I am setting up a site for a client on a Netfirms server. We need clean URLs, so I made the necessary changes to the .htaccess file (i.e., set the rewrite base to the proper location). I then went to the clean URLs page on the site, and ran the test. The URL display indicated that in fact clean URLs were working.

Yet the radio button that would allow me to select clean URLs remained grey (that is, I could not select that as an option).

Here is what I did to correct this and enable clean URLs:

1. Use phpMyAdmin to get into the database for the site.

2. Back up the database.

3. Click the SQL tab.

4. Enter the following into the query box:

UPDATE `variable` SET `value` = 's:1:"1";' WHERE `name` = 'clean_url' LIMIT 1 ;

5. Click Go.

6. Return to the clean URLs page on your site and reload the page.

7. If the button is still greyed out, change a setting on your site. For example, go to site configuration, file system, and change public to private. and click Submit.

8. Return to the clean URL page on your site, reload the page, and it should now allow you to enable clean URLs.

9. Return to the file system config page and reset file download method to public.

10. Live happily ever after.

Comments

peregrina’s picture

Just modify the .htaccess in "" add RewriteBase / , that should do it. ;)

RockSoup’s picture

thanks

Jennifer_M’s picture

I have no idea why that worked, but it did :-)

(Drupal 6 on Ubuntu Hardy Heron, had the "Your server has been successfully tested to support this feature" light-green box, but enabled/disabled was still greyed out - this method brought the radio buttons into action.)

Actually I did it by browsing to the variable and editing it, rather than by running the SQL query. There's only about 45 variables in the variable table, and alphabetical order of name brings this one up handily first. But same thing in effect (I think).

Thanks very much for documenting it - I'd never have guessed that method in a million years :-)

Clicking the radio button to disabled made the whole thing grey out again, so whatever the problem is, it's not really fixed by this method, only worked-around. Let's hope there's no catch...

Jennifer_M’s picture

Just had some other problems so went switching off modules, and discovered that was an alternative way of restoring the radio button functionality. I haven't yet tracked down which specific module was causing the interference.

The other problems were to do with collapsible sections in admin not showing themselves when I wanted to see my options (View Source revealed everything was class "collapsible collapsed" even when meant to be uncollapsed), so I wonder if it was a JavaScript/CSS thing.