Missing media on Simple Sites after the files.wordpress.com > wp-content/uploads path change #87642

pauljacobson · 2024-02-20T10:55:21Z

UPDATE May 9, 2024: Read before Reporting

Please investigate the missing image issue you're dealing with before reporting on this thread.

Current escalation thread: p1715271974999929/1715265147.089629-slack-C02FMH4G8

(Possible) Current Symptoms

Images can't be seen on Calypso, wp-admin and live site
Primary domain is set to external name servers, or has only been recently pointed to WP.com (so still propagating)
Sometimes we can repro, sometimes we can't
Privacy settings on the site might be set to Coming Soon/Private

Previous Symptoms:

This is exclusive to the issue triggered by the change of the file paths on Simple Sites from files.wordpress.com to /wp-content/uploads/.

Images load for users on the media library and the editor, but not on the frontend
Images load for HEs correctly while proxied
User report discrepancies between the file paths they can see X what they can't see (files.wordpress.com X /wp-content/uploads/)

Updates

Initial escalation thread: p1708425842573889-slack-C02FMH4G8
An initial fix was issued around Feb 20
A second fix for .blog subdomains was issued around March 20.
New escalation thread: p1711639735891989-slack-C02FMH4G8

Quick summary

I noticed that there are a number of reports of missing images or other media on a number of WordPress.com sites. The sites seem not to be plugin-enabled sites. Opening this issue to track reports.

My first encounter of this issue was in 7766785-zen where the user reported that all media save for the most recent two posts are no longer loading, and the relevant media is not displaying in the Media library.

Steps to reproduce

According to @vinnykaur , we haven't been able to reproduce this on our side. See p1708426096835589-slack-C02FMH4G8

What you expected to happen

Media should load consistently.

What actually happened

Media seems to be removed or is not loading for older content.

Impact

Some (< 50%)

Available workarounds?

No and the platform is unusable

Platform (Simple and/or Atomic)

Simple

Logs or notes

Other reports:

7766855-zen
Photos disappearing – media library problems | WordPress.com Forums

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

vinnykaur · 2024-02-20T10:57:26Z

Just to add, users reported missing images from media or errors while uploading images or "this image has an empty alt attribute" message in their media.

github-actions · 2024-02-20T11:00:46Z

pauljacobson · 2024-02-20T11:05:15Z

Here is another report: 7766858-zen

Hello, I have a problem since today, when I create a post and upload a picture for this post, I can't see any pictures? Even the images in the media are not displayed! Wordpress also does not show if an image has been uploaded or not when uploading, images are not displayed either.

rinazrina · 2024-02-20T11:08:18Z

I got a report that seems related: 7765648-zd-a8c

I'm unable to place images into the text. It says,"This image has an empty alt attribute;"and then gives the file name. This just began out of the blue

Simple site. Theme: Adventure Journal.
The user tried using Firefox and Chrome. Same issue.

I can't reproduce the issue when SU.

AminMehrani · 2024-02-20T11:10:37Z

7767112-zen
7765578-zen
7764793-zen
7764843-zen
7766266-zen
7766855-zen

kkalam7757 · 2024-02-20T11:22:02Z

7765226-zen
7783758 -Zen: The user experiences issues with the classic editor when using Chrome but not when using Firefox.
7958329 -zen
8180596 -zen

Neha93517 · 2024-02-20T11:22:37Z

Image issues:
7764756-zen
7764441-zen

Video not loading issue: (could be related)
7765382-zen
7764757-zen: The user reported this to be resolved after troubleshooting. I have requested information on which step worked for the user.

AnjanaV93 · 2024-02-20T11:24:01Z

7765525-zen
7765153-zen
7765260-zen
7765731-zen
7764334-zen

cselamor · 2024-02-20T11:24:52Z

7765479-zen

dev-sabbir · 2024-02-20T11:27:19Z

7766596-zd-a8c

rw-ye · 2024-02-20T11:37:52Z

Another report: 7765844-zd-a8c

At the time of the chat, I had the user try a different network connection and the media library started working again.

liviopv · 2024-02-20T11:43:12Z

7767212-zd-a8c

Couldn't reproduce while proxied and unproxied on Chrome. User's browser info https://www.whatsmybrowser.org/b/5F39M

User cannot reproduce it while using mobile data.

pauljacobson · 2024-02-20T11:43:47Z

7766817-zen seems similar to 7766785-zen where the user also mentioned empty alt attributes:

Yesterday and this morning, I was unable to post a picture on my wordpress blog. Instead of the picture, the message "this image has an empty alt attribute" appears. When I attempt to add images from my wordpress images folder, I have the same problem.

WordPress Starter plan and using the retired MistyLook theme.

ariel-maidana · 2024-02-20T11:45:56Z

7767210-zen
Reported originally on Chrome.
User replicated partially on Edge.
I couldn't reproduce the issue while proxied on Chrome and while unproxied on Firefox.

dev-sabbir · 2024-02-20T11:46:54Z

7767223-zd-a8c
7767297-zd-a8c

pauljacobson · 2024-02-20T11:56:53Z

7766774-zen

I am trying to upload an image in a post, but the editor gives me the message "the image has an empty ALT attribute" and the image is not displayed.

Site is on a WordPress.com Explorer plan

sajjadsaeed · 2024-02-20T12:01:53Z

7766141-zen (Explorer plan)
7764604-zen (Stater plan)

sajjadsaeed · 2024-02-20T12:04:43Z

7764527-zen

galakhyati · 2024-05-23T10:27:27Z

Another instance here: 8227732-zd-a8c
Site is on Starter plan with domain correctly pointing to WordPress.com NS. The site's privacy is set to Private.

nazilya06 · 2024-05-23T14:59:39Z

8228750-zd-a8c

Set the site from Public to Coming Soon. I switched the primary address for a while, and the images started appearing.

galakhyati · 2024-05-24T11:08:15Z

Another report where:

The domain is pointing well to WordPress.com NS,
The site's privacy is set to Private.
Site is on WordPress.com Explorer plan
Ticket: 8230161-zd-a8c

In order to solve #87642, we need to proxy any images in the media area via the public API. This solves two main cases: 1) Where the primary redirect is not yet pointed to us via DNS 2) Where a service like Cloudflare is in front of the primary redirect, and blocks "hotlinking" images These cases both used to work fine, as media was served from *.files.wordpress.com regardless of the actual domain being used. Once this was been moved to use wp-content/uploads (in order to fix issues when third party cookies are blocked), the two cases above (and probably some others we don't know about) stopped working.

dev-sabbir · 2024-05-24T14:45:33Z

@pauljacobson, there is a workaround (I am not super sure if we can call it a workaround).

Images appear if we set the site's privacy to Coming Soon mode.

… site. (#90895) * Proxy content via public-api, even when we're on a simple site. In order to solve #87642, we need to proxy any images in the media area via the public API. This solves two main cases: 1) Where the primary redirect is not yet pointed to us via DNS 2) Where a service like Cloudflare is in front of the primary redirect, and blocks "hotlinking" images These cases both used to work fine, as media was served from *.files.wordpress.com regardless of the actual domain being used. Once this was been moved to use wp-content/uploads (in order to fix issues when third party cookies are blocked), the two cases above (and probably some others we don't know about) stopped working.

devicenull · 2024-05-24T15:05:25Z

not done yet, thanks github :)

supernovia · 2024-05-24T16:11:58Z

Primary domain points here
Site is private
Simple site
Just the Calypso media library is broken
I can repro

8233739-zd-a8c

devicenull · 2024-05-24T18:41:45Z

This is resolved for users, but will not currently work in support sessions (fixing for that is in progress)

devicenull · 2024-05-24T20:21:06Z

The fix ended up causing #91136 and was reverted

rosepajaroja · 2024-06-01T12:16:17Z

zen-8221056

Workaround: Change the site's privacy settings to public, then back again to private. (similar to the workaround shared by @ dev-sabbir above).

mrfoxtalbot · 2024-06-04T14:46:34Z

Thank you for the update, @devicenull. I have modified the priority to reflect this.

devicenull · 2024-06-04T14:57:49Z

The fix has been deployed (again), and as far as I can tell is working properly.

mrfoxtalbot · 2024-06-05T07:54:02Z

This seems to be fixed in my testing simple sites (with and without a custom domain).

ClassicRKR27 · 2024-06-08T15:31:02Z

Hey, team - regarding 8303289-zd-a8c it looks like the issue is still not resolved (I tested on both Chrome and Firefox and could replicate the issue), and the user is getting quite upset. Is there anything we can tell them at this time?

ahmadbaig1 · 2024-06-09T04:52:39Z

@ClassicRKR27 The issue with 8303289-zd-a8c looks to be a different issue. The post is missing images due to Google links being used, which are broken. The media library and other posts look fine.

dev-sabbir · 2024-06-10T10:28:08Z

Simple site, privacy is set to private. Images can be visible in classic WP Admin dashboard.

8308379-zd-a8c

liviopv · 2024-06-10T14:25:18Z

@devicenull can you take a look at this recent report above?

Site: https://michelleandtobias.blog/
Private site
.blog domain
Example image path: https://michelleandtobias.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/untitled-3-3.png
Images don't load on the library both on WP Admin and Calypso, but they work when accessing the site through Super Admin or Support Session

devicenull · 2024-06-10T14:42:01Z

@devicenull can you take a look at this recent report above?

Site: https://michelleandtobias.blog/

Private site

.blog domain

Example image path: https://michelleandtobias.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/untitled-3-3.png

Images don't load on the library both on WP Admin and Calypso, but they work when accessing the site through Super Admin or Support Session

Are you sure that's actually the issue the user is reporting? Their message doesn't make it super clear to me. There are still issues viewing the media library via support sessions w/ private blogs.

liviopv · 2024-06-13T13:34:48Z

@devicenull you're right, sorry for the confusion! I simulated a login using a different method and I can't reproduce.

Considering the last two reports are unrelated, is it ok to close this?

devicenull · 2024-06-13T14:16:39Z

Yes, let's consider this resolved.

github-actions bot added the [Status] Priority Review Triggered Quality squad has been notified of this issue in #dotcom-triage-alerts label Feb 20, 2024

github-actions bot added [Platform] Simple [Pri] BLOCKER labels Feb 20, 2024

github-actions bot added the Customer Report Issues or PRs that were reported via Happiness. Previously known as "Happiness Request". label Feb 20, 2024

github-actions bot added the [Interaction #] > 10 (Automated) interaction count label for better visibility. Please don't add these manualliy. label Feb 20, 2024

github-actions bot added [Interaction #] > 20 (Automated) interaction count label for better visibility. Please don't add these manualliy. and removed [Interaction #] > 10 (Automated) interaction count label for better visibility. Please don't add these manualliy. labels Feb 20, 2024

devicenull mentioned this issue May 23, 2024

PDF Embed Not Loading on Live Site #90964

Closed

devicenull closed this as completed in #90895 May 24, 2024

devicenull reopened this May 24, 2024

mrfoxtalbot mentioned this issue May 27, 2024

Atomic sites not showing images in Calypso media tab #91136

Closed

mrfoxtalbot added [Pri] High and removed [Pri] BLOCKER labels Jun 4, 2024

devicenull closed this as completed Jun 13, 2024

devicenull mentioned this issue Jun 13, 2024

Media library broken in support sessions #91764

Open

nazilya06 mentioned this issue Jun 20, 2024

Some images showing "The image has an empty alt attribute" in editor after downgrade/lossless import in Private #91952

Open

Missing media on Simple Sites after the files.wordpress.com > wp-content/uploads path change #87642

Missing media on Simple Sites after the files.wordpress.com > wp-content/uploads path change #87642

Comments

pauljacobson commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited by liviopv Loading

UPDATE May 9, 2024: Read before Reporting

(Possible) Current Symptoms

Previous Symptoms:

Updates

Quick summary

Steps to reproduce

What you expected to happen

What actually happened

Impact

Available workarounds?

Platform (Simple and/or Atomic)

Logs or notes

vinnykaur commented Feb 20, 2024

github-actions bot commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited Loading

pauljacobson commented Feb 20, 2024

rinazrina commented Feb 20, 2024

AminMehrani commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited Loading

kkalam7757 commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited Loading

Neha93517 commented Feb 20, 2024

AnjanaV93 commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited Loading

cselamor commented Feb 20, 2024

dev-sabbir commented Feb 20, 2024

rw-ye commented Feb 20, 2024

liviopv commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited Loading

pauljacobson commented Feb 20, 2024

ariel-maidana commented Feb 20, 2024

dev-sabbir commented Feb 20, 2024 • edited Loading

pauljacobson commented Feb 20, 2024

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galakhyati commented May 23, 2024

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dev-sabbir commented May 24, 2024

devicenull commented May 24, 2024

supernovia commented May 24, 2024

devicenull commented May 24, 2024

devicenull commented May 24, 2024

rosepajaroja commented Jun 1, 2024

mrfoxtalbot commented Jun 4, 2024

devicenull commented Jun 4, 2024

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ClassicRKR27 commented Jun 8, 2024

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