Cannot See My Website Online After Upload, Why?

A few reasons could hamper your website from being viewed online after you have completed a successful upload.

Folder related checks

1. The folder where you have uploaded your website. You need to be sure that you uploaded into the public_html folder. This folder is found in 'file manager' in cPanel.

2. Check that your homepage is name as: "index.html or index.htm or index.php. Your website will not appear if you have named your homepage as home or homepage or www or any other. It has to be index.html or index.htm or index.php

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Domain Related Check

3. Check your site nameservers. It is important for you to check to see that your domain nameservers is pointed to the address where where you have uploaded your website. For todhost.com, it is ns1.todhost.com and ns2.todhost.com If you edit your nameservers, you need to allow between 1hr to 48hours for you to be sure that the nameservers has resolved.

If you check these three and you still can't find your website online after 24hours, please contact your webhost.

Generally Recommended Checks

Generally, it is recommended that you try the following troubleshooting steps.

  • Try clearing your browser's cache. If this does not resolve your issue, check the next recommended steps.
  • If you are using the Upload Folders feature, you must have Java installed on your computer. Note: Chrome uses HTML5 instead of Java for Upload Folders.
  • Check to see if you are using the supported browsers and OS. Some browsers are old and will not support some more recent scripts.
  • Verify that the file's name is valid. Some hosts will support file names with limits. You may need to contact your host to determine if there is a limit to file name characters. In most servers, file names containing non-printable ascii, "/" or "\", names with leading or trailing spaces, and the special names “.” and “..” are also unsupported.
  • Make sure you are uploading files smaller than the maximum for your account type. This will usually be highlighted during your upload in cPanel. If you use FTP to upload, you won't receive this warning.
  • 'Upload Files' or 'Upload Folders'. Try uploading with the 'Upload Files' method instead of 'Upload Folders', or vice versa.
  • Please ensure your web browser is the latest version of Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or Chrome.
  • Check to see if you are running the latest versions of Java and Flash.
  • Clear your Java Cache.
  • Disable any browser plug-ins or add-ons that could be interfering with JavaScript or Java (i.e. NoScript, AdBlock)
  • Check your network connection to server.. If connected to the internet with a wireless card, check to see if the connection to the internet drops intermittently. If this is the case, we recommend the Upload Folders method.
  • Try temporarily disabling or configuring your firewall to allow your upload as a trusted site. You may find that your anti-virus software includes a built-in firewall. If you are attempting to access server from an office setting and experience upload issues, then please contact your IT administrator or internal Help Desk.
  • Proxy servers may sometimes cause failed uploads. If you see the error message: An error occurred with the upload. Please refresh the page and try again. Please contact your IT department or Help Desk and ask them to check your Java security settings or proxy configuration.

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How to Clear Java Cache

This applies to Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP, Windows 10 and the Java version(s) are 7.0 and 8.0

Clearing the Java Plug-in cache forces the browser to load the latest versions of web pages and programs.

Clear Java cache by deleting Temporary Files through the Java Control Panel.

First, find the Java Control Panel

Delete Temporary Files through the Java Control Panel

In the Java Control Panel, under the General tab, click Settings under the Temporary Internet Files section.
The Temporary Files Settings dialog box appears.

Click Delete Files on the Temporary Files Settings dialog.
The Delete Files and Applications dialog box appears.

Click OK on the Delete Files and Applications dialog. This deletes all the Downloaded Applications and Applets from the cache.
Click OK on the Temporary Files Settings dialog. If you want to delete a specific application and applet from the cache, click on View Application and View Applet options respectively.

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Check Your Configuration.php Settings and Database Connection

One of the major causes of not seeing a website display online after an upload is that the database entries set in the configuration.php settings is not right. Double check to be sure that the dataase name, password and dataase user are entered correctly in the configuration file. Remember that the database name and user should be preceeded by the account username. Something lie username_databasename. So if your cPanel account username is "myname" and you have created a database name with "xyz" then your database name should be " "myname_xyz". The same will apply to the username. If in setting up your database, you have created a user called "xyz" then in the database user field, you will enter "myname_yz".

Learn more about php configuration settings in this article on PHP Configuration in cPanel


Check Your DNS


DNS simply means Domain Name Server. It points your domain to a particular web server. If you are not seing your website immediately after domain registration, it is possible that the nameserver could be pointing to the direction set by your registrar by default. You need to check to be sure everything is ok.

If you have recently changed your domain nameserver, then allow up to 24-48 hours for the new nameservers to propagate and check again.

Where should my website files be uploaded to?

This is a frequently asked question we often receive from newbies - "I have uploaded my website but it does not come online". Never mind, we will address this issue in this guide.

Most likely, you have uploaded files into the root directory using an FTP client. Please ensure that all files and folders are uploaded into the "public_html" folder in your control panel.

To do this you can access the public_html folder either by FTP or via FileManager in cPanel.

To access your account via FTP, connect to yourdomain.com (replace with your actual domain name). The login details can be retrieved from your account after you login to the Todhost client area or by viewing the "New Account Information" email sent to you when your website was created. If you have lost the details, you can login to the client area to recover them or request them through a ticket or telephone request.

Be sure to create an index file for your first page or homepage. This can be index.htm, index.html, index.php, etc.

Please note, our Linux servers are case sensitive so index.htm and Index.htm are two separate files. Index.htm will not be recognized as the default first page. It must be index.htm (.html, .php, etc.) in lowercase.

You now know how to upload your website files. If you have followed these instructions carefully, you should have no issues with website upload.


Check Default HomePage

On Todhost servers, your default homepage is index.html. index.php, index.htm If your homepage is web or has been given some other name, then you need to alter it to be able to have your website display rightly.


Check Server Settings

Depending on the version of your website script or web design tool, some servers no longer support certain extensions. For instance, you can no longer run some versions of JJoomla 2.5 on Todhost servers because the server runs a minimum of php5.4 which does not support most Joomla 2.5 etensions. The recommendation is for you to upgrade to the latest version of your software.

Check PHP Version Compatibility

Check PHP Compatibility with Server to be sure the software you are uploading can work with the PHP version on your server. PHP version conflicts have been major cause of error on many websites especially with content management systems.


cPanel no longer support frontpage extensions

Beginning with version 11.44, cPanel has disapproved support for FrontPage and our cpanel servers will not have the ability to install FrontPage extensions. If your server has an older version of cPanel, you may be able to temporarily install the software, however in new version rollouts of cPanel this installation will no longer function.

For these reasons, we strongly suggest exploring other options for creating and maintaining your site.

Seek Support from Todhost.

If you continue to have issues and cannot resolve it, then the best option will be to contact your web host to see how the problem can be fixed. Learn How Do I seek Support From Todhost?

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