Installation & Configuration

Why does Nucleus say that "the path of the admin area does not exist"?

Scenario:
"I keep getting this error:

How do I fix this?"

Original forum threads:
http://forum.nucleuscms.org/viewtopic.php?t=6869

Solution:
Check that you have correctly modified your paths settings in config.php when you installed Nucleus.

Method:

1. Open up your config.php and scroll down to these lines:

   // main nucleus directory
   $DIR_NUCLEUS = '/your/path/to/nucleus/';
   
   // media dir
   $DIR_MEDIA = '/your/path/to/media/';
   
   // extra skin files for imported skins
   $DIR_SKINS = '/your/path/to/skins/';

2. Change the values of these paths to your server paths. Nucleus should have automatically detected them when you installed it - but they should look something like this:
   

   // main nucleus directory
   $DIR_NUCLEUS = '/home/username/public_html/nucleus/';
   
   // media dir
   $DIR_MEDIA = '/home/username/public_html/media/';
   
   // extra skin files for imported skins
   $DIR_SKINS = '/home/username/public_html/skins/';

3. Replace "username" with your username for your hosting service.
4. If you have not installed Nucleus in the public_html directory, but in a subdirectory under that, then you will need to add that in. So if it is inside a directory called /blog/:
   

   // main nucleus directory
   $DIR_NUCLEUS = '/home/username/public_html/blog/nucleus/';
   
   // media dir
   $DIR_MEDIA = '/home/username/public_html/blog/media/';
   
   // extra skin files for imported skins
   $DIR_SKINS = '/home/username/public_html/blog/skins/';

Sometimes, people will install Nucleus in a /nucleus/ directory. Since the default admin area is located in a directory called /nucleus/ this will create a double /nucleus/nucleus/ directory. You will need to set your paths like this:

// main nucleus directory
$DIR_NUCLEUS = '/home/username/public_html/nucleus/nucleus/';

// media dir
$DIR_MEDIA = '/home/username/public_html/nucleus/media/';

// extra skin files for imported skins
$DIR_SKINS = '/home/username/public_html/nucleus/skins/';

For Dreamhost users (thanks, ThisIsDannyZ):

Your directory for paths is

/home/username/yourdomain.com/cgi-system/php.cgi/nucleus/

where /home/ is the standard directory. You should not need to change this. /username/ is the name you use to log into your ftp and NOT your panel.dreamhost.com login. /yourdomain.com/ is your domain name used to access your site. It should be the exact name of the folder/directory when you log into your ftp and see the domain name.

If you are getting this install error and your paths look like dh/cgi-system/php.cgi/ (thanks, th3cl3aner!):

You need to change a default setting in the DreamHost panel that runs PHP as CGI so PHP just runs as PHP. As of the time of writing, DreamHost will only support PHP 5 run as CGI, so in order for you to run a Nucleus Blog you have to use PHP 4.

From the control panel go to Manage Domains. Now under the column "WebHosting" in the row with your blog domain name click on "Edit". Next you'll see this:

Currently Fully Hosted (Upload your site to our servers and we'll serve it!)
Run PHP as CGI? (highly recommended)

Make sure "Run PHP as CGI? (highly recommended)" is unchecked and click on "Submit Changes".

Just fill in the info when you run the install.php script, CHMOD your config.php file to 666 with your FTP client and it will be updated with all the info. Remember to CHMOD config.php back to 444 when you are done.

Still having path problems? (thanks, inertiamemphis)
Copy and paste the word below into a text editor and save it as "paths.php":

<?php
$p = getcwd();
echo $p;
?>

Upload to your server to the same directory as your index.php and navigate your browser to that file. Your browser should now display the absolute path you need to fix the paths in config.php.