Theme is not working when files are uploaded from localhost to the web server

Question

I have finally made it to point where i think it's ok to upload my work from localhost to a web server of mine.

I tried to upload my work from localhost to my web space (on hostgator).

My problem is that Drupal seems not to recognize the theme that is supposed to be used, including not identifying some custom template files I have written for views and nodes.

Same things work ok on localhost and page source code is generated ok (i.e. the correct path img src="http://localhost:8888/drupal/sites/all/themes/simpler/logo.png" is generated for my logo (custom)) but the same thing when uploaded on web server is not working and the path for img src is not generated at all in the page source.

I have several other problems, like custom tpl.php files (for nodes or views) are not used at all, i guess because the system for some reason does not reach (?) the /sites/all/themes/simpler .

I have tried flushing caches with no luck. Also, found some posts suggesting go clicking the 'Save changes' button in theme admin screens but no luck with this too.

If this means something, i have uploaded the whole 'drupal' folder from my localhost to my web server and switched the settings.php to point to my web servers db, which was created by importing .sql file (exported from my localhost).

Hope this whole thing makes sense and someone could help or point me to a direction.

Answer 1

Have you tried putting another theme as default, them uploading the database again ? If you then try to set your theme as default on the live site, it might work...

Answer 2

I know this is an old question, but there is very little guidance out there, and I thought I'd share what I just found out. Try putting the site into maintenance mode, and THEN flushing the caches. D7 (maybe D6, I don't know) has a weird bug/feature where the registry builder does not check the file system for new themes when the cache is flushed unless the site is in maintenance mode. See this thread for discussion: https://drupal.org/node/808030

Answer 3

Have you checked the permissions of the folders/files that you uploaded. It is one of the steps you should check in trying to find out why your theme is not working. I don't know hostgator or what level of access you have to your root directory (Drupal root) i.e. are you using shared hosting or a VPS? If on shared hosting you could use Filezilla to set permissions (remember to protect critical files such as settings.php). In my experience a lot of problems arise from file permissions being incorrect following uploads.

If you're sure the permissions are correct, you could try removing the old theme (or switching it off if it's Garland/Minelli) and setting the new one as your default and admin theme. Check the status report for errors.

Also, check the ownership and group of the folders/files that you have uploaded for example root:www-data for owner and group. Check the owner and group of the /sites directory and set your uploaded folders to the same.

If you think permissions are the problem, here is a useful guide on Drupal.org relating to this topic: http://drupal.org/node/244924

Regards,