How to determine the cause for "MyBB has experienced an internal SQL error and cannot continue"

Question

I am making a forum using MyBB and when I got to install this plugin https://community.mybb.com/mods.php?action=view&pid=1381

I get an error pop up saying

MyBB SQL Error
MyBB has experienced an internal SQL error and cannot continue.

If you're a visitor of this website, please wait a few minutes and try again. If this problem persists, please contact the site owner.

If you are the site owner, please check the MyBB Documentation for help resolving common issues, or get technical help on the MyBB Community Forums.

I have tried to install other plugins and on most of them I get the same error, I have also restarted my host, refreshed the site, tried again and nothing is happening.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65841447/how-to-determine-the-cause-for-mybb-has-experienced-an-internal-sql-error-and-c

Answer 1

You will need to see the specific error first. MyBB otherwise hides them, as you are seeing above.

To enable error displaying/logging:

Go to ACP -> Configuration -> Server & Optimization settings -> Error logging/Error_logging_medium, and enable error logging/displaying.

If this issue has occurred repeatedly with multiple plugins, it is likely an issue with incompatibilities with your MySQL configuration. Check to see if Strict Mode is enabled via your host. Although MyBB's core is well-designed for Strict Mode, many plugin developers have not developed their plugins equivalently. As a result, issues like this are very common if Strict Mode is enabled on a typical MyBB installation.