database upgrade hangs - upgrading to 4.37

Dear Professor:

How many blogs do you have in your Movable Type installation?
How many entries do you have in total? If you don't know exactly, you can guess.

mt-static generally should be stored in the web server's document tree outside of the mt directory. This is often declared in the StaticWebPath configuration directive, http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/appendices/config-directives/staticwebpath.html.

I'd recommend that you keep a copy of the old mt-static by copying or renaming it before you install the new one. You may have installed additional resources for plugins, or your users may have uploaded profile pictures into a subdirectory of mt-static.

The Installation or Upgrading FAQ tells more about this: http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/installation/troubleshooting.html#the-mt-static-directory-is-not-found-or-inaccessible.

--Dave Aiello

Dave -
Just one blog, and entries in the 3,500 range (I've been blogging a longish time).

I'll give that a try this afternoon -- last night got just TOO frustrating. My hosting service just backed up the whole website (I do have a separate backup of the database), so the config and static files should be 'correct.'

--CP

Hi CP,

Judging by the error that shows up on your site, I would conclude that your website was hacked and malware was injected to it.

What you should do is to first upgrade your movable type installation from v4.21 to v4.37.

Make sure you erase your previous installation files and then you upload the new installation files.

Good if you could preserve the /mt-static/support/ folder and move its content to the new version /mt-static/support/ folder.

After you've correctly upgraded your installation (you could simply use the same 'mt-config.cgi' that you've had on v4.21), you could go ahead and clean up your website from malware, backdoors, and whatever else could be there.

I have experience with that kind of stuff and I'm available for consulting if you need help.

Kind Regards,
Mihai Bocsaru

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OK - I'm trying again. I have put /mt-static in the root directory, and /MT.4.37 in the directory crankyprofessor.com

Here are FOUR (4) ways I've tried addressing the StaticWebPath:

StaticWebPath /mt-static/
StaticWebPath /USER/mt-static/
StaticWebPath http://USER/mt-static/
StaticWebPath http://USER.DOMAIN.COM/mt-static/
StaticWebPath /home/USER/mt-static/
StaticWebPath http://home/USER/mt-static/

The installation still hangs at the "Upgrading Database... starting upgrade..." stage.

Is it something more or less profound than the StaticWebPath? Save me from WordPress!!

Send me access to your FTP account, as well as the mysql DB details, or access to the control panel to create one myself.

Do that via email from my Website and I will have a look at it for you.

Put the "mt-static" folder in the root.

Then rename the MT 4.37 into "mt" and place it inside the 'cgi-bin' folder from the root. If there is no such folder, create one yourself.

Then set these directives:

CGIPath /cgi-bin/mt/
StaticWebPath /mt-static

Enjoy,
Mihai

*sigh*
Everything works up until the database hangs. I wonder if my database is corrupted.

Your main problem is that your website is compromised.

Have you seen the notice that your website has malware when you go to it?

What I would do is:

1) archive and remove any movable type installation files;

2) clean up your infected stuff, including eventual backdoors;

3) check the database for damaged tables and fix it;

4) upload movable type v4.37 installation files and upgrade your movable type database.

I do have experience with fixing exploits so if you need me for cleaning up your stuff, let me know.

Kind Regards,
Mihai Bocsaru