Software – How To HelpDesk

February 16, 2021February 16, 2021

How to upgrade to PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu

You should upgrade your PHP for your server to version 7.4 or higher for security reasons. You can find PHP version info from here: https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php. Here I am doing an upgrade from PHP version 7.2 to 7.4 on my Ubuntu server, before you do any changes, make sure you have a good backup of your server/application which may be running on your server.

To see current version:

command: php -version
output: PHP 7.2.24-0ubuntu0.18.04.7 and some other details of your server

First, make sure your server is up to date by running the following commands:
Command: apt update
Command: apt-upgrade

Then add repository to install PHP:

Command: add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Command: apt update

You will get message like this to continue or cancel:

To install PHP7.4

Command: apt install php7.4

To see the version you can re-run the command:

Command: php -version
Output: PHP 7.4.14 with some other info

Now you have the PHP 7.4 on your server you can update your application to take effect of newer version of PHP. Here is example of web server apache

Command: sudo a2enmod php7.4

Considering dependency mpm_prefork for php7.4:
Considering conflict mpm_event for mpm_prefork:
ERROR: Module mpm_event is enabled – cannot proceed due to conflicts. It needs to be disabled first!
Considering conflict mpm_worker for mpm_prefork:
ERROR: Could not enable dependency mpm_prefork for php7.4, aborting

To fix:

Command: sudo a2dismod mpm_event

Module mpm_event disabled.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
systemctl restart apache2

Before you restart, you will need to activate PHP7.4, otherwise you will get this error:

Command: sudo systemctl restart apache2

Install PHP 7.4 Extensions

Installing PHP extensions are simple with the following syntax.
Command: sudo apt install php7.4-extension_name

Here are some commonly used php-extensions:

php7.4-common php7.4-mysql php7.4-xml php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-curl php7.4-gd php7.4-imagick php7.4-cli php7.4-dev php7.4-imap php7.4-mbstring php7.4-opcache php7.4-soap php7.4-zip php7.4-intl

For PHP 7.4 with Apache the php.ini location will be in following directory.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

For PHP 7.4 FPM with Nginx the php.ini location will be in following directory.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini

To search with nano editor: F6 or CTR+W and update the following values for better performance.

upload_max_filesize = 32M 
post_max_size = 48M 
memory_limit = 256M 
max_execution_time = 600 
max_input_vars = 3000 
max_input_time = 1000

For web server to take effect restart the service:
Command: sudo systemctl restart apache2

Finally doing clean up of old stuff no longer needed:

Command: apt autoremove

That’s should it, if you have other applications you just have to update that, some may automatically be done, no other action needed. You should test everything to make sure all functioning well.

February 8, 2021February 8, 2021

How to pair Logitech receiver using Unifying

Logitech Unifying Software, lets you add and remove devices that use a Unifying receiver. So if you lost a device and have a receiver you can add another device to the Logitech receiver to pair your device. Here is a quick how-to, it’s a very easy process

First, download the Logitech Unifying software
Once you downloaded the software, open the software and install it, then open Logitech Unifying Software to configure i

Click Next

Plugin receiver: then click Next

Turn on your device, or restart to get detected

If it detects your device you will see something similar to this if you have a keyboard (if you have a mouse you see a message asking to move the mouse): if it’s working select Yes and click Next

Then you should see Congratulations message

If you have an issue or the device not detected you will see a message like this, which means either your device not supported or fail to receive a signal, try again, check the battery, or try another USB port.

That’s it, hope it helped you out

October 24, 2019December 20, 2019

How to fix Outlook profile issue with office365

Most if not all businesses use Outlook for their email and there are many versions of it. Outlook supports many types of email account and they all have many settings. It varies on requirements for the Outlook version if it supports it or not. Microsoft office 365 does not support Outlook version 2007 and older, note Outlook 2010 still supports with SP2 but will also stop supporting by next October 13, 2020, here is a link for more info.

A quick checklist of possible issues:

Access/Password make sure you have access to the account and password is correct
An account may be locked, make sure it’s not locked by admin or Microsoft or your email provider
Firewall, make sure your device or network you are connected is not blocking
Settings, if you are setting up manually make sure protocol and ports are correct
Updates, make sure there are no pending updates or service patches that required by an email provider
Make sure Auto discovery URL is correct

Make sure your account is allowed to sign in and use the apps. Also, check your user/password in case there is any typo.

Outlook 2013, 2010 version:

Setting up profile go to Control Panel and click on Mail (if you don’t see the mail you can search it or change the view) then click on Show Profiles

You may have more than one profile, so you can select the “Prompt for a profile to be used” so when you click on outlook it will ask you to select the profile if it’s only one profile you can select “Always use this profile”

Filling your login info and clicking Next will fix the issue about Exchange is unavailable.

You should see something like this if everything goes well. If you get password screen pop up you may have typed the wrong password or your account might be locked.

If you have selected to set up manually and may get this message, which could mean the settings don’t match or your account can’t be found, don’t have the right to the account.

That’s it, if you still have issues make sure your Outlook meets the requirements, you may need to install updates that your computer may not have yet. Or you may need to do the repair of the outlook or whole Office suite to fix any corrupted system file. You can test your connection with office 365 https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/ Also, you may want to double-check your domain settings on your office 365 admin portal:
https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/Home#/Domains

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019

WordPress update is currently in progress

How to fix WordPress when upgrading and you get error another update is currently in progress? This could be very simple as wait for 15 minutes and it will clear the error message automatically or you may need to look at the log file to see what’s causing the hang

You might have to change the PHP.ini file to increase the maximum execution time default is 30 seconds. You might see a message like Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded, then change it in your PHP.ini in around line 380 30 to whatever

max_execution_time=30

Your error of URL might be: /wp-admin/update-core.php?action=do-core-upgrade
WordPress update is currently in progress
Another update is currently in progress. If waiting for 15 minutes does not fix it, then you might need to go into the database and: delete the core_updater.lock option from your WordPress database

Also, make sure to clear your cache and restart the web service to get the updated setting for your PHP.ini, that should be it. If you still have error check logs and maybe plugin you used may not be supporting newer version of WordPress.

February 7, 2019February 6, 2019

How to upgrade WordPress

Many websites and company Intranet runs on WordPress around the world. Keeping the WordPress software is very important to keep your data safe. The process can be very simple or it could involve a lot of planning and carefully testing a newer version, before upgrading the live system. If you have set up your WordPress correctly with the right permission and documented all the customization then it should be easy to upgrade. Your template/plugin is the key to your WordPress function. The template should be customized to void the system upgrade issues and tested.

Preparation for upgrade

Backup database and installation files, make sure your backup is good
Check your current Plugin and Template comparability
Have your customization documentation handy, review it make sure they are up to date
Make sure you have access to the server directly, in case you lose remote session
Plan out and communicate with your users

Upgrade options 1

1. Click on Update>Update Now

If everything goes well you should see: latest version installed 5.0.2

Then you need to upgrade the Templates Themes

2. Click on Update> you will see the message:
“The following themes have new versions available. Check the ones you want to update and then click “Update Themes”.”

click on each or select all and update

3. If there are any Plugin updates you will see message:
“The following plugins have new versions available. Check the ones you want to update and then click “Update Plugins”. “

Upgrade options 2

The manual process, assumed you have already done the backup in case anything goes wrong you can restore it. Download WordPress and extract the WordPress you just downloaded

1. Delete the old wp-includes and wp-admin directories from server, so it should look something like this

2. Then upload the wp-includes and wp-admin to server
3. Upload wp-content folder to your server and overwrite existing files
4. upload all of the root directory files and overwite on server

Then go to your WordPress URL, you should see Database update Required, click Update WordPress Database

If everything goes well you should see Update Complete

In case you want to check your WordPress is up to date you can type in URL
/wp-admin/upgrade.php

Then you need to upgrade the Templates Themes/Plugin
Click on Update>
you should see message for Themes/Plugin update, click on each one an update it.

The following plugins have new versions available. Check the ones you want to update and then click “Update Plugins”.

The following themes have new versions available. Check the ones you want to update and then click “Update Themes”.

That’s it, of course to test your website, menu, links, etc…