Problem activing WPML String Translation

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
WPML String Translation wasn't being activated and when trying to activate, site's main menu and header were gone. There was a fatal error when trying to access Avada Options page and site was breaking.

For some reason, the main site was expecting to use FTP. This is why nothing actually worked. And nothing was being logged in debug.log.

By using Query Monitor, our team was able to find following error:

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: ftp_nlist(): Argument #1 ($ftp) must be of type FTP\Connection, null given
in /wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Call stack:

ftp_nlist()
wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php:427
WP_Filesystem_FTPext::exists()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/class-avada-server-rules.php:177
Avada_Server_Rules::is_htaccess_writable()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/options/performance.php:53
avada_options_section_performance()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/class-avada-options.php:155
Avada_Options::set_sections()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/class-avada-options.php:107
Avada_Options::__construct()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/class-avada-options.php:124
Avada_Options::get_instance()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/class-avada.php:716
Avada::get_options()
wp-content/themes/Avada/includes/class-avada-avadaredux.php:30
Avada_AvadaRedux::init_fusionredux()
wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:308
WP_Hook::apply_filters()
wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:332
WP_Hook::do_action()
wp-includes/plugin.php:517
do_action()
wp-settings.php:623
require_once()
wp-config.php:104
require_once()
wp-load.php:50
require_once()
wp-admin/admin.php:34
require_once()
wp-admin/themes.php:10

Solution:
Team fixed the issue by adding:

define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

to wp-config.php file.

This seems to work with:
- String Translation - no crashes
- Visiting Avada Options - no crashes
- Front-end - the menu displays just properly now when WPML String Translation is enabled.

This is also actually the reason why no error log was created in the first place.

This is the technical support forum for WPML - the multilingual WordPress plugin.

Everyone can read, but only WPML clients can post here. WPML team is replying on the forum 6 days per week, 22 hours per day.

Tagged: Bug, Performance

This topic contains 45 replies, has 4 voices.

Last updated by Waqas Bin Hasan 1 year, 8 months ago.

Assisted by: Waqas Bin Hasan.

Author	Posts
April 13, 2023 at 3:28 pm #13466367
jordiB-11	I have installed the WPML plugins and when I activate WPML String Translation it gives me problems on the site: The top menu and the wordpress interface disappear and when I try to open some page I have a critical error. I have tried to work only with WPML Multilingual CMS and WPML Media activated and it works fine, I have even been able to translate a page. I had previously created a staging site: hidden link and it did not give me any problems installing the WPML plugins.
April 13, 2023 at 3:38 pm #13466433
Andreas	Hi, before your ticket is assigned to one of my colleagues, please allow me to walk you through some initial debugging steps. This will help speed up the support process. If there is a critical error, you should get an admin email with more info and a message about it. It should be also written in your debug log if enabled, please enable debug log and check with your hosting if needed what is the error message and share it with us. You can also enable WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY to display the message. https://wpml.org/documentation/support/debugging-wpml/ Let us know, thanks. Regards, Andreas
April 13, 2023 at 4:03 pm #13466627
jordiB-11	I don't have any error messages in my mail. Attached is a screenshot of the error apears trying to open some pages. Also Header, top menu and the wordpress interface disappear. Debug is enabled: define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
April 13, 2023 at 7:21 pm #13467719
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for contacting the support. As my colleague requested, can you check debug.log file and share the file with me? Since you enabled debugging, the errors should be logged in the said file. Before proceeding further, may I ask you to try the following? IMPORTANT: Take full backup of your website and database beforehand. It is highly advised to try the following on a staging/dev site first, so your live website isn't compromised. - Deactivate all plugins except WPML and its addons and check for the issue. - Activate each plugin one-by-one, while keeping check on the issue after a plugin is activated. This way you'll be able to pinpoint a plugin having a conflict (or problem), if any. You can also check for plugin compatibility with WPML at https://wpml.org/plugin/. If you find a plugin not compatible with WPML, I'll advise you to contact the plugin author. - If the problem persists, repeat the above steps with a default theme of WordPress (i.e. 2021 or 2023). - Also check the browser's console for any JavaScript errors. If you find any, copy that in your next reply. See https://wordpress.org/support/article/using-your-browser-to-diagnose-javascript-errors/ for details on how to find these errors. Please let me know and I'll try my best to further assist you on the matter. Regards.
April 14, 2023 at 7:37 am #13471199
jordiB-11	Hi, I have already checked everything and the only problem is having the following plugins activated at the same time: WPML Multilingual CMS and WPML String Translation. With a default theme the problem persists. If I disable WPML String Translation I can use WPML to translate the page, but If I active both plugins Hedear, Main menu and WordPress interficie disappear I've check the browser's console and no JavaScript errors. How do I send you the debug.log file? I can send you the connection data to WordPress and FTP. Please tell me how. Please I need to know if is possible to do the translation with out WPML String Translation plugin, I need I solution as soon as possible.
April 14, 2023 at 3:47 pm #13475105
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for the updates. You can upload debug.log to somewhere like wetransfer.com and then send the link in your next message. May I ask for admin access to your website to check the issue in detail? You can create a separate admin user for this purpose, which can be deleted afterwards. Also provide following detail to investigate/observe the issue: - detailed steps to reproduce the issue - links to pages in admin and on frontend - screenshots or screen recording if needed to explain - any other relevant information to observe/investigate the issue Remember to take full backup of your website and database before proceeding. However, a staging/test site is highly recommended, because I may need to try some changes/fixes on the site, which may cause conflicts with the live site otherwise. Please confirm it in your next reply or let me know if you do not agree with the mentioned. I've set your next reply as private to share this information safely. IMPORTANT: If you don't see the section for providing access information, do not write in the message box or the information may appear as public. See https://wpml.org/purchase/support-policy/privacy-and-security-when-providing-debug-information-for-support/ for details on privacy and security. Before continuing on the site, I'll also need your confirmation and approval on each of the followings: 1) Is this a Live/Production or Staging/Dev site? 2) Is it OK to work on this site? 3) Is it OK to try some changes/fixes on the site and/or activate/deactivate/install a plugin on the site, which may cause conflicts with the other parts of the site? 4) Have you taken full backup of your website and database? Please confirm, thanks.
April 14, 2023 at 7:22 pm #13476147
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for providing the details, confirmations and access. I was able to retrieve the debug.log which is found under /wp-content/ folder (not the one you uploaded, that is debug information from WPML). I found that there's following error: WordPress database error Table 'qahp349.wp_icl_mo_files_domains' doesn't exist for query INSERT IGNORE INTO wp_icl_mo_files_domains ( file_path, file_path_md5, domain, status, num_of_strings, last_modified, component_type, component_id ) VALUES ( 'wp-content/plugins/acfml/languages/acfml-es_ES.mo', '52769e101c53ced19c61a9647eaa051a', 'acfml', 'not_imported', 0, 1681374332, 'plugin', 'acfml/wpml-acf.php' ) made by shutdown_action_hook, do_action('shutdown'), WP_Hook->do_action, WP_Hook->apply_filters, WPML_ST_Translations_File_Dictionary_Storage_Table->persist And upon further investigation I found that it can be fixed with this solution https://wpml.org/forums/topic/error-on-wp-admin-2/#post-12849323. So I tried to install phpMyAdmin plugin from Plugins -> Add New to apply that solution but after activating the plugin I am unable to reach the site (web and FTP). I am getting ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT. Please check with your server and feel free to remove phpMyAdmin plugin from /wp-content/plugins folder, if you see that's creating the problem. And then execute the query mentioned in https://wpml.org/forums/topic/error-on-wp-admin-2/#post-12849323 on your database. IMPORTANT: Take full backup of your website and database beforehand. Please let me know if this helps resolve the issue. Or I'll try my best to further assist you on the matter. Regards.
April 15, 2023 at 8:54 am #13478557
jordiB-11	Hi, I'm sorry but I'm not a programmer and I don't understand very well what I have to do. I understand that I must make some changes to the Worpress database on the server. Can you please tell me what changes I should make? Should I click on: Enter Local phpAdmin (image1.jpg) and then make changes in (image2.jpg)? And after? Can you do it? Do you need any data to connect? Regards,
April 17, 2023 at 3:40 pm #13489179
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Yes that's how it is done and that's exactly I tried previously and tried just again. But strangely after browsing the table when I tried to check the structure, database connection was lost (see attached images). And site isn't reachable again. Please NOTE that the table already exists but with a different name than what I found in the debug.log (in my previous message). This is also weird. I also then tried to connect to FTP to check if there are new errors in the debug.log but unfortunately FTP isn't reachable also. However, here are the steps in case if you are able to run the query: 1) Take full backup of database beforehand. 2) Enter you local phpMyAdmin. Preferably use your hosting/service provider's DB panel (i.e. usually accessible from cPanel or WHM). 3) Click on "SQL" tab so that you can see the big text box to run the query. 4) Copy the query from https://wpml.org/forums/topic/error-on-wp-admin-2/#post-12849323 and paste into the box. 5) Run the query. After that try activating String Translation and see if it works. On the other hand, based on the above, I think you may also need to contact your hosting provider and see what's causing this connection break between site and DB (and overall site going down). Please let me know. Regards.
April 17, 2023 at 6:36 pm #13490069
jordiB-11	Hello! I'm sorry to bother you again but as I told you I'm not a programmer and for me this is very complicated. According to what you tell me, I understand that I must get to this screen on my server (see image attached) and paste the text exactly as it is in your link with out any modification. From here, can you tell me exactly how to proceed? 1. Should I activate "Vincula els pàrametres" Bind the parameters) 2. In order to activate the query, Shoud I click on "Obtén la consulta auto-deseada" Get the self-selected query? 3. Thats all I should do? Thank you and regards
April 17, 2023 at 6:58 pm #13490341
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Yes that's "more or less" the same, EXCEPT: - remember to select the database from the left side (i.e. qahpxxxxx). - then click SQL, so the query is related to that particular database. - paste the query. - simply click "Go" or "Executa" button. See attached screenshot for reference. Remember to take full backup of database beforehand. Regards.
April 18, 2023 at 6:27 am #13492751
jordiB-11	Hi, I don't know if I did it right? This is what has happened. ERROR #1050 - Table 'wp_icl_mo_files_domains' already exists
April 18, 2023 at 5:41 pm #13498719
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for the updates. That means the table already exists, there are 2 possibilities: 1) either the query was ran twice and it was created in the first run. 2) or table was already there, as I noted but with a different prefix and somehow that's fixed. Anyways, in both cases, we wanted this table to exist and be available. I checked the debug.log again and found that since 13th or 14th April, there's no more error about this table (as I mentioned in my message on April 14th). So logically you should be able to activate WPML String Translation plugin. Can you try activating WPML String Translation again? If it still doesn't work, may I ask for a copy of your website to test locally? This way I'll be able to figure out the problem more efficiently. Please see https://wpml.org/faq/provide-supporters-copy-site/ for more details. I've set your next reply as private to share this information safely. Regards.
April 18, 2023 at 9:22 pm #13499755
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for providing the site package. I am working on this and 'll get back to you as soon as I find something or have a solution. Regards.
April 19, 2023 at 4:50 pm #13506807
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for your patience and cooperation. I tested on local using your package and everything seems to work fine. However, I am testing with different permutations of PHP and MySQL (where I've some suspect). I tried to check something on your site and activated ST, which I believed would work fine as it did on my local but again site went unreachable. Even can't connect via FTP. Can you please connect to your site via FTP and rename WPML String Translation to deactivate it? So your site is back online. Meanwhile, I am working on it and 'll update you as soon as I find more information and/or a solution. Regards.