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PolyCMS Troubleshooting & Common Issues

Last updated on May 16, 2026 3:06 AM

404 Errors on Frontend Pages

Symptom: Blog frontend pages return 404 "Page Not Found" errors.

Solution:

  1. Navigate to Blog > Settings > Permalinks.
  2. Click Save Settings (even without making changes).
  3. This regenerates the .blog_prefix_cache.php routing cache.
  4. Clear your browser cache and reload the frontend page.

If the issue persists, verify that your web server has mod_rewrite enabled (Apache) or proper try_files configuration (Nginx).

Permission Denied Errors

Symptom: Staff members cannot access CMS features — "Permission Denied" message appears.

Solution:

  1. Navigate to Setup > Staff > [Staff Member] > Permissions.
  2. Enable the polycms capability with appropriate access levels:
  • View — Browse posts, pages, media, dashboard
  • Create — Add new content
  • Edit — Modify existing content, publish/unpublish
  • Delete — Remove content permanently
  1. Administrators always have full access regardless of permission settings.

Media Upload Failures

Symptom: Image uploads fail or return error messages.

Possible Causes and Solutions:

CauseSolution
File too largeIncrease PHP upload_max_filesize and post_max_size in php.ini
Unsupported formatPolyCMS accepts: jpg, png, gif, webp, svg, pdf. Other formats are blocked
Directory not writableEnsure uploads/polycms/ directory has write permissions (755 or 775)
PHP function blockedVerify move_uploaded_file is not disabled in PHP configuration

Theme Not Rendering Correctly

Symptom: Frontend displays broken layout, missing styles, or raw HTML.

Solutions:

  1. Verify the theme is properly activated in Blog > Themes.
  2. Check that theme files are complete — compare against the original theme package.
  3. Clear any server-side caching (OPcache, Varnish, etc.).
  4. Inspect browser console for JavaScript errors or missing asset files.

Plugin Conflicts

Symptom: Activating a plugin causes errors or breaks functionality.

Solution:

  1. Deactivate the problematic plugin via Blog > Plugins.
  2. If the admin panel is inaccessible, manually rename the plugin folder in modules/polycms/plugins/ to disable it.
  3. Report the issue via Envato support with error details.

Comments Not Appearing

Symptom: Submitted comments are not visible on the frontend.

Possible Causes:

  • Comments require moderation — check Blog > Comments for pending items.
  • Comments are disabled on the specific post — edit the post and enable the "Allow Comments" checkbox.
  • Comments are disabled globally — check Blog > Settings.

Slow Page Load

Symptom: Frontend pages load slowly.

Solutions:

  1. Activate the MTOptimize plugin for frontend asset optimization.
  2. Enable server-side caching (OPcache for PHP, page caching for HTTP).
  3. Optimize images before upload — use compressed formats (WebP, optimized JPEG).
  4. Ensure database indexes are intact by re-running the module migration.

Database Connection Issues After Migration

Symptom: CMS features return database errors after server migration.

Solution:

  1. Verify Perfex CRM database connection is working (other CRM features should work fine since PolyCMS uses the same connection).
  2. Navigate to Setup > Modules and verify PolyCMS is activated.
  3. If tables are missing, deactivate and reactivate the module to trigger install.php.

Need Additional Help?

If you encounter issues not covered here, please reach out through our CodeCanyon support page. We provide completely free technical support for all PolyCMS customers.

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