a folder or file that should be renamed. But no panic!

  1. Open your directory where MoWeS X resides and have a look at the following directories and files
    1. www
    2. mowes\mowes.ini
    3. php4\php.ini and php5\php.ini
    4. mysql\my.ini and mysql\data
    5. apache2\conf\httpd.conf
  2. You will see that there are files and folders that have a number attached!
  3. Now check, if the have all the same numbers (this means that there can be a directory www0 but there is no file mowes\mowes.ini0) and try to locate to which number the belong if they do not have a number! If the do not have a number, they are the current profile!
  4. Go ahead and rename all files with the same number or if some have a number and some not, to files without a number!
  5. Open mowes\profiles.ini and set the line CurrentProfile=x. Replace the x with the number you just removed from the files!

That's it.


Apache

Apache is not starting

Problem

The Apache webserver is not starting and it appears in MoWeS "Apache is not running..." in a red font.

Solution

  • First thing to check: Do you run Skype? If yes, close Skype and start MoWeS again. Problem is Skype is using port 80. This can be changed in Skype under options.
  • If this does not help try the following
    • Press Start
    • Choose Execute
    • Input "cmd"
    • Press Ok
    • Input "cd x:\path\to\mowes\apache2\bin" followed by the Enter key
    • Input "apache -t" followed by the enter key (since MoWeS II the apache executable is told httpd so try "httpd -t")
    • If output is "Syntax OK" go to next step. Otherwise get in contact with us.
    • Input "apache" or if you use Apache 2 then input "httpd"
    • If the output is 
make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0.:80
No listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs.
  • Then you are running another application the is using port 80 (eg another webserver, Skype?). Find and terminate this application or follow these instructions change apache port
    • If the output is 
 Tue Feb 08 22:11:19 2005] [error] (OS 10038)An operation was attempted 
 on something that is not a socket. : Child 4408:
 Encountered too many errors accepting client connections. 
 Possible causes: dynamic address renewal, or incompatible VPN or 
 firewall software. Try using the Win32DisableAcceptEx directive.
  • Go in the Windows Explorer to x:\path\to\mowes\apache2\conf. Select the httpd.conf and open it in a text editor (eg. Notepad)
  • Add the following line (does not matter where) 
   Win32DisableAcceptEx
  • Start MoWeS, have fun.

Change apache port

  • Change the port of apache:
  • Go in the Windows Explorer to x:\path\to\mowes\apache2\conf. Select the httpd.conf and open it in a text editor (eg. Notepad)
  • Look for the line "Listen 80" replace it with "Listen <port>" (eg "Listen 8080").
  • Look for the line "ServerName localhost:80" and replace it with "ServerName localhost:<port>" (eg. "ServerName localhost:8080"). You must use at both lines the same port.
  • Start MoWeS.
  • Open "localhost:<port>" or 127.0.0.1:<port> (eg. 127.0.0.1:8080) in your browser.
  • Have fun.


PHP

Import Blogspot post needs curl extension

Trying to import Blogger post in Wordpress on USB needs curl extension. Follow the instructions "Activating curl" below. That fixed the problem for me. MoWeS run with curl extension loaded. Don't forget to put back the comment ";extension=php_curl.dll" in php.ini after your post transfer from Blogspot is completed to avoid error messages on other computers.

Just another hint: Change to a standard template in blogger and sign out before proceeding with the file transfer inside Wordpress.

/Christer

Typo3-Extension Manager behind a firewall

The famous CMS Typo3 supports the download of innumerable plugins for different jobs (guestbooks, forum, chat-systems, newsletters,...) with the build-in "extension manager". Plugins (or "extensions") are published in the TER ("Typo3 (online) Extension Repository"), which is accessable via http.

In MoWeS v1.1.1, Typo3 tries to establish a direct connection to the TER with the request "http://ter.typo3.com/?id=t3_extrep" to retrieve the list of publicly available plugins. If you're using MoWeS v1.1.1 on a workstation behind a firewall, Typo3 (PHP) has to use a proxy-server. You have to activate "curl" and set up the name/port of the proxy server in the Typo3 "Install Tool" ("[SYS][curlUse]" and "[SYS][curlProxyServer]", see Typo3 documentation) and you've to edit the php.ini file (see Christer's documentation below).

/MichaelSchams

Activating "curl" in PHP

Just open the php.ini from php4 or/and php5 and look for the extensions. Uncomment the line ";extension=php_curl.dll" to "extension=php_curl.dll" (remove the ";") and save the file. Then restart MoWeS. If you get an error message about loading php_curl.dll, this is my quick and dirty hack (we just need to get it work once):

Copy the following DLLs into the apache2\bin directory:

.../php5/libeay32.dll
.../php5/ssleay32.dll

If you're using PHP Version 4.x, use the files from the php4 directory.

MySQL

Warning: Your privilege table structure seems to be older than this MySQL version!

Problem:

  • When creating a new user in PHPMyAdmin the following message appears: 
 Warning: Your privilege table structure seems to be older 
than this MySQL version!
 Please run the script mysql_fix_privilege_tables that should 
be included in your MySQL server distribution to solve this problem!

Solution:

  • Stop the whole server.
  • Goto x:\your\mowes\dir\mysql\data and delete the whole folder "mysql" in this directory.
  • Download the new mysql data table http://www.mowes.chsoftware.net/mysql_fix.zip and unzip it in this folder.
  • Start MoWeS, have fun.
  • By the way, what about updating your whole MoWeS package to a current version?

MySQL not running

Problem:

  • The MoWeS status popup lists both Apache and MySQL as running but the localhost query via the browser states that MySQL is not running.
  • I do not think there are other instances of MySQL running.

Solution:

  • Check the file mysql/data/xxx.err
  • Try to start mysql through command line
  • Report that stuff to us via the contact form.

MySQL does not shutdown after changing the root password

Problem:

I tried to install the MediaWiki-software. However MediaWiki requires a password for the MySQL database. I set a password in phpmyadmin and the MediaWiki installation worked fine. However the MoWeS-client cannot shutdown the MySQL-server anymore? Can I set the MySQL password for the client? Right now I have to (manually) shutdown the mowes process in windows.

Solution:

If you need to use a password for mysql please create a new user using the phpmyadmin and use the new user!

Other

"Warning: mysql_fetch_assoc() (TYPO3)" 

Warning: mysql_fetch_assoc(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL 
result resource in E:\\www\\typo3\\t3lib\\class.t3lib_db.php on line 801

This comes from the fact that you activated the "Delete InnoDB files after stopping" option. Please deactivate this open and reinstall the tables or unzip MoWeS with TYPO3 again and deactivate it BEFORE stopping. This option is removed in the current release. Please update if possible. (Only for MoWeS version 1!)

A similar error occured in version 2 with the TYPO3 package version 4.1. You can update to version 4.1.1 or go the the install tool and select database analyzer->compare->update. Done (some tables were missing)

Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context in x:\mowes\www\start\start.inc on line 47

This error appears only in the preview release. Please update if possible. You can fix it the following way: Open start.inc in a editor. Goto line 47: 

 if(stristr($lines[$x],"$this->set('PMA_VERSION'")) $inline = $x;

Change it to 

 if(stristr($lines[$x],"\$this->set('PMA_VERSION'")) $inline = $x;

Add a slash before $ that $ is recognized as a string and not a variable.


If this does not help...

Please notice that we can not offer free support for MoWeS anymore. You have two choices:

  1. You can post your question in I have an unsolved QUESTION
  2. or you can become a MoWeS Premium Member and get free support http://www.chsoftware.net/en/useware/mowespremium/
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