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New User Registration Problem: Invalid Activation Key


  • simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    Hi,

    I created a test account using regular buddypress registration form.

    On the “Activate Your Account” page, it said we have sent an email to you to activate your account.

    I logged into my email, and clicked the link in the email to activate the account.
    I keep getting this message:
    ———————————–
    Invalid activation key
    ———————————–

    I even copied the key directly from email link and entered in to the activation field, still keep getting the “invalid activation key” message.

    I then deleted the account from backend and resisted the new account again.

    Again, it is same problem: invalid activation key.

    What is the problem? How can I fix it?

    Please advise.
    Thank you.

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 45 total)

  • simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    I even deactivated all plugins and reinstalled one by one, including BP.

    Still same issue: Invalid activation key

    Please help.

    Note: Everything is latest version such as BP, WP, etc.


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    Any response about invalid activation?


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    Sorry to bump. Still looking for help on this.


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    @simple-man what’s the link in the email? Can you copy and paste an example here?


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    I haven’t received any help in almost a week after posting, so I will be calling on some of the buddypress developers here for help:


    @boonebgorges
    @modemlooper @jjj @mercime @djpaul

    I have posted the activation link above.

    Please let me know what can I do to solve this.

    Thank you!


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    @djpaul

    Thanks for the response.

    I have tried everything I can think of, including testing with three different new accounts on different days.

    I keep getting the same error message: Invalid Activation Key

    Q: Can it be possible that BuddyPress (in our case) never stores the code in the database that it send in the registration email link? Perhaps that’s where the mis-match/invalid message is coming from?


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    The activation key is stored in the user meta table. Do you have access to your database to check?


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    I am the admin, but I don’t know how to check that.

    I also just chatted with my hosting company and they told me all the databases/tables appear fine and could not help me. They told me to try here at buddypress forums 🙂


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    Updates:
    1. I just found out that even though clicking the registration email link displays the message “Invalid Activation Key”, I was able to reset the ‘new password’ to the ‘same original’ password using “forgot password” link and login using the new password.

    2. Then I created another test user and had exact same error message upon clicking the registration email link: Invalid Activation Key
    I ignored this “Invalid Activation Key” error message and this time I was able to login using username/password.

    It is very confusing and new users will just give up when they will get the error: Invalid Activation Key


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    @simple-man if the activation key is in the database and the link in the email is right then the problem must be elsewhere.

    1. instead of clicking on the link in the email, are you able to copy the link and paste it directly into the browser address bar? It could be the click-through that is causing the problem. Just a thought.

    2. can you ensure all plugins are deactivated (aside from BuddyPress).


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    @henrywright

    I tried both your suggestions:

    1. Yes, I still get the “Invalid Activation Key” error if I copy and paste the link url directly in the browser.

    2. Ok, de-activated all plugins except buddypress and clicked the link (also pasted directly to browser) and still same error: Invalid Activation Key

    Thank you.


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    @simple-man the next step is to check that an activation key is being set. considering you don’t have access to your database, are you comfortable with PHP? Can you add this to page.php

    echo get_user_meta( $user_id, 'activation_key', true );

    and replace $user_id with the user ID of the member you want activated.

    Then make sure what appears on screen is the exact same key as the key in the email link.


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    @henrywright

    I am not a programmer/coder by any means and not sure how to do what you have suggested above.
    I do see page.php if I go to the theme editor.

    Q1: Where do I add the code? At the bottom i.e. end of the page.php file?
    Q2: Where do I get the user ID of the member to replace in the $user_id in page.php?
    Q3: Now how do I confirm this “Then make sure what appears on screen is the exact same key as the key in the email link.”? Where will this key appear on screen (I mean which page etc)?

    Thank you.


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    1. Add the code right after the h1 heading
    2. You can get this from your WP dashboard. Go to Users then hover over a user and look towards the very bottom left of your browser.
    3. The key will appear on the page right after the h1 heading


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    @henrywright

    ok, I just followed the steps 1 and 2 above and saved the page.php

    But could not see the key appearing after “h1” heading on page.php

    Thank you for your time and help.


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    That indicates the key isn’t in the database. That there is the problem. Now we’ve narrowed the problem down to the key not being in the database you’ll need to investigate why.


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    @henrywright
    I am not sure if I was able to do the above steps correctly but I tried my best.

    Now, I am not sure what else to do or how to do it?

    I am ready to share my admin access to the site/hosting account if you can take a look.
    Otherwise, some easy instructions what to do will be welcome.

    Also would it be a good idea to just bypass the account verification/validation (since I already have the google recaptcha on the signup form) using a plugin like this:

    BuddyPress Auto Activate Auto Login

    Thank you very much for all the help you provided so far.


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    Does that plugin auto activate your members?


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    Yes, this is what it says:

    – Auto activate user account instantly on sign up
    – Stop The activation mail sent to user(there is no more activation mail required, as the accounts are automatically activated)
    – After activating the user account, This plugin logs them in automatically and redirects the user to their profile.


    Henry Wright
    Moderator

    @henrywright

    That would resolve your problem. The issue then would be how can you fight the spammers that sign up. The Google captcha would help. There’s also Akismet which is free for personal use and is unobtrusive too.


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    I will think more about going that route, because I still like account activation via email link.
    I had bad experience with spammers before.

    Thank you.


    mycal2
    Participant

    @mycal2

    Actually I am facing a similar issue:
    * User will receive two activation E-Mails with different Tokens
    * The token in one mail does match to the one in the DB
    ** Mail Token = 42399c51355ac2303bfbfbd77e2b471f
    ** DB Token = 42399c51355ac2303bfbfbd77e2b471f
    ** Mail Token which doesn’t match = 59921ffd779d77ce

    Both keys are not working if I copy them manually in the form.
    Any other idea ?


    simple-man
    Participant

    @simple-man

    @mycal2

    It is an unfortunate situation.
    I have rest of the site setup but “Invalid Activation Key” has made me put everything on hold.

    It is now 2nd week that I am struggling with this issue with no end in site.
    What is more surprising is that this is an old known issue and there is no solution for it.

    I appreciate all the help from @henrywright so far.

    I am very desperate to find a solution to this so I can open the registration to the site.

    Btw, how do I access the key in the database (like your did ** DB Token = 42399c51355ac2303bfbfbd77e2b471f)?
    Can you plese give me some simple instructions?

    Thank you.

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 45 total)
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