8 Common Magento Issues & How to Solve Them [2021]

By LitExtension

Introduction

When using Magento 2, making mistakes is inevitable. This article has collected and sorted out the top 8 common Magento issues and how to solve them effectively.

• Reset Magento Admin password
• Solve Magento “Access Denied” problem
• Speed Up Magento 2 store
• Add a Magento contact form
• Enable Search Engine Friendly URLs in Magento
• Set up Magento Blog Site
• Create Magento Customer Groups
• Create 301 Redirects

To make it even easier for you, each solution is packed with a step-by-step guide that contains pictures and detailed explanations so you can quickly tackle the problem.

Magento Issues

1. Reset Magento Admin password

In case you forget your password or just want to reset it for better security, there are three simple ways to do it depending on your situation.

If you’re able to access your Magento account and still remember your current password, you can easily change the password from the account setting.

Step 1: From the Magento back-end, navigate to System then Permissions and click All Users

Click all users

Step 2: Here you’ll see a list of all currently available users. Choose the user that you need to reset the password.

Choose your user

Step 3: Fill in your new password and confirm. At the “Current user identity verification”, put in your current password then hit Save Account

Fill in your new password

If you’re not able to access your Magento account, no need to worry. I’ll give you two options so you can get a new password in just a breeze.

Reset Magento admin password using the default recovery system

• Go to “Admin Panel”
• Click “Forgot Password”
• Fill in the Email address registered with Magento and click the “Retrieve password”

Retrieve Password

• Open the link attached in your mail, type in your new password, and click “Reset”

Use Magento command line

Run the below command:

php bin/magento admin:user:create –admin-user=admin –admin-password=admin123

Fill in your email, first name, and last name

Magento common issues: Run this command

2. Solve Magento “Access Denied” problem

Magento “Access Denied” error happens when you don’t have permission to access the web pages or applications. Common explanations for these issues are:

• Wrong role assignment when creating a new user.
• Incorrect admin login credentials.
• Privileges needed for new extensions.

You should log out and log in to your Magento account and reset the admin privileges. If you still can not access it, check out these solutions.

Wrong role assignment when creating a new user:

When adding a new user from the admin panel, it’s easy to forget to assign a proper role. In this case, you need to go to System> Permissions > User > Click on user > User roles and correct the access right.

Correct the right access

Incorrect admin login credentials:

The most common reason for “Access Denied” is wrong information when logging in to the admin panel. If you try to sign out and log in again yet still can not access it, use the following command to reset the password:

UPDATE admin_user SET password = MD5(‘PASSWORD’) WHERE username = ‘USERNAME’;

Privileges needed for new extensions

It occurs that when store owners add a new Magento extension through the downloader and access the configuration settings of this extension, they’ll probably meet the “Access Denied” error. Because Magento doesn’t automatically update the privileges of new extensions, you need to reset your admin privileges.

From the Magento dashboard, go to System > Permissions > Roles > Click Administrator role > Role Resources > Set it to All > Save Role.

Save role

3. Speed Up Magento 2 store

One of the strongest points of Magento 2 is performance. Hence, if you find your website has a slow loading time, there are ways to improve that.

• **Update to the last version of Magento**

This is one of the most simple ways to speed up Magento 2 yet brings great results. Whenever Magento releases a new version, the performance and other tweaks (bug fix, security patch…) will be improved significantly.

• **Enable Varnish Cache**

How Varnish Cache works

Varnish Cache or Full Page Cache is a built-in feature of Magento 2 that allows you to shorten the process of sending requests to the server from your site. Hence, enabling Varnish Cache helps reduce your site’s response time, resulting in a faster loading time.

• Optimize Javascript and CSS

You can reduce the number of separate CSS and Javascript files by merging them into a single, condensed file. This function helps to create a continuous stream of text, with line breaks removed.

4. Add a Magento contact form

This is a default feature of Magento. It’s usually placed at the end of any page.

Magento contact form

To do so, log in to the Magento with your account then follow this step-by-step guide:

Step 1: On the sidebar, go to Store > Setting > Configuration.

Step 2: On the left panel, General > Contact > Enable Contact Us > Yes.

Step 3: Next, move on to the Email Option, Fill in the required information and click Save Config.

5. Enable Search Engine Friendly URLs in Magento

With Magento 2, you can enable the URL rewrites or Web Server Apache Rewrites that allow you to remove the file name “index.php” in your URL.

Take a look at this example:

• URL without Web Server Rewrite

hhttp://www.yourdomain.com/magento/index.php/

• URL with Web Server Rewrite

http://www.yourdomain.com/magento/storeview/url-identifier

As you can see, this amazing built-in feature removes words that convey nothing of value to search engines or customers. As a result, all URLs will be more friendly with both search engines and users.

How to enable Engine Friendly URLs:

Step 1: On the Admin sidebar, go to Stores > Settings > Configuration.

Step 2: In the left panel where General is expanded, choose Web.

Set Use Web Server Rewrites

Step 3: Set Use Web Server Rewrites then click Save Config

6. Set up Magento Blog Site

Magento blogs’ integrations

Blogging is one of the best tools for driving more traffic to your site and leveling up your SEO. Magento 2 doesn’t provide Blog as default. Nevertheless, you can still get it from integrations.

7. Create Magento Customer Groups

Magento helps you to categorize each customer into a group and manage store behavior according to which group a customer belongs to. To be more specific, you can assign tax or status (General, Not Logged In, and Wholesale) for a group to gain better control of your shoppers.

To filter or create a new customer group, follow this instruction:

• Filter customer groups:

Step 1: On the Admin sidebar, go to Customers > Customer Groups.

Enter criteria for your groups

Step 2: Click Filters > Enter criteria for your groups such as ranges of IDs, groups, or tax classes.

• Create a new customer group:

Step 1: From the main menu, navigate to Customers > Customer Groups > Add New Customer Group.

Step 2: Fill in your Group Name.

Step 3: Select the Tax Class that applies to the group.

Step 4: Select the website you want to exclude.

Step 5: When complete, click Save Customer Group.

Save Customer Group

8. Create 301 Redirects

301 Redirect means permanently pointing the IP to the new address. Moreover, this function also helps you to rewrite the URL. As a result, it makes your site become more well-structured and perform well in SEO.

Basically, there are two ways to create a 301 redirect for your site.

• Create 301 redirect using .htaccess: Look for the code in your .htaccess.

1. IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
2. Enable rewrites
3. Options + FollowSymLinks
4. RewriteEngine on

Then simply add:

redirect 301 old_url new_url
## urls use relative paths
## for example: redirect 301 /old.html /new.html

Now go and check the old URL to see the result.

• Create 301 redirect using Magento redirect function:

URL rewrite

Step 1: From the sidebar, go to Marketing > SEO & Search > URL Rewrites

Click Save

Step 2: Click on Add URL Rewrite. Here, you can create URLs for your categories, products, CMS pages, or even custom URLs

Step 3: Fill in the required information and click Save.

Those are the 8 most common Magento issues which customers often face during operating Magento stores. This eCommerce platform is truly a monster in terms of customization abilities and built-in features. However, using Magento also means you have to deal with system errors more than usual. If you need a more “stable” solution where you don’t need to spend hours fixing bugs, here are a few suggestions from us.

Magento Alternatives

Magento is a great eCommerce platform that can help you customize every part of your website just like you want. However, it’s not for everyone. Although it’s free to download and install, in order to build a decent Magento store, you need to invest from $7000 to $10000 depending on the scale of your business. In addition, the self-hosted solution also requires a certain amount of technical skill to get used to.

If you’re unsatisfying with your Magento store and looking for an alternative solution, check out the three options below:

1. Shopify

According to our eCommerce platform research, Shopify is one of the best eCommerce solutions in the market right now.

Compared to Magento, Shopify is much easier to use and you can get your store up and running in just a few simple steps.

Shopify is also a hosted shopping cart so you don’t need to worry if you don’t feel confident about your technical knowledge. Additionally, Shopify makes it super easy for you to start selling.

Migrate to Shopify with LitExtension

2. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a great solution for merchants who are looking for an eCommerce platform that’s powerful but still easy to manage and customize.

With BigCommerce, you can use the drag and drop page builder to customize the look of your store or work with the CSS and raw HTML to update your theme

Just like Magento, this hosted solution has a rich set of built-in features along with great site performance. If you wish to know more about BigCommerce, check out this BigCommerce vs Magento Ultimate Comparison.

Migrate to BigCommerce with LitExtension

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the best Open-Source eCommerce platforms on the market. According to BuiltWith, there’re more than 4 million users are using this solution.

If you’re looking for a self-hosted solution just like Magento yet with more ease of use, WooCommerce can be a wise option for your business.

You can build a powerful and scalable site in just a few steps with this shopping cart. The main strength of WooCommerce lies in the customization and the ability to integrate with tons of extensions.

Migrate to WooCommerce with LitExtension

Conclusion

There are various Magento issues that merchants encounter and this list covers some of the most common errors and detailed guides on how to fix them. If you intend to find another solution for your store and need an efficient way to migrate your Magento store to a more robust eCommerce platform. You can try LiExtension automated migration tool

With LitExtension, you can easily transfer all of your data to your new store in just a few steps. You can contact the support team by email, live chat, or schedule a 1 on 1 call to get more information, they’ll be happy to help.

You can also join the LitExtension community for more eCommerce news and tips!

Good luck!