PrestaShop 1.5 – Error – Link to database cannot be established

If you have a database configuration error, it can display in different ways. If error reporting is not turned on, it will show differently according to the browser.

Googe Chrome The website encountered an error while retrieving https://domain.com/ It may be down for maintenance or configured

FireFoxGenerally displays a blank page
Internet Explorer

The website cannot display the page

While these messages are fairly general and can be for different errors as well, it is best to then turn on the error reporting as shown in a previous article. The error should then display with the beginning portion reading “Fatal error: Uncaught exception ‘PrestaShopDatabaseException’ with message ‘Link to database cannot be established.

To troubleshoot the database configuration:

  1. Log into your hosting control panel, SSH, or FTP client.
  2. Navigate to the PrestaShop 1.5 root folder.
  3. From there, find your way to the config folder.
  4. Once in the config folder, locate the file named settings.inc.php This is the file with all of the database settings.
  5. The table below shows your the four database settings. Ensure that each one is correct. The data shown is sample data, so you will need to know the connection data for your own installation.

    define(‘_DB_SERVER_’, ‘localhost’);

    define(‘_DB_NAME_’, ‘your_database_name’);

    define(‘_DB_USER_’, ‘your_database_user_name’);

    define(‘_DB_PASSWD_’, ‘your_database_password’);

  6. Once you have corrected the database settings and saved the file, refresh the page to see if the site displays. If so, you may turn off the error reporting.

That is how you troubleshoot a database connection error in PrestaShop 1.5.

11 thoughts on “PrestaShop 1.5 – Error – Link to database cannot be established

    1. Hello Fadi,

      The error itself is cause by a missing category ID in the category table. Did you perform a CSV import prior to getting this error? You should be able to correct it by accessing the database via phpmyadmin and then adding the row with the appropriate category ID so that it can be found

      Kindest Regards,
      Scott M

  1. May i know what is going wrong for my cms page? Cms is showing Category cannot be loaded at the back office, all cms page on my website is show This page does not exist.

    Here is my error page https://shoppingononline.com/cms/About-Us.html. Please help me recover the cms problem. I am appreciate your help.

     

     

     

    1. Hello Vivian,

      Sorry for the problem with your ABOUT US page. The problem is probably linked to the CMS Block Module (under Modules), and also the CMS information that should be filled out (under Preferences >CMS). Please make sure that both of those areas are active, and have the correct information for your About Us page.

      I hope this helps to answer your question, please let us know if you require any further assistance.

      Regards,
      Arnel C.

  2. It was database on my phpmyadmin. The server and database name is correct but i am not sure what is the database password. Where i can check the database password? Can i check this on my phpmyadmin?

    1. Hello,

      Unfortunately the password would not be displayed anywhere but you could create a new user with a new password, attach it to the database, then edit the settings.inc.php with the new user and password.

      Best Regards,
      TJ Edens

  3. Where do i check the database settings? 

    define(‘_DB_SERVER_’, ‘localhost’);

    define(‘_DB_NAME_’, ‘your_database_name’);

    define(‘_DB_USER_’, ‘your_database_user_name’);

    define(‘_DB_PASSWD_’, ‘your_database_password’);

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