There's been a lot of posts in the last day or so where people are missing a step or two during the zenphoto setup process. This may help those in need.

First thing, you need to ensure your host or ISP has not enabled PHP Safe Mode. If so (quoted from Tristan, the developer of Zenphoto):

[list=1]
[]Contact your host and tell them you want Safe Mode disabled, and point them to the following site: http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.safe-mode.php
[]PHP with Safe Mode on is basically debilitated, so I wouldn't pay for it if I had a choice. It is of course up to you though.
[*]I'm working on a safe-mode compatibility mode for the next version that doesn't create new folders. That may help. In the mean time, you can also go back to version 1.0.3, which uses an old method of storing processed images that's more compatible. You can find it in http://www.zenphoto.org/files
[/list]
After you've verified that, then double-check that you:

1. Downloaded files for latest zenphoto release
2. Uploaded everything to your web server (including .htaccess file in root zenphoto directory)
3. Changed zp-config.example file to zp-config.php and made modifications as necessary.

[list]
[]Make sure you set mod_rewrite to true if you wish
[]Make sure you set your admin information, and your correct DB information (including the prefix if you have one)
[/list]
4. Change your rewrite-base in your .htaccess file to your root zenphoto path.
5. Make sure you have an albums and cache directory (create them manually if you don't) and chmod them 777.
6. Upload the pics you want into your albums dir, and organize them how you wish in folders and subfolders (zenphoto will handle the creation of the subalbums if you're using the subalbums testing-dev theme)
7. After this is all done, go to http://www.yourwebserver.com/zendir/zen/setup.php and follow the steps. This sets up your DB and gets everything ready. It then will allow you to either administrate or view your gallery. I suggest administration, check your theme, I usually run "refresh" (garbage collection) on the Overview page just for kicks, and then you should be good to go.
8. Have fun with your pictures.

If you've done all this, and something still doesn't work, write back and let us know.

Stuck!

Also, when contacting the forum if the above steps don't work, please provide a location for phpinfo() output so we can help troubleshoot your configuration on your ISP, and also a zp_config.php copy. Make sure if you do post your zp_config file, that you blank out your username and password first!

Make sure your host/ISP isn't playing with the server.

Hello,
Error:can't connect etc. to database, since I moved tp PHP5/windows hosting.
Mysql works fine(I checked)
Any ideas?
Doublechecked everything, works fine on my other hosting(?)
Seems like a bug,since I tried everything.

Also: when you are a newbee with Zenphoto, nowhere the admin and username
is told! (admin,1234)
By the way,zenphoto=great script and design!

I'd sure appreciate it, trisweb, if you would check out my installation at:

http://www.ashgrovevisualarts.com/zenphoto/

and perhaps give me a clue as to the screenful of twisty little error messages, all alike, I'm getting. It started when I upgraded to 1.0.6.

Lee Eschen
PS: If you grok my wordplay, you're showing your age.

MySQL Error: Could not select the database

This one was working me over like a two dollar ho. MAKE SURE you have the right server path, even if your not on Dreamhost. I use ICDSoft and I had to change the following line...

$conf['mysql_host'] = "localhost"

to

$conf['mysql_host'] = "localhost:/tmp/mysql5.sock"

I found the correct host address in my CP database manager under MySQL Host, as opposed to the local host.

Error: The 'albums' directory cannot be found or is not readable.

My setup wasn't creating the 'album' and 'cache' directories for some reason. I simply added them manually through my control panel and that fixed it. Make sure the permissions on those directories are set to 777 (or 775 in my case).

Those were the two big errors I had on install. Hope someone this info will help someone else out since the wiki's still down.

I'm getting this error:
MySQL Error: Could not connect to the database server.
what does that mean?

http://www.darrellmankin.org/zenphoto

As a followup to my post above, ZenPhoto 1.0.3 is running properly on the same server, and with the same server settings, at:

http://www.leeschen.net/zenphoto

The above install was working on ZP-1.0.3 and broke when I uploaded ZP-1.0.6. Someone else mentions a problem when moving to PHP5. Could that be part of the problem. Is there something in ZP-1.0.6 that uses a PHP4 syntax, something that won't work in PHP5?

Lee

@ashgrove, sorry for the late response but that's a result of you not merging the new zp-config.php file for the new version. You need the block of settings for kses, the new html tag cleaning library. Pop those in there and it should work fine.

Since the FAQ is up, I'll de-sticky this post. The FAQ is located here: http://www.zenphoto.org/trac/wiki/faq