Hello All,
firstly I'm really sorry that I have to post and ask this, I'm sure this is a really basic question but I have spent hours trying to figure this out.

When I try to go to my Zenphoto page to initially run the 1st set-up, I am getting the error:

MySQL Error: Zenphoto received the error Access denied for user 'celynco1'@'localhost' (using password: NO) when connecting to the database server.

No I am pretty sure that this is all to do with the fact that I haven't assigned a MySQL database anywhere within any of the PHP files etc, but at the same time I cant see where I need to assign these, I have created a MySQL database ready for ZenPhoto.

Again any help would be greatly appreciated and sorry

Genereally you have to create a database before running Zenphoto setup. Setup will then ask for the database details. For most (shared) host the database server is almost never "localhost". Your host will be able to tell you the details.

Also the error says that your MySQl user account does not have the needed rights for Zenphoto. Either because the assumed wrong database server name or else.

I suggest to contact your host.

Setup will attempt to create the database if you ask it to. However, many host implementations will not allow this.

The above error is normal if you have not provided the correct relevant information. There should also be a form for you to fill in with the details. As to the details, you will have to consult your service provider as it will be specific to them. Most likely, though, the database host is not correct. The default "localhost" works for personal installations but not for many shared hosts. What you need is the "host name" for the server where MySQL is hosted by your provider.

If I may be so bold, the poster says he has created a database, and the error is "using password: NO". It's possible that the fields haven't been passed correctly to the config file (I got this occasionally with my somewhat broken upgrade hassle). I would recommend editing the file manually with the database information - at least, this is what solved it for me.

1. go into your ZenPhoto install directory, and find a folder called zp-core
2. find a file called zp-config.php. If only one file exists called zp-config.php.source, download it and re-upload it as called zp-config.php
3. edit the file, filling in your own information in the following on lines 29-32. For the sake of example, I'll assume the database is called "mydb", the database user is "celynco1" and your password is "mypass":

`
$conf['mysql_user'] = 'celynco1'; // Supply your MySQL user id.

$conf['mysql_pass'] = 'mypass'; // Supply your MySQL password.

$conf['mysql_host'] = 'localhost'; // Supply the name of your MySQL server.

$conf['mysql_database'] = 'mydb'; // Supply the name of Zenphoto's database
`
Hopefully that helps, and if not, then it may be a different problem (such as the databases not being located on 'localhost') which may be specific to whoever is your webhost, as mentioned above.

Hi
I am getting the same error message but I simply don't understand your replies. I built my web site using Dreamweaver and html. I've never used PHP and know nothing about MySQL or server side technology. My domain is hosted by a private firm called Tiger computing. Are you saying I have to ask him to sort this problem out for me or is there something I need to do? I don't know how to create a MySQL database and assumed that once I had uploaded the files it would be a simple matter of following the instructions on-line.

Theoretically Zenphoto's setup can create the database for you but virtually no host does allow this kind of access for security reasons. So you have to do that manually before installing.

Your host will provide a kind of backend interface where you create a database. Ask your host.

Ok, I think I'm getting somewhere. My host has created a database and I have created and edited the zp-config.php file but I don't know the name of the Zenphoto database, probably because I've not created one. so now I am getting this error message - "MySQL Error: The database is connected, but MySQL returned the error No database selected when Zenphoto tried to select the database." How do I create a zenphoto database if that is what I need to do?

You just said your host has created a database for you. So he should have told you the credentials as well as you have to enter these when setup asks for them. Without these it will certainly not work as Zenphoto does not know what to connect with. Which is the error you got...

Set-up did not run because I have now discovered the zp-core/setup.php file is missing. I have tried downloading the zip file again from your web site but it is still missing. In the mean time I have edited the zp-config.php (which was origianlly zp-config.php.source) with teh detail that my host provided but as I have not been able to create a zenphoto database I can't fill out that request. Is there another zip file I can download that is complete?

Both download packages on our download page are complete....

On first time installs it is not enought to modify the zp-config.php (which of course needs to be move to /zp-data afterwards).

Again, ask your host on how to create a database and aks him to do it for your. Also aks for the credentials to access that database. Without that Zenphoto will not work anyway.

Why is the zp-config/setup.php missing then if the zip files are complete?
I have been given the User name, Server name, database name and password by my host. If the database name he supplied is the one that is required for the zenphoto database fine, I can put that in, but when I did I got all sorts of error messages about missing files so I assumed that was not correct. Believe me, if I try to print the error page it want to take up 5 sides of A4! I'm really out of my depth here. If you are saying there is nothing missing in the zip file I downloaded then why can't I find and run this set-up utility?

Setup.php is not missing from the /zp-core folder. And the zp-config.php file is created when setup is run.

The setup utility will be executed automatically when you try to visit your Zenphoto site that is not fully installed. The URL is where you have put the files. It is all explained on our installation page actually.

Where is this installation page please?
When I try to visit my Zenphoto site is when I get all these error messages.

The install package is on the Zenphoto site. I gather you are using some kind of "helper" script to install Zenphoto. If so, you will have to contact the script provider.

Very often these scripts do not work (as maybe you are experiencing) and because we know nothing of their workings we are not in a positon to help you out of the problems they might create.

I do know that if they work they are a god send for inexperienced users since they take care of the things that are causing you problems. But as I said, we cannot help if they go wrong.

I'm not using any helper script as far as I know. I unzipped the file and placed the contents in my web directory, uploaded them using Dreamweaver and ftp. I then went to http://www.sally-jane.co.uk/zenphoto/zp-core/setup.php as requested in the directions on your web site and got a whole load of errors. You can check it out yourself.

So where is the setup script missing as it does report the errors on that link? The main errors you got are because of wrong file/folder permission. Zenphoto is not able to change them on your server so you need to do it manually. How is explained on our troubleshooting on the user guide.

When I look for the setup file in my directory it's not there so I don't know how it's showing this page. As for your trouble shooting user guide, I can't find the information I need there. I typed in folder permission and file permissions into the search box and on both counts it returned 0 results.

The file is exactly where it belongs as the link you posted above tells us...

For the troubleshooting: http://www.zenphoto.org/news/troubleshooting-guide
See under "installation" point 11.

Than you for the link, I do appreciate your help. However, I now feel like I must be missing half my brain cells as I really don't understand the second paragraph or anything beyond really. Why does this have to be so difficult. I might be 50 but in the last 10 years I've gained a 1st class honours degree, taught myself photoshop and now give tutorials on it, taught myself Dreamweaver and built 4 web sites the main one being http://www.sally-jane.com , I fly a complex aircraft and have learned to glide so I don't really think I'm stupid. This is supposed to be "The simplest, most useful web gallery software" after all!

Installing Dynamic websites on servers like those run with Zenphoto are a little more complicated than building static HTML websites. Sadly not all servers are the same. This is nothing we can change, the is the nature of these things.

The "simplest" refers mainly to using of Zenphoto. (If you have specific needs regarding front end design or functionality it does again require some work naturally)

There are professionals in this web stuff area for a reason (for the same reason I can't fly any aircraft..).

BTW; it is point 3 "Permissions for Zenphoto files and folders" (not sure how I came to 11..)