Joomla XAMPP extensions problem fixed

The Problem

Joomla installs on XAMPP no problem. But trying to install an extension caused any number of error messages

* JFolder::create: Infinite loop detected
* Warning! Failed to move file.

or

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 60 seconds exceeded

or it would say done and 'whitescreen' with nothing displayed. The same downloaded extensions installed no problem on MAMP and WAMP so the issue is solely with Joomla and the setup of the XAMPP environment.

I searched the net for an answer and got found lots of conflicting advice about basedir and paths but no examples of a working setup. All of the suggested remedies failed to solve the problem so after wasting hours we finally got smart and decided to start from scratch.

We deleted our existing joomla (after backing it up). The we:

1. Created a folder called tmp under \xampp\htdocs
2. Created a joomla folder under xampp and extracted the 1.5.9 files to it
   
3. Edited php.ini in the \xampp\apache\bin folder and made these changes:

• LINE 239 expose_php = Off
• LINE 247 max_execution_time = 240
• LINE 302 display_errors = Off

Next we installed joomla and when installed deleted the installation directory. We then checked the site's global configuration for the server and system.

path to log folder F:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\logs
path to tmp folder F:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\tmp

Note that these drive letters refer to the current assigned letters on the current windows pc. When we move the stick to another machine they will change. This most likely means we have to edit the global configuration each time. The joomla gui stores all its settings in the xampp\htdocs\joomla\configuration.php file.

1. Select extenstions, install/uninstall
2. Click Browse and choose a downloaded extension file like com_joomlapack-2.1-free.zip
3. Click Upload File & Install

After what seems a long time the success message is displayed and joomlapack now appears on the Components menu and is in the Extensions,Install/Uninstall,Components list.

TODO

• Test moving USB to other computers and install extension (we assume will fail)
• Change global configuration to match drive letter and install extensio

Monday in the lab

Drive letter assigned in GRC is F: so it should work as the global configuration is the same. Ok so let's install an extension. We try the JCE 1.51 and....

Install Component Success!

Took a bit of time - almost timed out. We have timeout set to 240 on a usb stick so maybe a longer timeout or a faster usb stick is in order!

We select Components, JCE Administration, Configuration but get the following error message:

Editor is not enabled. Please enable the editor in the Joomla! Plugin Manager.

So off to Extensions, Plug-in Manager and set the view to All. So where is JCE? I don't see it listed.

We go to Components, JCE Administration, Control Panel and see there is an INSTALL icon.
So we click it. It seems to do nothing as we still get the Editor is not enabled error message. Not very impressive. No new entry in the joomla plugin manager, there should be an entry named 'Editor JCE - 1.5.1' but there is not. A quick look around the net confirms this is a common problem but not clear solution so far.

Took a look at the global configuration under site but the JCE editor is not listed.

On the plus side we were able to download and install a template.