Preparing for Upgrade on live site; cannot view products on localhost/dev env.

[jermo5]

I am running VM 2.0.10, which I know is an old version and so I am testing the process of updating on my local machine running MAMP (local web server).

In order to prepare I essentially copied my entire web folder from production, along with the MySQL database and I am running it on my local machine. I can get my entire Joomla up and running on my local machine, and I can even access the Virtuemart back-end site (under /administrator/ in the Joomla admin panel), but when I go to view any Virtuemart product on the front-end I get a completely blank page.

For instance, if I try to click on a product that takes me to http://localhost:8888/agility-u/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=95&virtuemart_category_id=14 I get a completely blank page (no source if I View Source) and nothing is showing up in the logs.

I checked my Virtuemart Config and even updated the "safe path" which was the only absolute path that I could find in the settings. All other paths look good. I made sure all folders are writable using the Joomla System Information menu.

I am fairly new to Virtuemart and Joomla, but does anyone have any suggestions on where I can hunt down what is causing this issue? I made sure I am running PHP 5.3, the same as my production environment. I also checked MAMP's php error logs and nothing is showing up.

Ideas?

[jenkinhill]

Use Akeeba backup to copy/install the site. Then you know the paths will be correct.

[jermo5]

Use Akeeba backup to copy/install the site. Then you know the paths will be correct.

Thanks! Should I still use Akeeba even if my local web server has completely different paths than my production server? I had to change all the paths manually after copying my files down manually from production to my localhost.

[jenkinhill]

Yes, paths should be OK as with Akeeba you actually do a JOomla/VM install on the backup server, but can be edited later if there are problems.

[jermo5]

Use Akeeba backup to copy/install the site. Then you know the paths will be correct.

Bummer... I looked into this and found that Akeeba requires Joomla 2.5.6, and I only have 2.5.4. I plan on upgrading Joomla on our production instance, but I first need to test out the upgrades locally on my own test server, which is where I am having the problem with VirtueMart.

Anyone know if there is a way to log all errors/warnings out to a file for Virtuemart? Or maybe there is a way to have Joomla go into "debug" mode somehow?

[jermo5]

Use Akeeba backup to copy/install the site. Then you know the paths will be correct.

Bummer... I looked into this and found that Akeeba requires Joomla 2.5.6, and I only have 2.5.4. I plan on upgrading Joomla on our production instance, but I first need to test out the upgrades locally on my own test server, which is where I am having the problem with VirtueMart.

Anyone know if there is a way to log all errors/warnings out to a file for Virtuemart? Or maybe there is a way to have Joomla go into "debug" mode somehow?

And to provide some more information that I just uncovered, it looks like the blank pages are ONLY appearing for VirtueMart pages when I am LOGGED IN! If I am logged out, as a guest, and I click into a VirtueMart product, the page works fine! But if I access that SAME exact page as a logged-in user, the page is completely blank.

Has anyone seen this before?