Could not reach challenge directory

Possibly your hosting company blocks the curl request that does this check.

You can bypass this verification by adding

update_option('rsssl_skip_challenge_directory_request', true);

To your theme’s functions.php, then try again.

You should be able to proceed to the next step. If Let’s Encrypt is able to reach the directory by http request, you should be able to finish.

Hi Rogier

Many thanks for your suggestion.

Unfortunately adding this code to functions.php crashes the site?

At the moment it is a basic install with just 3 plugins and WP theme.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Sean

Did you add it after the <?php characters in the functions.php of your theme? As this is a core wp function, this should not be any problem, unless it’s in the wrong location.

You can also create a file.php file in the wp-content/mu-plugins folder, then add

<?php
update_option('rsssl_skip_challenge_directory_request', true);

Hi Rogier

Code is now in functions.php and site is up.

However, the SSL still fails. Below I have copied the install messages:

You have the required PHP version to continue.
SSL certificate should be generated and installed.
The PHP function CURL has successfully been detected.
The Hosting Panel software was not recognised. Depending on your hosting provider, the generated certificate may need to be installed manually.
Could not verify alias domain. Please check if the non www version of your site also directs to this website. If this is not the case, don't add this alias to your certificate.
Your domain meets the requirements for Let's Encrypt.

The challenge directory was successfully created.
The key directory was successfully created.
The certs directory was successfully created.
The required directories have the necessary writing permissions.
Could not reach challenge directory over https://www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/really-simple-ssl-permissions-check.txt. Error code no response.

Successfully retrieved account
Attempt 2. HTTP challenge for “www.seanhorton.net””: https://www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/czMmipD2GTMuYAEzz4CfWfRckdam7s7faYWXfo8QNj0 tested, found invalid.

Site is hosted with Heart Internet UK. They do not appear in your list of hosts so the default first entry is used.

Sean

Maybe it’s best to reset, then start over. To do this, can you add &reset-letsencrypt=1 after the url when in the wizard, then hit enter? The URL should look like this:

[yourdomain.com]/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=rlrsssl_really_simple_ssl&tab=letsencrypt&reset-letsencrypt=1

Thanks, same result unfortunately.

You have the required PHP version to continue.
SSL certificate should be generated and installed.
The PHP function CURL has successfully been detected.
The Hosting Panel software was not recognised. Depending on your hosting provider, the generated certificate may need to be installed manually.
Could not verify alias domain. Please check if the non www version of your site also directs to this website. If this is not the case, don’t add this alias to your certificate.
Your domain meets the requirements for Let’s Encrypt.

The challenge directory was successfully created.
The key directory was successfully created.
The certs directory was successfully created.
The required directories have the necessary writing permissions.
Could not reach challenge directory over https://www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/really-simple-ssl-permissions-check.txt. Error code no response.

Successfully retrieved account
HTTP challenge for “www.seanhorton.net””: https://www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/czMmipD2GTMuYAEzz4CfWfRckdam7s7faYWXfo8QNj0 tested, found invalid.

The reset should start an entirely new authorisation. Can you manually remove the contents of the directory .well-known/acme-challenge, and above the root the contents of “ssl/keys”, then run the reset again? This should start a new order, and create a new challenge.

If this does not help, please enable debugging by adding

define( ‘WP_DEBUG_LOG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY’, true );

To your wp-config.php. Please do not post the resulting debug.log from the wp-content folder here, for security purposes. You should also remove the debug.log afterwards, and disable debugging again.

If you can send the debug.log to support(at)really-simple-ssl.com, we can take a deeper look.

Thanks for sticking with me!

This time the last screen (Generation) took a lot longer

However, it still did not work:

Attempt 3. HTTP challenge for “www.seanhorton.net””: https://www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/Ip6rikEB0IMRuaYWflLZiaPUUp8Wu7yjM616GcloAws tested, found invalid.

I will try to carry out debugging and let you know

I have added the debug commands, used reset URL but no log file created?

Same results from the install:

Could not reach challenge directory over https://www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/really-simple-ssl-permissions-check.txt. Error code no response.

Successfully retrieved account
Attempt 2. HTTP challenge for "www.seanhorton.net"": www.seanhorton.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/p3THFWirtoeAw_Sr2-zACnbnjfOfrC4udJjy0kWdFGU tested, found invalid.

Response:	550 /public_html/wp-content/debug.log: No such file or directory

Would it be of benefit to remove WordPress and start afresh?

Reinstalling WordPress won’t make a difference I’m afraid.

I noticed the challenge did change in the last attempt, so the reset seems to have worked, although not with the expected result.

As for the log: maybe you can check if there’s an error_log file in the root of your site and send that to us.

As alternatively, you can choose to switch to DNS verification, and see if that works for you. When the challenge fails, you should get an option to switch to DNS verification at the bottom.

facing the same issue,
now i am trying using dns verification, i have reached the installation stage where we need to follow instructions, i don’t see intructions for hosting done on personal server

Hi @viveknegi1997,

does your server have a control panel like cPanel or Plesk? If so, you can look up instructions on how to install the certificate in such a control panel on our website. If your server does not have a control panel, you can add the certificate to the Apache configuration directly as described here: https://www.ssls.com/knowledgebase/how-to-install-an-ssl-certificate-on-apache/

thank You @markwolters ,
it worked, manually inserted ssl certificates in virtual host config file of apache
so now we have done manual install, how do i renew the certificate? any way this plugin can help here

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by viveknegi1997.

Hi @viveknegi1997,

the certificate has to be manually renewed every 90 days. The plugin will notify you two weeks in advance that the certificate has to be renewed via a notice in the Settings->SSL dashboard. This notice will show a link to the wizard which you can re-run to generate a new certificate.