Frequently Asked Questions

Unable to register/access your site?

If you are unable to register at portfolio.cr.utwente.nl/new or portfolio.id.utwente.nl/new, or access a new site, please check:

  1. The Wifi network you are connected to. On the university, only use EDUROAM. (for help, contact the ICT servicedesk).
  2. Reboot your computer, especially after recent updates of after an update of FileZilla (also to make sure you are not running two instances of FileZilla by accident).
  3. Check the password of your student account: Are you able to log-in to Canvas? Double-check you use the same password for FileZilla.
  4. Are you able to log-in and register for a new site?
  5. Did you get a confirmation e-mail after registering a new site?
  6. Are you able to upload a file? (read the manual carefully, and check the next question below)

Answer the questions above, if one of them is no: e-mail us the answers: include your studentnumber, the text of the confirmation e-mail (if you received that) and the log-file of FileZilla: In de top part of FileZilla, were the errors are shown, click with the mouse, then press Ctrl-A (select all), then Ctrl-C (copy). Then in a new email, press Ctrl-V (paste).

If all are a yes: first carefully (re)read the guide, it contains some important tips. If you still have problems, we will try to help you during the tutorial sessions.

Unable connect to your site (with FileZilla)?

Try these steps:

  1. Make sure you did register for a new site. Check if you received the confirmation email. Then carefully follow the guide on how to connect again, and follow the steps exactly!
  2. Again, make sure you are using your student account to connect (username like: s1234567, and not the database password which is in the confirmation e-mail). This is the same account you use to for example login to Canvas, so try logging in to Canvas, to make sure you remember your password well.
  3. After 3 login attempts, wait for half an hour, as your account might be locked.
  4. Restart your computer.
  5. If you are not at the university, connect via VPN
  6. Check if you are using the latest version of FileZilla (you can check the version via Help > About and update via Help > Check for updates).
  7. If you are unable to connect with the latest version of FileZilla, you could also try an alternative FTP client, like WinSCP (Windows only) or Cyberduck (Windows & Mac). Setting up might be different for these FTP clients, but the main settings remain the same.
  8. If all fails, send us these 3 things (via e-mail or chat): 1) a screenshot of the main screen of Filezilla while you are connecting, 2) a screenshot of your settings at File > Site Manager, 3) the FileZilla log text (here you can view where to find that).

Problems after uploading page(s): page not showing properly

First carefully (re)read the guide. Make sure you upload files in folder public_html and all files and references to these files are lowercase characters.
Errors might be shown in the Console: Open the Console (Ctrl-Shift-J in Chrome) and reload the page. Common problems are:

Where can I learn more about creating a website?

For Create-students: follow the course Web Technology (part of module 1). For Industrial Design: follow the course Website development (part of module 8). Both courses have plenty of online materials to get you started.
Find a good tutorial site, like w3schools.com.

If you are a beginner, you might want to start with an easy tool to create a website, like Adobe Dreamweaver. Installing WordPress on your site is also an option.

Privacy concerns/How can I protect my website?

Some privacy related tips: Be really careful with photo’s. Never publish personal details like: your home address, e-mail addresses, studentnumber and phone number.

It is possible to protect your website in various ways. The easiest way is simply block access outside of the university network. In this way only fellow students and teachers connected to the university network will be able to access your site.

If you have a website made with plain HTML/CSS pages (HTML and CSS files), download this .htaccess file, unzip the file in the root of your website folder, and upload it to the root of your site (in the public_html folder).

If you use WordPress, download the .htaccess file of WordPress from your site to the website folder on your computer (using FileZilla). Open it in an editor and add these lines:

# allow access only from .utwente.nl
deny from all
allow from .utwente.nl
allow from 130.89.
ErrorDocument 403 /blocked/

Save the file and upload it back to your site.

If you choose this way to protect your site, please inform your Web Technology teacher and your mentor about this!

Can I get a MySql database?

Yes. You can do that here. You can manage the database via PHPMyAdmin.

Where do I find my database password? How do I change it?

When you register for a new site, you can create a database password. It will be mentioned in the confirmation e-mail then. If you want to get a new database password later, you can just re-visit the registration page and generate a new password*. If you have lost the database password, you have 3 options:
1) find it in the confirmation e-mail,
2) if you already have WordPress installed on your site, the password will be stored in the wp-config.php file. So you can also recover the password from there: download the file wp-config.php and view it on your computer. The password is listed at the line that starts with define('DB_PASSWORD',.
3) generate a new password. But*:
* If you change the database password, your current WordPress site can no longer access the database and will be broken. So you have to update the password in the wp-config.php file also! See next question.

How do I update the database password in the wp-config.php file?

After you changed the database password, you must update the password in the wp-config.php file of WordPress. Learn more about what the wp-config.php file is here. This takes 3 steps:

  1. Download the wp-config.php file from your website to your computer (using FileZilla)
  2. Edit it and put the new password in the line:
    /** MySQL database password */
    define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'new_password_here' );
    Make sure the single quotes remain there! (put the password between the single quotes)
  3. Upload the saved file back to your website (overwrite the old version)

Can I use WordPress?

Yes. Create a database (see question "Can I get a MySql database?" above). Download Wordpress from Wordpress.org and install it. A tutorial on how to install WordPress is available.

WordPress: Problems installing updates/plugins/themes

If you get a Connection-message to enter your FTP-credentials, you can add the line define('FS_METHOD','direct'); to the wp-config file. Details on how to do this are in step 4 of the installation guide.

If you get errors like "An automated update of WordPress has failed to complete..." or "The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions...": Follow these steps to repair the permissions using FileZilla.

If you still experience troubles, try a manual install. Eg. for updates, follow these steps (BE CAREFULL: at step 4, I would suggest not to delete the directories, but rather rename them).

WordPress: problems after changing options like site-url

If your site does no longer function properly, and you can not access the dashboard, follow these steps to gain access.

You can access WordPress options via the database management interface PHPMyAdmin. Login with your username (eg. s1234567) and your database password.
Then go to your database (eg. click on s1234567) and click on the table "wp_options" and check the values at "siteurl" and "home". They should have the proper URL of your website, eg.: https://portfolio.cr.utwente.nl/student/xxxxxxxx/
If they are different, edit them to change them to the right value.

After this, login to your dashboard, go to Settings > Permalink and press "Save changes".

You can also try to add the following code in the wp-config.php file:

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);

Then re-visit your site and see if you get any errors to further investigate the problem.

WordPress: how to remove it? (eg. for a new fresh install)

  1. Backup and remove all files: Login with FileZilla. Create a folder "_backup" and move all files of your site into that folder. Download that folder to your computer and remove it from the site.
  2. Backup and drop database tables: Login to PHPMyAdmin. Click on your database (your studentnumber, on the left), then choose "Export" and press Go. The backup file will be downloaded to your computer. If you are sure you want to remove the tables, click "Structure". Select all tables (use Check all). From the drop-down "With selected:" choose "Drop". Then press Yes.
If you want to start over with a fresh install of WordPress, it is recommended to change the database password!.

Why am I unable to find my site via the homepage or search-field?

If you have just registered, it can take several hours for your portfolio site to become visible. Also sites in which no content has been uploaded yet are not displayed by the search/browse function. The search/browse function will only search in sites which contain content (at least an index-file like index.html or index.php should be there). If your site is still not visible, please contact the administrator.

My site has been blocked. How do I unblock it?

You received an e-mail to inform you about a problem with your site. Follow the instructions in that e-mail to resolve the problem. Your site will be un-blocked automatically within an hour after you solved the problem.

Usually, not updating WordPress will be a reason to quarantine your site. To update WordPress, login to the Dashboard of your site and click on the update button to update WordPress. Blocked sites are still accessible inside the university network. If you are outside the university network use a VPN connection to gain access.

How to fix the error "There has been a critical error on this website..."?

If you go to your homepage or login-page, you get this message: "There has been a critical error on this website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions." check if you did get the email mentioned and see if you can fix things using the suggestions in it. For instance by turning on debugging and/or accessing the dashboard in recovery mode.

Usually there is a problem with a plugin or theme. For instance disabling the plugin might solve the matter. Read the article "How to fix the critical error in wordpress" to solve it. (read the part in the lower half of the page, at "Fixing Critical Error in WordPress Manually") Hopefully you will be able to fix the problem with that info.

How can I reduce the size of my site?

I now have my own site. Can I let this site redirect to my new site?

Yes, you can. Create a file index.php and insert the content from the example below. Replace the URL www.mysite.nl with your own.

<?php
header("Location: http://www.mysite.nl/");
?>
There is another example here. Which includes the possibility to add a delay.

Can I have my portfolio site removed?

If you have graduated or for any other reason you want to remove the portfolio, send an email with a request to the administrator. Include your student number in the request.

What if I leave the university?

Your site will not be removed and will remain available. If you leave the university, your student account will cease to exist. Therefore, you will lose FTP-access to your site. So you might want to save/backup your site.
If you have a html-based site, simply transfer (download) all files from the site to your computer with FTP.
If you use WordPress, you can still maintain the site via the Dashboard. Although the site remains available it is better to move the site to a hosting provider, in that way you are independent of the university (move it before your student account expires). You can also make a backup (eg. with the plugin Updraftplus) and do this later.
Advise if you use WordPress: update your e-mail address in the Dashboard (Users > Your profile) and install a notification plugin (eg. Wordfence or mail-on-update) which notifies you about updates, otherwise your site might end up in quarantine.

Unable to resolve a problem yourself?

Please use this form to contact us.