File Manager is Blank

Issue:

The File Manager is either blank or not showing all the files. The directory structure, which is shown, is incorrect. Or you can see any discrepancy in the files themselves.

Environment: DNN 7+ Versions

Audience: Administrators and Database Administrators

Root cause:

It can be any of the following:

• 'Files or Folder' table in the DNN database might have any abnormal name (Special characters, unwanted spaces before or after the name, different case letters).
• Different Hierarchy/tree structure.
• Duplicate entries in 'Files or Folders' table.

Resolution:

Caution: Please perform a database backup before completing the following steps.

1. You can check the information of "File or Folders" by connecting to the DNN Database:

• Access using the SQL console for DNN
  • Accessing SQL console on DNN versions before 8.5.0/9.0.0 : 
    • DNN Portal -> Host\Superuser login -> Host -> Settings -> SQL
  • Accessing SQL console on DNN versions 9.0.0+ :
    • DNN Portal -> Superuser/Host login -> PersonaBar -> Settings -> SQL Console
• Directly connecting to the database using SSMS or any other MSSQL database client tool of your choice.
  • Open SSMS\any tool of your choice.
  • Connect to the database using username & password
  • Select the DNN DataBase

2. Once connected, you can use the SELECT query, according to your requirements, to verify file and folder names:

• For files:
  SELECT * FROM Files
• For Folders/Directories:
  SELECT * FROM Folders

3. If you find any discrepancy, you can modify or delete that with UPDATE or DELETE accordingly. For example, you might find something like:

forms/FS/forms\FS\Budget
forms/FS/forms/FS/Budget

You need to change "\" to "/" and rename Budget to Budget1 (for example), as we have the same folder name 2 times.

Confirmation: The file manager will show the files and directories (As you can see, in the Screenshot, it is blank).

Content Author: Kiran Borole