Magento – Exception printing is disabled by default

Another simple error after upgrading or installing Magento is the message “There has been an error processing your request. Exception printing is disabled by default for security reasons.”

This is usually because your Magento install has difficulty in knowing where to put your cache files. Thankfully it’s a simple fix.

If you’ve already set up exception logging (see below) you’ll also have the errors and warnings similar to these in your exception.log

Exception message: Could not determine temp directory, please specify a cache_dir manually

exception ‘Zend_Cache_Exception’ with message ‘Could not determine temp directory, please specify a cache_dir manually’ in …

How to specify a cache_dir

Best way – Change php.ini

Find your php.ini file in the root of your hosting, you might need to create one if it doesn’t exist. Then using your hosting Control Panel File Manager setting insert your file paths.

;tmp directory
upload_tmp_dir = /home/sitename/www/www/tmp/
sys_temp_dir = /home/sitename/www/www/tmp/

 

The php.ini file should be in the root of your hosting e.g. /home/sitename/php.ini

NOT

the root of your hosting e.g. /home/sitename/www/www/php.ini

If there is a php.ini in the root of your hosting e.g. /home/sitename/www/www/php.ini , it will override the main php.ini file and the above is unlikely to work.

 

Not ideal – Change File.php

If you can’t add a php.ini file. You can add a temp folder location in a core Magento file. Changing a core file isn’t ideal as this issue will return if you update your Magento files.

Locate the file;

/lib/Zend/Cache/Backend/File.php

and find;

‘cache_dir’ => null,

which can be found around line 99.

and change it to;

‘cache_dir’ => ‘tmp/’,

 

 

Create a tmp folder

Now create, if it doesn’t already exist, a folder named tmp in the root of your Magento installation.

 

Enable Magento exception printing

If this doesn’t fix your issue or to get a more detailed report on your error, you can temporarily enable exception printing.

Go to;

errors/local.xml.sample

and rename local.xml.sample to local.xml

It’s best to revert this back to .sample after you’ve solved your issue, as throwing out error messages in the front end is a basic way for hackers to debug your server and file set up.

In most cases errors will be logged in the /errors folder and you won’t have any need to do this.

 

Enable Magento exception logging

Enabling exception logging via admin, will also help you to get more information on your Magento errors.

In admin go to;

System > Configuration > Developer > Log Settings > Enabled = Yes

The custom locations for the error log files should be fine, but make sure that the folder is writeable.

Future errors should now be stored in the files;

• exception.log
• system.log

which are in the {{base_dir}}/var/log folder.

 

 

Still having issues?

To make sure your site is actually using the latest, updated versions of your files disable caching and reindex your Magento site. Cache should be enabled on your completed live site, to greatly increase its speed for returning visitors, but disabled on test environments.

Disable Cache
System > Cache Management > Select All [check-boxes] > Actions = Disable > Submit

Re-Index All
System > Index Management > Select All [check-boxes] > Actions = Reindex Data > Submit

 

Enable Magento developer Mode

If you’d like your error messages displayed on screen, rather than stored in log files, you can enable developer mode. This is best used only on local, development installations.

Developer mode can be set in your local apache configuration or within your .htaccess file in your root Magento folder.

SetEnv MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE "true"

 

Again, you don’t want this enabled on your live website.

 

Magento errors

Magento mentions why it doesn’t provide error information on the frontend of a site by default, in its installation documentation.

– such information might give clues about how to attack the website
– it is not very user friendly; most visitors will be confused when seeing such a page

500 Magento errors

This is due to file permissions and can be quickly fixed by loading the magento cleanup tool file in the root of your Magento installation.

503 Magento errors

If you’ve just updated or installed Magento check that the temporary maintenance.flag has been removed.

Magento can be frustrating to get up and running, but errors like these are easy to overcome. Just try not to edit core files directly and remember to backup your files and db before making any big changes.

 

If you’d like help getting your Magento website back on track, Magento error help or view our Magento website portfolio.