Not Getting Notification Emails

[nicholasj309]

I have been scratching my head to solve this issue for a LONG time now.

ISSUE
When an order is placed in Virtuemart, no email notification is sent to the user or admin

CONFIGURATION
Joomla 3.4.8
Virtuemart 3
Email Setting - SMTP email - it is working because when new user is made I get email for this so Joomla System emails are working
Payment - tested with Paypal and also with Authorize.net (SIM)
Plugin Issues - not sure if related - but we are using VM One Page Checkout plugin

[franzpeter]

How did you set the Order Status for Pending transactions inside the Virtuemart administration: Payment method? There are different options inside the dropdown.

[jenkinhill]

Are emails being sent if you manually change the status for an order in the backend?
Check PHP error log in case you have a resource problem.

[nicholasj309]

How did you set the Order Status for Pending transactions inside the Virtuemart administration: Payment method? There are different options inside the dropdown.

Do you mean here? Screenshot: http://prntscr.com/b1bh6s

[nicholasj309]

Are emails being sent if you manually change the status for an order in the backend?
Check PHP error log in case you have a resource problem.

No they do not when I manually change status.

I am not seeing anything in the error.log file either :/

[nicholasj309]

Are emails being sent if you manually change the status for an order in the backend?
Check PHP error log in case you have a resource problem.

No they do not when I manually change status.

I am not seeing anything in the error.log file either :/

ALSO - I should add I get an error just when trying to manually change status in admin. If I change status then click "Update Order Status" at top left of admin I see a white screen HTTP ERROR 500  The www.XYZ.com page isn't working.

[jenkinhill]

Ah! If you don't have enough PHP resources then the building of the pdf invoice cannot happen and you will get an error message.  If there is a 500 error it has to be recorded in the server error log file so maybe you looked in the wrong file.  Turn on VM debugging in VM Congfiguration/Shop under Advanced Settings as that may display the error.

Also in Joomla System/System Information/PHP information/Core check that memory_limit is at least 128Mb - and preferably 256Mb.

[nicholasj309]

Ah! If you don't have enough PHP resources then the building of the pdf invoice cannot happen and you will get an error message.  If there is a 500 error it has to be recorded in the server error log file so maybe you looked in the wrong file.  Turn on VM debugging in VM Congfiguration/Shop under Advanced Settings as that may display the error.

Also in Joomla System/System Information/PHP information/Core check that memory_limit is at least 128Mb - and preferably 256Mb.

I am not sure that is the case because invoices are being generated? (if I click the invoice icon an invoice gets downloaded). memory_limit is 128mb. But I did enable the VM debugging and when changing order status I see:

Warning: require_once(../../../libraries/mail_smtp/class.phpmailer.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/njp/public/epicvapes.com/public/components/com_virtuemart/helpers/shopfunctionsf.php on line 693 Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required '../../../libraries/mail_smtp/class.phpmailer.php' (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /home/njp/public/epicvapes.com/public/components/com_virtuemart/helpers/shopfunctionsf.php on line 693

[jenkinhill]

That is similar to the error that people have seen when using Joomla 3.5.1 but have not upgraded VM to the 3.5.1 compatible version. You should be using VM3.0.16

http://dev.virtuemart.net/projects/virtuemart/files

[nicholasj309]

That is similar to the error that people have seen when using Joomla 3.5.1 but have not upgraded VM to the 3.5.1 compatible version. You should be using VM3.0.16

http://dev.virtuemart.net/projects/virtuemart/files

I am using Joomla 3.4.8 with Virtuemart 3.0.9. Do you think that would be a problem, should I update Joomla and/or Virtuemart?

[franzpeter]

It could be a problem with the settings for Safe Path (Virtuemart Administration->Configuration: Tab: Templates->Safe path). If Virtuemart cannot access that path because of file permissions I think those order confirmations or changes in case of Order Status updates will not work or produce a blank page. So is the Safe path outside or inside the httpdocs or htdocs (Webspace) or one level above in the Webroot. If in Webroot it can be a permission problem depending on your server settings or vmfiles folder permission settings.

[jenkinhill]

VirtueMart 3 versions before 3.0.12 are insecure - and as an odd numbered version, VM3.0.9 was a test/development release.

[nicholasj309]

VirtueMart 3 versions before 3.0.12 are insecure - and as an odd numbered version, VM3.0.9 was a test/development release.

Got it. So if I upgrade to VM 3.0.12 will my custom VM files be safe in the upgrade? If so I will upgrade and see if that fixes the problem.

[jenkinhill]

Always upgrade on a backup copy of you site to ensure no problems. If you have customised VM core files then you will lose those customisations. If you correctly just used template overrides then they will be OK.

I really would recommend updating Joomla to 3.5.1 and VM to 3.0.16 as there have been a lot of bugfixes since 3.0.12 and before.

[nicholasj309]

Always upgrade on a backup copy of you site to ensure no problems. If you have customised VM core files then you will lose those customisations. If you correctly just used template overrides then they will be OK.

I really would recommend updating Joomla to 3.5.1 and VM to 3.0.16 as there have been a lot of bugfixes since 3.0.12 and before.

Ok great to know! I will back up then test going to Joomla 3.51. and V 3.0.16. Thanks for your advise!