Wordpress install enters an infinite loop

Question

I am really struggling with this one - hopefully someone here can help...

I am installing a brand new, fresh version of Wordpress v4.0 (A task I've performed easily 100+ times before without incident)

I have setup a brand new sub-domain and database for it then run the install script... But, everytime I try, I get caught in an infinite loop...

I tried deleting the sub-domain and database and recreating a new, completely different sub-domain and database name but the same thing occurs... I also delete the wp-config.php and start over again but always, when I get to point 4, it gets caught in an infinite loop...

The install process:

1. got oo URL
2. Select Country
3. Click "Let's Go"
4. Enter the db_name, db_user, password, host and table prefix and click submit
5. Click "run the install"

But every time, I get the same result:

This web page has a redirect loop

The web page at http://www.domainname.com/wp-admin/install.php has resulted in too many redirects. Clearing your cookies for this site or allowing third-party cookies may fix the problem. If not, it is possibly a server configuration issue and not a problem with your computer. Learn more about this problem. Error code: ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS

I tried clearing the cookies but I know that's unrelated because I also went to rexswain.com and viewed the http header and it also gets caught in the same redirect loop...

I don't even know where to start looking!

There is no .htaccess file - 100% confirmed!

And when I check the database - no tables have even been created!

I am perplexed - any advice on how to do some debugging would be awesome!

Answer 1

I finally found a solution to this problem and thought I would post my solution for anyone looking for assistance.

My main website sits on /public_html on my server I was installing new sites on a subdomain (e.g. newwebsite.com.au) in a sub-directory: /public_html/sites/newwebsite.com.au

Even though /public_html/sites/newwebsite.com.au was the root directory for the subdomain: newwebsite.com.au for some reason, the web server was still reading and using .htaccess from the parent/parent: /public_html

I had security software installed on the main website which was blocking install.php from executing.

Answer 2

Maybe; Edit the default ssl conf to point to /var/www/html/newwebsite to match newwebsite.conf.

You must place your "default-ssl.conf" file inside:

/etc/apache2/sites-available

And after, a2ensite command it will create a symlink for you inside:

/etc/apache2/sites-enabled

sudo a2ensite default-ssl.conf

Then SSH

service apache2 reload /or/ service apache2 restart

Answer 3

I had the a similar problem. The issue for me was that I was serving WordPress from a directory that did not contain a wp-config-sample.php file but the parent directory did (I have no idea why the person before me set it up this way).

If I moved this directory to a different parent and served it from there then I would get a sensible error message saying that this file was missing.

The solution for me was to copy the wp-config-sample.php file into the directory that I was serving from.