Setting $_SESSION doesn't work on localhost using XAMPP

Question

I set my session like so in my PHP code : $_SESSION['user_id'] = $login; and this seems to work fine whilst uploaded to my server and carries across different pages, however when I am testing the website on my local machine the session seems to become immediately unset after leaving the script where it is set.

I am testing on my local machine using XAMPP and exactly the same code.

I am not sure why this problem is occurring and would greatly appreciate any helpful answer.

Example that is not working:

$_SESSION['user_id'] = $login;
echo '<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" content="0;URL=../home.php">';  

EDIT 1:

Here is my entire function in which I log in (it's part of the class):

public function loggingIn(){
    session_start();

    $db = new Database('localhost','root','','userdata');
    $userFunctions = new Users($db);

    $username = $_POST['usernameInput'];
    $password = $_POST['passwordInput'];

    if(empty($username) || empty($password)){
        $this->errors['u&p'] = 'Please Enter Your Username AND Password';
        $this->printE();
    } elseif($userFunctions->user_exists($username)===false){
        $this->errors['nm'] = 'That Username/Password Combination Is Not Valid';
        $this->printE();
    } else {
            $login = $userFunctions->login($username, $password);

    if($login === false){
            $this->errors['nm'] = 'That Username/Password Combination Is Not Valid';
            echo 'Login Failed!';
        } else  {
           if(!$userFunctions->economyTableExistsForUser($login)){
               $userFunctions->createEconomyTableForUser($login);   
           }
           if(!$userFunctions->schoolTableExistsForUser($login)) {
               $userFunctions->createSchoolTableForUser($login);    
           }

               $_SESSION['user_id'] = $login;

               echo $_SESSION['user_id'];  // working fine

               header('Location: ../home.php');
        }
    }   
}

Answer 1

Let's guess that your home machine is not having:

session.autostart = On

in your php.ini, while your other machine obviously is.

Make sure that you have set in your PHP code:

session_start();

PHP: session_start - Manual

If you don't, then your session is not started, unless my first conjecture is true.

Besides, you must check for you PHP version on your localhost and settings in php.ini. Make sure that the directory where you store you session files is writeable and session files do really exist.

EDIT 1:

You better use PHP solution for redirection:

header("Location: /");
exit();

EDIT 2:

PHP has functions that modify HTTP headers. Some of them:

• header
• session_start
• setcookie

EDIT 3:

Line-breaks and spaces could be a problem but there are also invisible character sequences which can cause Warning: Cannot modify header information, like the UTF-8 BOM (Byte-Order-Mark). Try re-saving your file making sure that it's saved just as UTF-8 (no BOM).

EDIT 4:

To properly debug your code make sure that PHP displays all warning and notices. Run it before session start:

ini_set('display_errors', -1);

EDIT 5:

You must also check session.gc_maxlifetime setting:

session.gc_maxlifetime
session.gc_maxlifetime specifies the number of seconds after which data will be seen as 'garbage' and cleaned up. Garbage collection occurs during session start.

EDIT 6:

To view white-spaces in Sublime Text, edit the settings:

// Set to "none" to turn off drawing white space, "selection" to draw only the
// white space within the selection, and "all" to draw all white space
"draw_white_space": "selection",

You can set it in Preferences->Settings Default. If you edit your user settings Preferences->Settings - User and add the line as per below:

{
    "font_size": 10,
    "draw_white_space": "all"
}

Also make sure it shows all other special characters to properly debug your code!

EDIT 7:

Finally try adding session_write_close(); right before redirecting.

EDIT 8:

Set in your PHP file, before session_start();, session.save_path = "/home/username/tmp"; directive. Create tmp dir outside of public_html. Make sure that tmp dir has chmod 770 and created with the same user/group privileges . Run ls -lsa in your home dir to check if the new directory has the same user/group as other directories, like public_html for instance. If not, make sure changing permissions as root on tmp by running chown username:groupname /home/username/tmp.

Answer 2

A quick update on this. I found this response very useful, however, please note that in my installation of XAMPP, the php.ini entry for session.autostart=On, is slightly different. I found the following:

; Initialize session on request startup. ; http://php.net/session.auto-start session.auto_start=0

I changed this to:

; Initialize session on request startup. ; http://php.net/session.auto-start session.auto_start=1