Cron Failures

Problem

The system is attempting to invoke the system cron correctly, but the cron job is not completing the run.

You may not receive the daily cron digest email or see a warning at Configuration () > System Health or Utilities > Automation Status.

Cause

Cron tasks can fail for many reasons. Check the exact error to determine the cause.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot this issue, first perform the steps in Check the Cron Job Status to determine the exact error.

To find additional information, view previous errors in the Activity Log, visit the cron.php file in your browser, or use the command line (below).

Activity Log

Examine the results of previous cron runs in the Activity Log at Configuration () > System Logs.

  • Make sure that you see entries beginning with Cron Job each day.
  • The final entry every day should be Cron Job: Completed.

If you see no cron job entries, you have not configured your automation cron job correctly.

Browser

  • Executing the cron.php file from the browser is not possible if the /crons directory is not inside a web-accessible directory.
  • Limitations for executing a PHP script in a browser (for example, timeouts) will apply.
  • We recommend using the command line instead.

To do this:

  1. Make certain that you have enabled Display Errors in the Other tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings.

    For more information, see Enable Error Reporting.

  2. Visit the cron.php file in your browser. For example:

    http://www.example.com/whmcs/crons/cron.php

  3. View the results in the Activity Log at Configuration () > System Logs.

Command Line

The cron.php script includes an option to increase output verbosity. This helps to identify errors when they occur.

The steps below require familiarity with and access for running commands on the WHMCS installation’s server.

To use this:

  1. Make certain that you have enabled Display Errors in the Other tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings.

    For more information, see Enable Error Reporting.

  2. Go to Utilities > Automation Status.

  3. Click on the Cron Status error:
    A cron status error.

  4. Copy the Cron Command command by clicking the Copy icon next to the command.

  5. On your server’s command line, run the following command to ensure that you have enabled display_errors in your PHP environment:

    php -i | grep display_errors

    If display_errors is enabled, this will return the following string:

    display_errors => STDOUT => STDOUT

  6. Paste the command into the terminal. At the end of the command, add the following command and options:

    all -F -vvv

    • The all command will execute all the tasks.
    • The -F option forcibly executes all the tasks, even if some of the daily tasks have already run.
    • The -vvv option sets the output verbosity level to the maximum verbosity.

    This will produce a command like the following example:

    php -q /home/example/public_html/whmcs/crons/cron.php all -F -vvv

  7. Run the command. The cron.php script will run all of the tasks and return output that ends with a green [OK] Completed message.

    Do not do this more than once in a given 24-hour period.

  8. Examine the errors in the output to determine the cause of your issue.

If the output does not include any errors, see Intermittent Cron Failures.

Solution

The errors that you find determine the solution.

  • For more information, search for the specific error in our Troubleshooting documentation.
  • For additional help, contact WHMCS Technical Support. Include the full output from the steps above when you open your ticket.
troubleshooting troubleshooting-article system-cron

Last modified: 2025 July 28