500 Error on Install

  • Resolved scottacock

    (@scottacock)


    8 years, 11 months ago

    I had WordPress working just fine on PHP 5.6. I have an existing site (Drupal 6) that I want to replace with the WordPress site. The WordPress site sits in a subfolder until we are done redesigning the site, then we will move it to the root folder.

    The problem is, I made the mistake of switching to PHP 7. This broke the Drupal site. It will run on PHP 5.6. Now that I switched the site to 7, swtiching back to 5.6 breaks WordPress. I tried to do a complete wipe and reinstall of the subfolder, completely reinstalling WordPress from scratch in that folder. However, this fails to install. Apparently, the installer now wants only PHP 7. I can’t do that because I have to have the old site running.

    I even tried an older version of WordPress. No luck.

    Is there any way to get WordPress to run on PHP 5.6 again????

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • jordanwpcom

    (@jordanwpcom)

    8 years, 11 months ago

    Hey @scottacock,

    Interesting issue…
    From my understanding, the WordPress.org self-hosted platform is compatible with a number of versions of PHP and should work with both 5.6 and 7. You should know, that PHP 7 will soon become the new standard, and you may likely have to switch up to 7 in the near future.

    From what I know, there isn’t anything hard-coded into WordPress to tell it what PHP version to install to. As long as it is within it’s compatibility range it should work.

    Curious, if you install WordPress in an entirely different folder on the same server, do you encounter the same issue?
    Have you tried removing everything in the mysql database you setup? There could be an entry in the mysql database about the previous PHP version used to install…trying to think about all angles.

    I’m sure we can figure this out!

    Thanks
    Jordan

    Thread Starter scottacock

    (@scottacock)

    8 years, 11 months ago

    Deletion of the database finally did the trick. I also used a different database name, username, and password. Reinstall worked this time.

    I do intend to upgrade to PHP 7 once we have finished building the new site. I just need to keep it on PHP 5.6 so that the current old site does not go down until we have finished copying content over and setting everything up. Once I do that, I will wipe out the old Drupal site, transfer WordPress to the root where Drupal is now, and then switch to PHP 7.

    jordanwpcom

    (@jordanwpcom)

    8 years, 11 months ago

    Great!
    Glad that worked out, I had a feeling a fresh database would do the trick.

    makeonlineshops

    (@makeonlineshops)

    8 years, 11 months ago

    I tried WP with PHP 7 and had problem.
    I think it is a better solution to wait that PHP7 becomes an obligation.
    Some hosts still warn that php7 is unstable.
    Just like people who tell you that installing as many plugins is not a problem, people saying that PHP7 is not a problem seem to be living in their own bubble.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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