I've been using Zenphoto for my website's galleries since 2009. I have been experiencing trouble lately, especially following a server crash on my web host's end. Along with loading very slowly and having a lot of broken link icons in my thumbnails, I also get error messages about tables not having been created and problems connecting to the MySQL server. I believe I have gone in and changed the permissions to MySQL zenphoto database, after having first encountered the error and searching the forums for a solution. I run the setup script again when prompted and get the message that it went through properly. But then the error messages just start all over again. A friend set up my galleries originally, but I am rubbish at this because I don't really know anything about codes and such. Hoping to not have to trouble anyone if I can help it, I search the forums for each warning message I get when running set up so I can try to eliminate them one by one. The latest says that there are zenphoto core file missing, but doesn't list which ones.

I can link to screen shots of these various messages if needed.

Thanks in advance...

Sorry for your trouble but the re-running of setup is covered widely on the forum and also on this page:
http://www.zenphoto.org/news/installation-and-upgrading#re-running-and-re-uploading-setup-files

It is a security measure introduced some time ago. It will trigger if files change or if the server configuration does.

If you get error messages you need to tell us otherwise we cannot help.

Please forgive my ignorance, but other than the knowledge that the need to run setup again being a security measure, am I supposed to be adding or removing something in particular to my zp-core folder? Or something I'm supposed to be asking my webhost to do on my behalf?

If you get the message you are told to re-upload the setup files. That's all.

So running the setup through the prompt is not sufficient? Do I need to upload setup files through FTP again?

Just to be sure we are on he same page here:

You say you have a Zenphoto installation since 2009.
Which version is that ? or did you upgrade to the latest version?

Do the errors occur during or after running setup?

From what I understand is that you are running an older version of Zenphoto and that you were prompted to run setup again after Zenphoto detected changes on your hosts' server. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

And yes, a link to screen shots would be helpful.

To answer shorting, we expect that you use a current version if you don't name it. On current version you have to re-upload the setup scripts because they are deleted after a successful install for security reasons.

Okay, so I updated to the most current version, and have major problems now. I uploaded via Filezilla FTP. I get a long list of all the zp-core files that "seem wrong" and another huge list of "unknown files" in zp-core. I did as instructed - I copied just the index.php, themes folder, and zp-core folder. It says I have the wrong version of .htaccess. Perhaps you could advise as to what I did incorrectly. And, again, thank you so much for helping me sort this out!

The "seems wrong" is mostly just because they have a different time stamp. Sometimes uploading via FTP takes a while depending on the connection.

What "unknown files" are that? It might be that you also uploaded actually invisible files or something.

Regarding the htaccess just delete the existing, then re-run setup. It will tell you it is missing and offer to click to create a new one.

I did as you suggested and deleted htaccess. I am getting the same prompt as before, saying that I have the wrong htaccess, with a prompt to replace it with the current version. I hit the button that says "Replace the existing .htaccess file with the current version," the page refreshes and the error remains the same.

The list of "unknown files" is too long for me to get in one screenshot - most of them are "plugins" and "themes." There is a "delete extra files" button, but it reacts the same way as when I follow the prompt to replace the existing htaccess file - the page refreshes but the unknown files list and "delete" prompt are still there.

Probably your server does not allow Zenphoto to change the htaccess and/or delete the files (careful if you have customized anything in a theme or so). You probably got permissions errors in your server error log.

I would suggest to reupload index.php, /themes, /plugins (if there is nothing custom in there) and /zp-core. Might have been just a upload glitch.

Otherwise you might need to contact your host about the permissions.

Thank you for the advice. I have finally gotten the upgrade completed. I received a message that suggested I delete the setup files and gave me a prompt to do so, but the deleting of those files failed. Should I go into my zp-core folder and delete anything that says "setup" files? It does seem that I lost the names of images, tags, etc in my albums in this process, but I'm sure that was my own fault.

Also, something very odd is appearing when I click on photos in my gallery. I click a thumbnail to view an image, and this happens. Do you know what's going on here?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8044/8101653810_1ba5b09593_b.jpg

If setup cannot delete theme your server is setup wrong/too strict. Then you have to delete them manually within zp-core. Its a folder name setup and a file setup.php. Delete these.

Keep the release files of the version you use in reach you download as you might have to reupload them at some time later. That can be trigger if your host updates php or mysl or anything else on the server.

Thank you again!

But do you know why I'm experiencing the issue that I linked a screenshot of in my previous post?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8044/8101653810_1ba5b09593_b.jpg

Gray, diagonal stripes over my photo pages

Quick guess that this belongs to the colorbox popup of the full image. It's theme is apparently broken. Quick gueess a permissions error. Please review the Zenphoto logs and that of your server.

Do I need to ask my host to change permissions on my ZenPhoto database?

Not the database, file/folder permissions. If it is an issue you should see in your server error log.