General Troubleshooting
If you encounter errors or issues while working with WHMCS, see the sections below to start troubleshooting and resolve the issue.
- For general steps to troubleshoot problems in WHMCS, see Start Troubleshooting.
- For steps for additional Client Area-specific issues, see Troubleshooting the Client Area.
General Errors
You may encounter the following common issues:
| Error or Issue | Cause | Next Steps |
404 Not Found: The requested URL was not found on this server. | There is a problem in your Friendly URLs configuration or your .htaccess file is out-of-date. | 404 Page Not Found Errors |
You are attempting to access the admin area via a directory that is not configured. or You are attempting to access the admin area via a directory that is different from the one configured. or You are attempting to access the admin area via a custom directory, but we have detected the presence of a default "admin" directory too. or The request path cannot be resolved. | You are attempting to access the wrong directory, there is a problem in your admin path configuration, or your admin directory is out-of-date. | Admin Directory Errors |
The $mysql_charset value is incorrect in the configuration.php file. | Dataset Must Be Array Errors | |
| There is a mismatch between the database version and WHMCS version or PHP version. | Down for Maintenance Errors | |
This filename is not allowed | This error occurs when you have not included the file extension as an allowed file attachment type. | Filename Not Allowed Errors |
| The file contains an invalid syntax. The file must contain valid JSON syntax. | Missing Country Customizations | |
| A third-party system or module provided a response that WHMCS cannot recognize or interpret. | Module Command Unknown Errors | |
InvalidArgumentException: Query string must not include a URI fragment in /path/to/whmcs/vendor/zendframework/zend-diactoros/src/Uri.php:386 | A bot is crawling your website and trying to access an invalid URL. | Query String URI Errors |
| Your server or website is misconfigured. | Redirect Loops | |
| A problem is preventing communication with the WHMCS server. | Server Communication Errors | |
| The IP address that the server configuration is supplying to PHP is incorrect. | Server IP Address in Logs |
Display Issues
You may encounter the following common issues:
| Error or Issue | Cause | Next Steps |
| The Admin Dashboard appears blank and widgets will not load. | There may be a problem with your system’s table collation values. | Blank Admin Dashboard |
| The Choose a Domain page is blank in the Client Area. | You have not enabled any domain registration options. | Blank Choose a Domain Page |
| A domain search returns no results and renders a blank page. | The system encountered an incorrect response type. | Blank Domain Search Results |
| The system automation tasks are generating completely blank invoices. | Multiple cron jobs are attempting to run the system cron at the same time. | Blank Invoices |
| There is a fatal PHP error, a problem with a module or template, or a problem with ionCube Loader®. | Blank or Partially-Rendered Pages | |
| You see a blank page while attempting payment using a payment gateway module. | There are two copies of the same file in the modules/gateway directory. | Blank Payment Gateway Page |
| Accented (Unicode) characters are displaying incorrectly in reports. | This issue is due to a limitation of Microsoft Excel’s handling of these characters and filetypes. | Character Display in Reports |
| The primary navigation bar and sidebar menu items do not display correctly. | The language file that contains the text for these menu items is missing, unreadable, or corrupted. | Client Area Title Display Issues |
| A template file is missing or contains a syntax error. | Empty Pages | |
| After applying an update, some WHMCS features do not function normally, display errors, display with poor formatting, or do not display at all. | In most cases, this behavior is due to outdated customized template files. | Feature Issues After Update |
Invalid Access Attempt | You are using the wrong URL to access the WHMCS Admin Area. | Invalid Access Attempt Errors |
| The most recent WHMCS release does not display when you check for available updates. | The page did not refresh, your settings exclude the new version, or your system does not meet the minimum requirements. | New Version Not Appearing |
| Clicking Order Now or following a direct product order link refreshes the page and shows the product selection page again. | There is a problem with the URL or a template is out-of-date. | Order Now Refreshes the Page |
| The uptime or CPU load statistics for a server are not displaying properly. | The server does not use a Linux®-based operating system, the status directory is inaccessible, or required PHP functions are disabled. | Status Monitoring Display Issues |
| When a user attempts to check out from the shopping cart, the system redirects them to the wrong page. | This issue is due to a problem with the customizations in your header template. | User Redirected to Wrong Page |
Files and ionCube Encoding Errors
You may encounter the following common issues:
| Error or Issue | Cause | Next Steps |
| You are not using the required minimum version of ionCube Loader® or the file is unreadable. | Corrupt File Errors | |
| A required file is missing. | Failed Opening Errors | |
| A file is not compatible with your version of ionCube Loader®. | File Cannot Be Decoded Errors | |
File Not Found | A file is not present or is not accessible at the expected location. | File Not Found Errors |
| The system cannot read or write to the storage location for email attachments. | Impossible root Errors | |
| There is a PHP version encoding error due to outdated file for a previous WHMCS version. | ionCube Fatal Decoding Errors | |
| There is a configuration problem with ionCube Loader®. | ionCube Loader Site Errors |
cURL Errors
You may encounter the following common issues:
| Error or Issue | Cause | Next Steps |
curl: (51) SSL: certificate subject name '*.example.net' does not match target host name 'example.com' or curl --max-time 10 -v https://example.com | This error indicates a cURL connection issue. | Certificate Subject Mismatch Errors |
Curl Error - Couldn't connect to host (7) or Server Command Error - Curl Error - Couldn't connect to host (7) or Curl Error: Connection refused - Code 7 | Your firewall is blocking a necessary port or your IP address is not whitelisted. | cURL Couldn't Connect to Host Errors |
Curl Error - Couldn't resolve host (6) or Server Command Error - Curl Error - Couldn't resolve host (6) | Your firewall is blocking a necessary port. | cURL Couldn't Resolve Host Errors |
| An operation timed out due to a connection issue. | cURL Timeout Errors | |
| You see a standard cURL error while working with Enom. | There is a connection issue between your server and Enom’s API. | Enom API cURL Errors |
Registrar Error or CURL Error: 56 - OpenSSL SSL_read: Success or CURL Error: 56 - OpenSSL SSL_read: error:14095126:SSL routines:ssl3_read_n:unexpected eof while reading, errno 0 | System updates in EasyApache 4 are causing errors. | OpenSSL Registrar Errors |
TCPDF ERROR: [Image] Unable to get the size of the image: https://www.example.com/images/image-name.png | Your server cannot use the cURL library function to load the logo image for inclusion in the PDF invoice. | TCPDF Image Size Errors |
Error: Call to undefined function curl_init() | The system is terminating the cron job because the cURL extension is missing. | Undefined curl_init() Function Errors |
Error code 35 Unknown SSL protocol or Unsupported SSL protocol or sslv3 alert handshake failure or tlsv1 alert protocol version | The server is attempting a secure connection using an outdated SSL protocol. | Unsupported Protocol Errors |
Last modified: 2026 August 4