How to remove vbSEO without control panel access?

[kevinh]

My site was causing browser errors re "too many redirects", and I was unable to access the site or Admincp.

I found this advice on editing the .htaccess file and that partially fixed the problem - the site now comes up, but when I click on a forum link or thread link, it just reloads the homepage.

I can now get into Admincp, but when I click on the vbSEO control panel link it just loads my site home page, so I can't disable vbSEO that way.

In case it makes any difference, my forums are in mydomain/forum/ and I have RewriteBase /forum/ enabled

There is also a .htaccess file in the root public folder or the domain that contains the following rule which just redirects all requests to the /forum/ folder;

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mydomain\.com\.au/forum
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.mydomain.com.au/forum/ [L,R=301]

[TheLastSuperman]

Use this article to disable your mods (regain admincp access) https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=259619 *Simply add the disable hooks code at the top of config first, then follow other info if that does not restore admincp access first.

*You may also need to temporarily rename .htaccess to .htaccess1 or similar if login issues still persist after disabling hooks.

As for the vbseo password, if it was a newer version of vbseo then find the config file and edit it - the config.xml is located in: /vbseo/resources/xml/config.xml

Find the lines:

<setting>
<name>VBSEO_ADMIN_PASSWORD</name>
<value>635182cbab83bcdg50a83993c933r4bf</value>
</setting>
<setting>

The <value>#######</value> will be different than the above, that is the encrypted password. Simply remove it as shown:

<setting>
<name>VBSEO_ADMIN_PASSWORD</name>
<value></value>
</setting>
<setting>

*Save the file, re-upload the config.xml file. Now when you return to access the vBSEO control panel it will no longer require a password to access but instead ask you to enter in a new password instead . Once you're done don't forget to chmod the config.xml back to 644 instead of 777 so it's "secured" although to be honest vBSEO is no long secure, you should revert and use mod rewrite friendly url's within vBulletin 4 or switch to DBSEO (if you switch from vBSEO to DBSEO be sure you do not uninstall vBSEO until DBSEO is installed and all links work as they did prior, once you confirm DBSEO works as you wish then uninstall vBSEO).

[kevinh]

Many thanks TheLastSuperman

I can access Admincp, but I can't get into the vbSEO Control Panel to turn vbSEO off. When I click on the vbSEO Control Panel, it just loads the forum home page.

I have disabled hooks and that didn't make any difference.

I tried renaming .htaccess, but then the site won't come up at all.

Any other ideas before I start trying database edits?

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by kevinh

I tried renaming .htaccess, but then the site won't come up at all.

vBulletin does not need an .htaccess file, so you must have some serious set-up issues if it fails without one.

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by kevinh

Many thanks TheLastSuperman

I can access Admincp, but I can't get into the vbSEO Control Panel to turn vbSEO off. When I click on the vbSEO Control Panel, it just loads the forum home page.

I have disabled hooks and that didn't make any difference.

I tried renaming .htaccess, but then the site won't come up at all.

Any other ideas before I start trying database edits?

Okay so try:
- Leave .htaccess alone, if it was renamed then rename it back to original name .htaccess.
- Disable hooks via the code you add to config.php.
- Login to admincp.
- Disable vBSEO. (DO NOT UNINSTALL if you're even considering going to DBSEO, if you uninstall all your old url hierarchy and other settings will be lost).
- Change Friendly URLs setting via: Admincp > Settings > Options > Friendly URLs > *Set this to "Standard URLs" and save.

Now check the site, does it load without issue?

*If you cannot get into admincp at all, use the article I linked to above to reset admincp access i.e. disable hooks via config.php code AND disable all hooks per the sql query provided by Steve M. - that should give you access to admincp again. If anything perhaps your admin rights were revoked or changed... it's a possibility so check the user table, find your username by name or id and see if your usergroup id is set to 6 or not.

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by Paul M

vBulletin does not need an .htaccess file, so you must have some serious set-up issues if it fails without one.

It does if you have vbSEO installed and enabled, which I do

--------------- Added [DATE]1471660809[/DATE] at [TIME]1471660809[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

Okay so try:
- Leave .htaccess alone, if it was renamed then rename it back to original name .htaccess.
- Disable hooks via the code you add to config.php.
- Login to admincp.
- Disable vBSEO. (DO NOT UNINSTALL if you're even considering going to DBSEO, if you uninstall all your old url hierarchy and other settings will be lost).

At this point the site started working.

I had been trying to get into the vbSEO control panel to disable it - I forgot I could just disable it from Products in Admincp!

However, I have now lost all my SEO friendly URLs, and my site did have a very good SERP ranking so I really need to do something about this.

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

- Change Friendly URLs setting via: Admincp > Settings > Options > Friendly URLs > *Set this to "Standard URLs" and save.

Do I still need to do this bit if I am considering going to DBSEO?

I'd never heard of DBSEO so I need to investigate this.

Thanks for all your help!

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by kevinh

It does if you have vbSEO installed and enabled, which I do

--------------- Added [DATE]1471660809[/DATE] at [TIME]1471660809[/TIME] ---------------



At this point the site started working.

I had been trying to get into the vbSEO control panel to disable it - I forgot I could just disable it from Products in Admincp!

However, I have now lost all my SEO friendly URLs, and my site did have a very good SERP ranking so I really need to do something about this.



Do I still need to do this bit if I am considering going to DBSEO?

I'd never heard of DBSEO so I need to investigate this.

Thanks for all your help!

Setting to standard URL's was my advice IF you could not access admincp, so now that vBSEO is disabled you can upload the .htaccess for the site from the vBulletin zip file. Now set it to Mod Rewrite Friendly URL's. After making that change URL's will appear similar to how they did prior with vBSEO but not the same, you can now look up rewrite examples here on vb.org (removing vbseo has been discussed many time but remember do not uninstall if considering dbseo like you said).

Remember though, you won't get the exact same url's with mod rewrite friendly setting, most maybe but if you had a custom setup before imho the only way to return to nearly the same setup would be with dbseo, you'll need to confirm this with them as it's a paid modification and we shant be discussing it in detail here, you can post on their site and ask the specific questions you need to there (simply google "vBulletin Dragonbyte Tech" and their site will come up in the list).