Preview doesn't work and imagecache_sample.png in wrong location.

Look at this thread for ideas ..

http://drupal.org/node/410200#comment-1822478

Na, it's not IIS stuff but the mod I put in works with IIS something that doesn't seem to get much support from the apache crowd. But the problem you're having is the same across all the platforms in that they rely on too many factors to be "just right" to work. I've searched for answers for days and some even try work arounds modifying their .htaccess files to some looney settings that will in no way work for anyone else.

But the developers have been aware of these issues since at least 2007 because that's the oldest post pointing out this bug. Basically, they're working on integrating with drupal 7 so I don't think there's going to be much work done on the existing module.

Anyway, try this modification in your imagecache.module file, it should work with apache:

function imagecache_create_url($presetname, $filepath, $bypass_browser_cache = NULL) {
  $path = _imagecache_strip_file_directory($filepath);
  if (module_exists('transliteration')) {
    $path = transliteration_get($path);
  }
  $query = $bypass_browser_cache ? time() : $bypass_browser_cache;
  switch (variable_get('file_downloads', FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC)) {
    case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC:
    if (file_exists($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] . "/" . file_directory_path() .'/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path)) {
        return url($GLOBALS['base_url'] . '/' . file_directory_path() .'/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $query, NULL, TRUE);
    } else {
        return url('system/files/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $query, NULL, TRUE);
    }

    case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PRIVATE:
     return url('system/files/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $query, NULL, TRUE);
  }
}

Note: The imagecache_sample.png is saved in files/ not files/imagecache/

This is the nature of the bug. When your system is set to public downloads, imagecache thinks the file is there so it will never move it to the destination path. You have to 'trick' the imagecache fuction (when in public downloads) that the path is non-existent so it will then move the source file to the temp dir, modify it and then move to the final destination.

For all that to work in the module's default configuration an number of factors have to be true, some of which might not be possible on every system. The above hack restores intended functionallity via a boolean test that will conclusively determine what method to use to produce the desired results.

It's in the file 'imagecache.module' around line 216

You'll see this:

function imagecache_create_url($presetname, $filepath, $bypass_browser_cache = FALSE) {
  $path = _imagecache_strip_file_directory($filepath);
  $args = array('absolute' => TRUE, 'query' => $bypass_browser_cache ? time() : $bypass_browser_cache);
  switch (variable_get('file_downloads', FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC)) {
    case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC:
      return url($GLOBALS['base_url'] . '/' . file_directory_path() .'/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $args);
    case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PRIVATE:
      return url('system/files/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $args);
  }
}

Replace with this exactly:

function imagecache_create_url($presetname, $filepath, $bypass_browser_cache = NULL) {
  $path = _imagecache_strip_file_directory($filepath);
  if (module_exists('transliteration')) {
    $path = transliteration_get($path);
  }
  $query = $bypass_browser_cache ? time() : $bypass_browser_cache;
  switch (variable_get('file_downloads', FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC)) {
    case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC:
    if (file_exists($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] . "/" . file_directory_path() .'/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path)) {
        return url($GLOBALS['base_url'] . '/' . file_directory_path() .'/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $query, NULL, TRUE);
    } else {
        return url('system/files/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $query, NULL, TRUE);
    }

    case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PRIVATE:
     return url('system/files/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, $query, NULL, TRUE);
  }
}

Make a copy of the existing one for back up and roll back if need be. Also, you'll have to get the {} correct or you'll get a parse error.

Hey guys, I had the exact same problem and tried enabling the ImageAPI GD2 module. It worked perfectly after that, no modifications to the code. Hope this helps.

I have the same problem with the error message in #7, too. The fix mentioned (#536596: Imagecache FIX for images being created in wrong location) does not help. The files are created in the directory files directly instead of the appropriate subdirectory.

...setting this issue on critical because this error causes the module not to do what it is meant for...

try to enable clean urls it worked for me

... I already had clean URLs enabled ...

It works now, in my case, I enabled the Image API GD2

That solved my problem :)
Thanks

Yeh enabling clean URL's fixed this for me. I'm using Bluehost and to get clean-urls going i had to make sure there was a .htaccess in the root of my drupal install that included the line:

RewriteBase /~bluehost_username/dressagetaranaki.co.nz

dressagetaranaki.co.nz being the name of the sub folder my site is in the root of bluehost.

Then i enable clean-urls, went back to my view and image cache images were all there! woo &#%(#@* hoo!

Same issue. Solutions not working here (like FrankT ) Tryed the latest release and the latest dev version. Clean urls are enabled, Image API GD2 also enabled