ionCube Loader Site Errors

Problem

You see one of the following errors:

Site error: the ionCube PHP Loader needs to be installed. This is a widely used PHP extension for running ionCube protected PHP code, website security and malware blocking. Please visit get-loader.ioncube.com for install assistance.

or

Site error: the file /path/cron.php requires the ionCube PHP Loader \_loader\_ to be installed.

Cause

ionCube Required errors are due to a configuration problem with ionCube Loader on your server. It might be outdated or missing entirely.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot this issue:

  1. Contact your hosting provider or system administrator to ensure that the appropriate version of ionCube Loader is installed.

  2. Use SSH to log in to your server as the same user under which cron jobs run.

  3. Run the following command:

    php -v

    If your server operates multiple versions of PHP, replace php with the path of the PHP version that WHMCS currently runs on.

    For example, on a cPanel & WHM server that uses PHP 8.1, run:

`/opt/cpanel/ea-php81/root/usr/bin/php -v`

On a Plesk server that uses PHP 8.1, run:

`/opt/plesk/php/8.1/bin/php -v`

  4. Examine the output to determine the issue.

    • If the with the ionCube PHP Loader line is missing, this indicates that ionCube Loader is not available for this user.
    • If the with the ionCube PHP Loader line reports an old version of ionCube Loader, your configuration does not comply with WHMCS’s system requirements.

Solution

WHMCS does not support PHP 8.0. If you see this PHP version, you must move to PHP 7.4 or 8.1 in order to use WHMCS.

Work with your hosting provider or system administrator to ensure that the required version of ionCube Loader is installed and available to the cron job user.

Some hosting providers do not use the same PHP configuration for cron jobs and web applications. In order to meet WHMCS’s system requirements, you may need to specify the PHP binary in the cron command. For example:

/opt/php81/bin/php -q /home/username/public_html/whmcs/crons/cron.php

Replace /home/username/public_html/whmcs/ with the path to your WHMCS installation.

troubleshooting ioncube system-requirements

Last modified: June 14, 2024