Session Hell

canobi

Dear PHP Forum,

Good day. How is everyone doing? I'm currently using PHP 4.3.0 for Windows; I believe it's the CGI flavour of the application. I'm running it on XP with IIS. I've got some problems trying to get sessions started. When I try to initialize sessions i.e. with

session_start();
session_register("any_variable");

I get the following errors:

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: open(C:\Program Files\PHP\sessiondata\sess_45479dddc836f5c62e624e8591fef260, O_RDWR) failed: Permission denied (13) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\PHP\TMPatb18cbjh2.php on line 2

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\PHP\TMPatb18cbjh2.php:2) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\PHP\TMPatb18cbjh2.php on line 2

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\PHP\TMPatb18cbjh2.php:2) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\PHP\TMPatb18cbjh2.php on line 2

Warning: Unknown(): open(C:\Program Files\PHP\sessiondata\sess_45479dddc836f5c62e624e8591fef260, O_RDWR) failed: Permission denied (13) in Unknown on line 0

Warning: Unknown(): Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (C:\Program Files\PHP\sessiondata) in Unknown on line 0

I disabled the display_error in the php.ini but sessions still don't work. I need help. Your response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

agentsmith

<?php session_start(); ?>

The above line MUST BE the VERY FIRST LINE of your PAGE....

no matter what.

Hope this helps.

hi-liter

yes, the "headers already sent by" error is due to placement of the session_start(); as agentsmith states it's got to be right at the beginning like (no spaces or anything):

<?php
session_start();
header("Cache-control: private"); // ie 6 fix

i don't know about the "permission denied" errors...tho

hth.

canobi

Thanks a lot. I'll give it a go.

kirannalla

Hi Did u get the sessions working?
If so please let me know, I am also facing same problems.
Thanks,
KK

statrat

did you create a TMP directory and change the session.save_path in the .ini?
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php

Note: Windows users have to change this variable in order to use PHP's session functions. Make sure to specify a valid path, e.g.: c:/temp.

keith73

If you are using PHP 4.3, you should not use session_register() to set your session values.

use $_SESSION['var'] = "some value";

I don't know if that will fix any of your errors. If it does, great, if not, it's still a good practice.

And I concur with the others who pointed out that you may need to create a tmp directory and modify your php.ini file.

Keith

dalecosp

Gentlemen, gentlemen...

The issue is the fact that the server was not allowed to write/read the session file in the path mentioned. OP, either fix the permissions on the dir, or use php.ini to change the session dir to one that the webserver can read and write from....

All of the "output already started" stuff is likely the result of the error messages being displayed....

canobi

Hey guys,

Actually the problem was in the session save path. The default dir is a subdirectory of the PHP installation root. I had to change this to C:\Windows(or whatever your windows dir is called)\temp. It worked like magic after I did that. You need to modify this in your PHP.ini file under session.save_path, or somewhere close by. Also, remember to make a copy of your php.ini file and save it somewhere safe. I hope this helps.

dalecosp

Originally posted by canobi
Hey guys,

Actually the problem was in the session save path. The default dir is a subdirectory of the PHP installation root. I had to change this to C:\Windows(or whatever your windows dir is called)\temp. It worked like magic after I did that. You need to modify this in your PHP.ini file under session.save_path, or somewhere close by.

Yup.

Also, remember to make a copy of your php.ini file and save it somewhere safe. I hope this helps.

Hey, now that is good advice! 🙂