BulletProof Security General Troubleshooting Steps

An updated/more current BulletProof Security Free Troubleshooting Guide can be found in the NEW BulletProof Security Free Forum >>> http://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/read-me-first-free/

An updated/more current BulletProof Security Pro Troubleshooting Guide can be found in the NEW BulletProof Security Pro Forum >>> http://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/read-me-first-pro/

BulletProof Security setup steps:

1. Click the AutoMagic buttons
2. Activate All BulletProof Modes.
3. Setup complete.

BulletProof Security removal steps:

1. Activate Default Mode on the Security Modes page.
2. Use the Delete wp-admin .htaccess feature on the Security Modes page.
3. Deactivate and delete BulletProof Security on the WP Plugins page.

Unable to login into your website:

1. Use FTP or your Web Host Control Panel File Manager and delete the .htaccess file in your website root folder.
2. Log into your website, click the BulletProof Security AutoMagic Buttons and Activate all BulletProof Modes.

BulletProof Security Free and BulletProof Security Pro are compatible with 1,000’s of Web Hosts, but are not compatible with these 2 Web Hosting Companies (Landis Holdings & NTT Communications – Due to Custom Server Configurations) 

Hostingzoom (Landis Holdings)
Resellerzoom (Landis Holdings)
Modvps (Landis Holdings)
WowVPS.com (Landis Holdings)
JaguarPC (Landis Holdings)
Verio (NTT Communications)
NTT America (NTT Communications)
NTT Europe (NTT Communications)

BulletProof Security Plugin Conflict or Some Functionality On Your Website Is Not Working Correctly

If you think that BulletProof Security is causing a plugin conflict or any other issue on your website that is causing something not to work, then please use these steps below to take BulletProof Security out of the equation completely for testing.  There is no need to deactivate BulletProof Security because it has a built-in Default Mode that allows you to put WordPress in a default state without deactivating BulletProof Security. If you find that BulletProof Security does have a conflict with another plugin then please check the BulletProof Security Plugin Compatibility Issues – Testing and Fixes Page to see if a fix (bypass/skip rule) is already listed. If your plugin is not listed and you have confirmed that BulletProof Security is definitely causing a conflict then please post a comment in the new BulletProof Security Forum.

1. Make a backup of your .htaccess files using BulletProof Security built-in Backup.
2. Activate Default Mode on the Security Modes page.
3. Use the Delete wp-admin .htaccess feature on the Security Modes page.
4. Test your plugin or theme.
5. Restore your .htaccess files using BulletProof Security built-in Restore.

To completely uninstall BulletProof Security you would do steps 2 and 3 above and then just delete the BulletProof Security plugin on the WP Plugins page.

NOTE: Both the Root BulletProof Mode and the wp-admin BulletProof Mode MUST be activated – Activate Root BulletProof Mode and then activate wp-admin BulletProof Mode.  If you only activate Root BulletProof Mode and you do not activate the wp-admin BulletProof Mode then some wp-admin Dashboard functions may not work correctly on some web hosts, such as configuring Widgets.

BulletProof Security Pro Troubleshooting Steps

You can take BulletProof Security Pro out of the equation for troubleshooting without having to remove/uninstall BulletProof Security Pro.

1. Make a backup of your .htaccess files using BulletProof Security Pro built-in Backup.
2. Activate Default Mode on the Security Modes page.
3. Use the Delete wp-admin .htaccess feature on the Security Modes page.
4. Turn Off AutoRestore.
5. If you created a custom php.ini file for your website rename it to php.ini.BAK
6. Test your plugin, theme, app or script.
7. After testing is completed – Restore your .htaccess files using BulletProof Security Pro built-in Restore.
8. Rename your php.ini.BAK file back to php.ini.
9. Turn AutoRestore back On.

BulletProof Security AutoMagic Not Working, Unable to Edit .htaccess Files, 404 Errors, Quarantine Not Working, WordPress is broken

If you are unable to create .htaccess files with AutoMagic or edit .htaccess files with the built-in editor or you are seeing 404 errors when trying to edit .htaccess files or use AutoMagic and Quarantine does not work period then your site is using the broken cPanel HotLink Protection Tool. It has been broken since at least 2002 and not only breaks BulletProof Security, but it also breaks many other WordPress features such as the WordPress Plugin Editor and too many other things in WordPress to list here.

Log into your cPanel and click on the HotLink Protection Tool.  If you see this code below then this confirms that the problem that is occurring on your website is the broken cPanel HotLink Protection Tool problem.

URLs to allow access:

(%0A|%0D|%27|%3C|%3E|%00)
\.opendirviewer\.
users\.skynet\.be.*

Screenshot of the cPanel HotLink Protection Tool

Solution: There is only one way to block the broken cPanel HotLink Protection tool, since enabling and disabling it is also broken – you cannot turn it off. You need to lock your Root .htaccess file with F-Lock (or manually lock it with 404 file permissions) and log into cPanel and delete all code that you see in the HotLink Protection windows. If you unlock your Root .htaccess file at a later time and WordPress and BulletProof Security and ARQ and Quarantine are not working correctly again then you will need to repeat these steps to fix the problem again as this broken tool will probably do the same thing again as soon as your Root .htaccess file is unlocked.

500 Internal Server Error After Activating BulletProof Mode for your Root Folder

Some Web Hosts do not allow you to use the “Options” Directive in .htaccess files. If you see a 500 Internal Server Error then comment out the “Options” Directive by adding a pound sign (#) in front of Options -Indexes in your Root .htaccess file as shown below.

# DO NOT SHOW DIRECTORY LISTING
# If you are getting 500 Errors when activating BPS then comment out Options -Indexes
# by adding a # sign in front of it. If there is a typo anywhere in this file you will also see 500 errors.
#Options -Indexes

BulletProof Security AutoMagic Not Working/built in .htaccess File Editor Not Working, Unable to Backup or Restore Files and the Broken cPanel HotLink Protection Tool is Not The Cause

If your Server API type is DSO then you will need to do some manual file and folder permission changes.  You can check your Server API on the System Info tab in BPS and BPS Pro.  If you see that your Server API is DSO then you will need to perform these installation steps for DSO.  We are currently working on adding additional coding in BPS and BPS Pro for DSO configured Servers and will eventually release a BulletProof Security version that has full automation for DSO configured Servers.

BulletProof Security WP Error: “no input file specified”- Permalink Problems/404 Errors – using the .html permalink hack is causing 404 Errors

If you see a “no input file specified” error then there is something wrong with your WordPress custom permalink structure.  Another cause of 404 Errors is using the .html Permalink hack.  Using .html in your WordPress Permalink Structure is considered a hack and is not a standard WordPress Custom Permalink Structure.  Example Permalink .html Hack:  /%postname%.html.  Many years ago this supposedly increased page ranking and SEO.  If that was ever really true it is definitely not true now.  Using this permalink hack will only cause your website problems and BulletProof Security will not work with this permalink hack.  You will need to change your custom permalink to a standard WordPress custom permalink structure in order to be able to use BulletProof Security.

403 Forbidden Error after updating/upgrading BPS

Some web hosts (approximately 6 Hosts out of 1000’s of Hosts) have a strict policy that .htaccess files can ONLY have 644 permissions and do not allow you to change your .htaccess file permissions to 404.  During the BPS automatic update/upgrade process your Server API is detected and if it is a typical SAPI that should allow your .htaccess file to be locked with 404 permissions then BPS will automatically lock the file.  To see if this is the problem that is occuring FTP to your website and change the .htaccess file permissions in your website root folder to 644.  If the 403 error goes away then please let us know which Host you have by posting a comment here so that we can add them to the below of Hosts that do not allow 404 file permissions for .htaccess files.

List of Web Hosts that require 644 .htaccess file permissions – 404 permissions are not allowed on these Hosts and will cause a 403 Error 

An additional coding check will be added to not automatically lock .htaccess files for these Hosts.

webmasters.com (Host added to BPS Pro 5.1.9 and BPS .47.5)

WordPress Network / MU Specific Help Support

General Help Information About BPS and WordPress Network / MU Websites

Do not Network Activate BPS.
BPS Should only be activated on the Primary Site.
BPS AutoMagic buttons should ONLY be used on the Primary Site
Network/MU sub-sites are virtual sites – BulletProof Modes should NOT be activated on sub-sites
ONLY Super Admins can see the BPS menu in sub-sites for both BPS Free and BPS Pro
If a Site Admin tries to view BPS Settings or BPS pages a Super Admins Permissions Error message is displayed

Network / MU Images Not Displaying in Media Library or on Website

Network / MU Images Not Displaying