The standard Joomla 404 page is not being displayed

[AzMandius]

Hello,

Joomla! 3.6.4
PHP 5.6.40
VirtueMart 3.0.16

The issue is that the standard Joomla 404 page is not being displayed.

I have the "Enable VirtueMart 404 error handling" box unchecked, yet whenever i try to access an nonexistent product - i am brought to shop or product category front page, instead of Joomla 404 page.

This is not a problem for me personally, i like the user being redirected to shop front page instead of useles 404 error page, but the Google Search Console is complaining and saying that incorrect 404 page display could lead to product pages not being properly indexed by search engine.

Is there anything that could be done to enable the standard Joomla 404 error handling for VirtueMart pages no matter what? Some portion of code that i should check?

Thanks a lot!

[GJC Web Design]

It is true .. if u use the VM 404 handling you will potentially end up with indexed nonsense urls that point at the VM category

I prefer to switch it off and make a "proper" 404 article page that has a message, search and navigation

see:  https://docs.joomla.org/Archived:Creating_a_Custom_404_Error/en

[AzMandius]

Thanks for reply, done that, it works for regular Joomla items, but frankly it does not work for any VirtueMart related url, that is the reason i have created this thread.

[Studio 42]

Have you modify the virtuemart config to not use own 404 handler ?

[GJC Web Design]

ah!!!   VirtueMart 3.0.16  - wildly out of date!!!

how can you report bugs on software dating from 04/12/2016 ?

[AzMandius]

Have you modify the virtuemart config to not use own 404 handler ?

You mean this?

I have the "Enable VirtueMart 404 error handling" box unchecked, yet whenever i try to access an nonexistent product - i am brought to shop or product category front page, instead of Joomla 404 page.

[Studio 42]

AzMandius,
Update all your website. All is obsolete ! Vm, Joomla, PHP
And perhaps the problem is solved since(2 years)

[AzMandius]

perhaps the problem is solved since(2 years)

or not... who knows... that's not a solution though, but thanks anyway for trying

i am fully aware of outdated code, and there's could be a particular reason for not applying the updates so far, but who cares "update your code" it's always the simplest "solution" to offer

[GJC Web Design]

but who cares "update your code" it's always the simplest "solution" to offer

Sorry -- but a strange attitude.. updates, among other things also contain many bug fixes ...
No one is reporting your "problem" except you  ... I can tell you the VM 404 switch works on all recent (3.6.x releases) so there is a very good chance this has been fixed along with security vulnerabilities and new features.. etc

Will you wait till the inevitable hack occurs before updating?

[AzMandius]

It could be that template is the reason, as I am using a custom template. I'll have to check in that direction. Thanks.

[GJC Web Design]

very unlikely ... this VM 404 stuff is handled at the core of VM

e.g.
components\com_virtuemart\virtuemart.php

components\com_virtuemart\views\category\view.html.php

components\com_virtuemart\views\productdetails\view.html.php

[Studio 42]

You can try to update to VM 3.0.18 or another release and chekc if it wrk. If the problem is the template

[AzMandius]

Thank you for any help,
Regards